PSHE

Intent

At St. Patrick's, we are committed to providing a holistic, age-appropriate, and nurturing PSHE curriculum that equips our pupils with the knowledge, skills, and values they need to lead safe, healthy, and happy lives.

Our approach to PSHE is deeply rooted in our school mission statement: "Faithfully following in the footsteps of Jesus, we serve, love and learn together, inspiring each other to excellence." Through our curriculum, we aim to show our children how to love and respect themselves and others, serving our community with kindness and learning how to make positive, healthy choices.

We want our pupils to:

Develop emotional literacy and strong mental wellbeing
Understand how to keep themselves safe and healthy
Build empathy and respect for themselves and others
Learn about healthy relationships rooted in love and mutual respect
Understand their place in the community and the wider world
Embrace British Values and understand Protected Characteristics
Grow in their physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual development

Our curriculum celebrates the unique worth of every child and handles sensitive topics with care, ensuring all learning is developmentally appropriate and rooted in our Catholic ethos.

Implementation

To deliver this vital learning effectively, we utilise three highly-respected schemes of work that support our Catholic ethos and school values: The Story Project, Pol-Ed and Journey in Love.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education

We believe that storytelling is one of the most powerful tools for emotional learning. The Story Project is an innovative, literature-based scheme that introduces complex personal and social concepts through high-quality children's books in an age-appropriate manner.

Each lesson centres around a carefully chosen story or character. By exploring the challenges, emotions, and dilemmas faced by characters in a book, children learn to reflect on their own lives and the wider world in a safe, relatable way.

Key areas covered:

Emotional literacy
Mental wellbeing
Personal safety
Healthy lifestyles
Understanding our place in the community

The teaching of British Values and Protected Characteristics is woven throughout the curriculum. This approach builds deep empathy, encourages open classroom discussions, and supports our pupils' reading and literacy skills alongside their personal development.

We also supplement our PSHE curriculum with one-off lessons from the Pol-Ed scheme of work. Each term, we utilise local youth crime data to teach lessons that deal with specific, contextual issues that a relevant to our school and area.

Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)

As part of our commitment to nurturing the whole child, our statutory Relationships Education (and non-statutory Sex Education in Year 6) is taught through A Journey in Love, the recommended programme of study for teaching RSE in Catholic schools by the Archdiocese of Liverpool.

The scheme is structured to support children at every stage of their primary school life, from Reception to Year 6. It approaches relationships through a framework of love, respect, and unique human worth, mirroring our mission to serve and love one another.

The curriculum focuses on five core areas of child development - physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. It teaches children about:

Friendships and healthy relationships
Family structures
Body boundaries and personal safety
Personal hygiene
How our bodies change as we grow

This progressive, developmental scheme handles sensitive topics with immense care, ensuring that all information is developmentally appropriate and rooted in a positive celebration of life and healthy, respectful relationships.

Your Rights as a Parent: The Right to Withdraw

We firmly believe that parents are the prime educators of their children, and we work in close partnership with you at every stage. Under national guidelines:

Relationships and Health Education: These elements are statutory for all primary school pupils. There is no parental right to withdraw children from these lessons, as they cover vital information regarding safety, friendships, healthy bodies, and emotional wellbeing.

Year 6 Sex Education: Within the Year 6 units of Journey in Love, there are non-statutory elements that explicitly cover human conception and reproduction. Parents have a statutory right to withdraw their child from these specific sex education lessons.

Next Steps for Parents: If you wish to exercise your right to withdraw your child, we ask that you arrange a meeting with the Headteacher to discuss your request so that alternative arrangements can be made for your child during those specific sessions.

Impact

Through our carefully designed PSHE curriculum, we see our children developing into:

Emotionally literate learners who can identify, understand and manage their feelings, and show empathy towards others. Children confidently discuss their emotions and support their peers through challenges.

Confident, safe individuals who understand how to keep themselves physically and emotionally safe, recognise risks, and know where to seek help when needed. Our pupils demonstrate age-appropriate understanding of personal boundaries and healthy relationships.

Respectful community members who celebrate diversity, embrace British Values, and understand Protected Characteristics. Children show respect for different family structures, cultures, and beliefs, reflecting our mission to serve and love one another.

Informed decision-makers who can make positive, healthy choices about their bodies, relationships, and wellbeing. Pupils demonstrate understanding of healthy lifestyles and can articulate why certain choices benefit their physical and mental health.

Articulate, reflective thinkers who can discuss complex personal and social issues with maturity and thoughtfulness. Through our literature-based approach, children develop sophisticated vocabulary for discussing feelings, relationships, and moral dilemmas.

Well-prepared young people ready for the next stage of their education and life. By Year 6, our pupils have age-appropriate knowledge about how their bodies change, how to maintain healthy friendships, and how to navigate the challenges of growing up with confidence and resilience.

Our PSHE curriculum ensures that every child at St Patrick's is equipped not just with knowledge, but with the values, skills and confidence to flourish as compassionate, responsible members of our school community and the wider world.

Information for Parents and Carers

If you would like further information about The Story Project, Pol-Ed or Journey in Love, please contact your child's class teacher.