Personal, Social and Health Education

At Robert Arkenstall, we aim to provide a high-quality PSHE curriculum which helps our pupils to develop into happy, healthy, confident and responsible members of society who are well equipped to make the most of their own capabilities and fulfil their potential in adult life. However, Personal, Social and Health Education is a broad and extensive area of our work within our school which extends far beyond the taught curriculum and is embedded throughout our daily life.

We aim to develop the following characteristics within our children –

• The high self-esteem and confidence necessary to make the most of their abilities
• The enthusiasm to take up new and exciting opportunities.
• A caring, considerate and respectful nature towards others and the world around them.
• The ability to form positive, worthwhile and fulfilling relationships.
• The independence and resilience required to tackle challenges they may be faced with.
• The knowledge of how to maintain a healthy and happy lifestyle.
• The knowledge of how to keep themselves safe within all aspects of life.
• The chance to take on an active role as a member of a democratic society.
• The willingness to make a positive contribution within our school and the wider world.

Teaching approaches

We follow the Cambridgeshire PSHE programme of study and also engage with the PSHE service outreach from the Life Bus.

We take the opportunity where appropriate to teach PSHE to year groups in UKS2. This helps with keeping a sense of cohesion to pupils in spilt year group classes and enables SRE lessons to be taught sensitively.

Each year, year 5/6 take part in the Health Related Behaviour Survey, provided to schools by Schools Health Education Unit at Exeter University. It is used by many other Cambridgeshire Primary schools and across the country on an annual basis.  We choose to use this survey because it gives us a really good view of children's broader well-being needs. This picture enables us to ensure that we are offering them relevant learning opportunities in school which teach them skills for keeping healthy and safe. The topics covered are all directly related to areas of learning in school. The children answer the survey anonymously online, so no one in school, or at SHEU, will be able to separate your child's responses from others in the year group. The children are supported to complete the survey by teachers who will read the questions, so that no child is disadvantaged in participating. The school receives a report showing the numbers of children who give particular responses, rather than the responses of individual children. The results are discussed each year by the Governors. 

Weekly PSHE lessons are bought to life through a wide range of lively and engaging teaching strategies. Within these taught sessions, children will experience whole class discussion and debates, small group tasks, paired and individual work, brainstorming activities, circle time games, role-play/drama activities, use of puppets, visits from outside agencies, the use of film clips, stories and much, much more!

Sometimes special projects take place in PSHE, either for the whole school or specific groups for such as Conflict Resolution and Positive Friendships, where we have made space within the curriculum to support children dealing with particular issues.

Active citizenship is also enthusiastically encouraged at Robert Arkenstall though our School Council, Pupil Voice projects and Circle Time. At Robert Arkenstall we recognise the importance of every child having a voice and strive to provide the children with constantly open avenues to express their opinions, values and beliefs.