PSHE and RSE
Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) and Relationship and Sex and Health Education (RSE)
Preparing our pupils for life
At Woodhouse Academy, PSHE is an important part of The Woodhouse Way. It helps our pupils develop the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to be happy, healthy, safe and prepared for their future.
Our PSHE curriculum supports our wider school ethos:
Working hard, working together as a community, working for the future.
Through PSHE, we want every child to feel that they belong, understand themselves and others, make safe and informed choices, develop positive relationships and grow in confidence as they move through year 5 to year 8.
Our Curriculum Drivers
Our PSHE curriculum is shaped by six key drivers. These help us ensure that what we teach is purposeful, relevant and closely connected to the needs of our pupils.
What do pupils learn?
Our PSHE curriculum is carefully planned and builds progressively as pupils move through Woodhouse.
Pupils explore topics including:
Health and wellbeing: physical health, mental wellbeing, self-esteem, resilience and healthy choices.
Relationships: friendships, families, respectful relationships, consent, boundaries and recognising unhealthy behaviours.
Keeping safe: personal safety, safeguarding, online safety, harmful content, trusted adults and where to seek help.
Growing and changing: puberty, emotions, relationships and age-appropriate Relationships and Sex Education (RSE).
Living in the wider world: money, careers, aspirations, citizenship, diversity, equality and preparing for the future.
Learning is always age-appropriate and is carefully sequenced so that knowledge and understanding develop over time.
Please see the documents at the bottom of the page for more detailed information about the curriculum coverage for each year group.
Our Approach to Learning
We want PSHE lessons to be safe, purposeful and engaging.
Our curriculum follows a spiral approach, meaning important themes are revisited as pupils move through the school, with learning becoming increasingly detailed and age-appropriate.
In PSHE, pupils are encouraged to:
connect new learning with what they already know;
explore accurate and reliable information;
discuss ideas respectfully;
use the correct vocabulary;
apply learning to real-life situations;
reflect on what they have learned and how it may help them in the future.
A typical learning journey might follow:
Connect → Explore → Discuss → Apply → Reflect
We place particular importance on oracy, active discussion, real-life scenarios, reflection and retrieval of prior learning.
PSHE classrooms are safe spaces where pupils can explore important issues without being expected to share personal experiences. Staff establish clear ground rules and ensure that sensitive topics are handled carefully and appropriately.
How do we measure success?
Success in PSHE is about much more than completing a piece of work. We want our pupils to be able to use what they have learned in their everyday lives. We look for evidence that pupils are becoming increasingly able to:
make safe and responsible choices;
recognise when something is wrong or unsafe;
know how and where to seek help;
communicate respectfully;
show kindness and empathy;
build healthy relationships;
demonstrate resilience;
understand and manage risk;
contribute positively to their school and wider community;
demonstrate our REWARD values;
feel increasingly prepared for their next stage of education and life beyond Woodhouse.
We evaluate the impact of our provision through a range of information including pupil voice, participation in enrichment and leadership, attendance and behaviour information, pastoral and safeguarding themes, and feedback from staff, parents and governors.
This helps us identify what is working well, where pupils may need further support and how our PSHE and wider personal development provision can continue to improve.
More than just a lesson
PSHE at Woodhouse extends beyond the classroom. Our pupils' personal development is supported through form time, assemblies, careers education, visitors, trips, clubs, leadership opportunities, community activities and enrichment experiences. Together, these experiences help pupils practise our REWARD values and learn what it really means to live The Woodhouse Way.
Relationships, Sex and Health Education
Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) forms an important part of our PSHE curriculum. We recognise that some of these topics can feel sensitive. Our aim is to provide pupils with accurate, age-appropriate information in a safe and supportive environment, while helping them develop the vocabulary and confidence to ask questions, recognise unsafe situations and seek help when they need it.
Our curriculum and policy reflect current statutory guidance and our responsibility to safeguard and prepare children for the world in which they are growing up.
Working with parents and carers
We believe PSHE is most effective when school and families work together. We are committed to being open about what pupils are taught and why. Parents and carers can view our curriculum information and policies below, including further information about our approach to Relationships and Sex Education. If you have any questions about PSHE or would like to discuss any aspect of the curriculum, please contact the school. We are always happy to talk through our approach.