Relationships and Health Education
We believe God is a relational God who shows us what good relationships look like. He relates perfectly in the trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
"A new command I give you: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another," (John 13:34).
Inspired by Jesus’ example, the Trent school community aims to
serve one another in love.
We show kindness to others because God has shown us great kindness.
We live thankful lives because every good thing comes from God.
And we persevere, not giving up, because God is our helper.
He invites us to share in that relationship with Him. Inspired by God’s example we want to model healthy relationships at Trent School, with those who share our Christian faith, those of other faiths and none.
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Through RHE, we have opportunities to show kindness in our words and actions as Jesus shows kindness to us. We are thankful that God relates to us personally through speaking to us in the bible and for listening to our prayers. At Trent, we know that nothing is outside God’s loving control as he shapes our character to be more like him. We recognise that this is a life long journey and that Jesus has promised to be with us, and our helper, as we persevere in our faith.
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Intended Curriculum
At Trent it is our intent that by the time they leave our school, children will have the confidence, knowledge and resilience to develop their skills and understanding when having new experiences, meeting new challenges and finding themselves in unfamiliar situations. We want our children to have high aspirations and a belief in themselves and to value how they and others fit into and contribute to the world as global citizens. We want our children to develop the skills and attributes to keep themselves healthy and safe and develop confidence in sharing their thoughts and opinions with others, whilst building positive, respectful relationships. We place great emphasis on emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health through the delivery of an engaging and relevant RHE programme, whole school events and opportunities to serve others in our local and wider communities.
The RHE curriculum is an entitlement for all pupils that is:
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Aspirational in terms of instilling in our pupils a desire to develop their personal understanding and character, providing them with opportunities to excel beyond the academic curriculum, whilst recognising that good PSHE education helps pupils achieve their academic potential. Such high aspirations are clearly identifiable in the progressive and increasingly challenging objectives of the RHE programme, which defines what pupils will know, understand and be able to do.
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Logical, broad and balanced in terms of the subject content we have selected which reflects not only what the DfE state children ‘must’ learn as part of the statutory RHE curriculum but also what children ‘should or could’ learn as part of the non-statutory elements of PSHE.
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Relevant, in that the RHE curriculum is delivered proactively and addresses issues in a timely way in line with current evidence on children’s physical and emotional development. For example, the delivery of ‘live’ RHE lessons during lockdown, which gave children opportunities to meet with wider groups of peers and Wellbeing weeks to support children’s wellbeing in the first weeks of returning to school
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Built upon and has continuity with the provision established in the Early Years Foundation Stage, especially the Characteristics of Effective Learning and the Personal, Social and Emotional Development areas of learning.
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Progressively more challenging from Years 1 through 6 in terms of the development of attributes and skills key to personal development. Taught through a spiral curriculum with areas of learning re-visited at appropriate points in the children’s development. This approach will support our children to build on their prior knowledge from previous years and develop age related skills to meet their needs.
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Inclusive, because lessons and resources are relevant and accessible to all pupils, including those with SEND. These pupils may be more vulnerable to exploitation and bullying. Sensitive and age appropriate RHE is an essential part of their learning.
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Curriculum Delivery
At Trent, we have developed a whole school approach in delivering our RHE curriculum. We use the Health Education Partnership PSHE and Wellbeing Framework, based on the PSHE Association’s three core themes of:
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Health & wellbeing
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Relationships
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Living in the wider world
The programmes of study focus on the development of attributes and skills that are key to personal development, rather than just a focus on facts.
The overarching concepts are:
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Identity
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Relationships
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A healthy balanced lifestyle
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Risk
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Diversity & Equality
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Rights
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Change and resilience
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Power
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Career
We adopt a positive approach when delivering our comprehensive RHE programme, with a wide range of themes being covered to support the personal, social and health development of all pupils, including some themes related to dangers, risks and negative behaviours. Children learn how to make informed decisions and responses based on knowledge, attitudes skills and strategies and to recognise and manage these situations as effectively as possible. For example, when teaching children about relationships with peers we prefer ‘Friendship Week’ to ‘Anti-bullying Week’ therefore focusing on the benefits of being a good friend, having good friends and how great friendships can make you feel. By using a positive angle in these lessons, the negative behaviour is acknowledged and explored, but the promotion of positive behaviour will be the focus.
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Our learning and teaching in RHE is interactive and practical, with opportunities for pupils to work independently, in pairs and in groups of various sizes both inside and outside the classroom. We use a range of teaching methodologies including story-telling, drama, discussions, individual private reflection, quizzes, fact finding, value spectrums, debating, circle time, independent research and artistic presentations etc. This wide range of teaching strategies promotes engagement by all pupils, irrespective of preferred learning styles
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Teachers use distancing techniques, such as the use of characters within RHE, which avoids pupils feeling under pressure to participate or disclose information beyond that which is appropriate or feels comfortable. This strategy makes RHE more accessible to all pupils, including those who may have experienced unhealthy relationships and/or abuse. The school’s responsibility to safeguard pupils through a curriculum that prepares them to live safely in the modern world will remain central to curriculum content, teaching methodologies and supporting resources.
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Core knowledge is broken down into units of manageable size. The required content is communicated to pupils clearly, in a carefully sequenced way, within a planned scheme of work or as a part of special events or experience e.g. Wellbeing Week, Dress to Express or Refugee Week. Teaching includes sufficient and well-chosen opportunities and contexts for pupils to embed new knowledge so that it can be used confidently in real-life situations. This includes visits from outside agencies and charities, such as The Dog’s Trust, The North London Hospice and the police.
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We are committed to weekly RHE lessons of at last one hour minimum, so that individuals and the class as whole have opportunities to talk about and reflect on issues important to them. Whole school assemblies will often have an RHE focus. Our weekly celebration assemblies recognise, demonstrate and celebrate pupil’s achievement or successes, including those which are non-academic. Pupils are also recognised and rewarded for active participation in school and the community life in our assemblies and weekly newsletters.
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At Trent we are committed to Borough and national initiatives to improve the health and wellbeing of our pupils and local community these include Barnet Healthy Schools – with our Gold Award status, The Barnet Resilient Schools Programme and events like The Big Pedal and Captain Tom’s 100 physical challenge.
Impact
We firmly believe that a meaningful RHE curriculum is the key to children becoming confident, tolerant and well-rounded adults. Children are prepared for and can approach a range of real life situations and apply their RHE skills and personal attributes to help navigate themselves through life in modern Britain and beyond. Through our RHE curriculum, we believe we can enhance children’s education and help them to become caring, respectful, responsible and confident individuals and citizens.
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Through exposure to a range of global issues and problems children can build tolerance and a sense of responsibility of becoming a global citizen. Children can understand the different lifestyles that people may live and be respectful and tolerant towards those leading different lives to themselves.
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Standards of attainment across the school in RHE will meet or exceed those which are expected of children nationally. We continually assess the implementation and impact of our RHE curriculum in order to achieve the highest possible outcomes across all year groups and ensure we provide the support that is necessary for all children to achieve.
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Whilst there are no formal assessments in RHE, at the end of each year, we make an informal summative judgement about the achievement of each pupil. At this point teachers decide upon a ‘best fit’ judgement as to whether the pupil has achieved and embedded the expected learning goals, exceeded expectations or is still working towards the goals. Teacher may consider some of the following in their judgements:
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An increase in knowledge
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An increase in understanding
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A change in or reconfirmation of a belief
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A richer vocabulary
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Increased competence in a skills
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Increased confidence
It is important to note that not all aspect of PSHE should be assessed, pupils may share their own views or reflect on aspects of their own behaviour or relationships that, although integral to teaching and learning, would not be appropriate for formal assessment.
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Inclusive and preventative PSHE helps children to know how they can support each other, manage their own behaviour and get help for themselves of their friends when they need it. Our work in achieving and maintaining the Barnet Healthy School Gold Award, the Barnet Resilient School Programme and other initiatives such as The Big Pedal will all serve to increase the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of our pupils.