
Personal, Social, Health
and Economic
Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE or Personal Development) education is a school subject which helps students develop the knowledge, skills and attributes to stay healthy and safe now and prepare for their futures. At RWBA we believe that good PSHE education also helps students to achieve their academic potential. Our intent is to provide an academic PSHE curriculum that provides opportunities for students to reflect on and clarify their own values and attitudes and explore complex and sometimes conflicting range of values and attitudes they encounter now and in the future and help students understand how they have progressed in this. Our PSHE curriculum focusses on three core themes which are also recommended by the PSHE association:
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Health and wellbeing
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Relationships
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Living in the wider world
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Our PSHE curriculum aims to enable students to become healthy, safe, independent, responsible members of society who demonstrate respect and tolerance and who are prepared to face and manage the challenges and opportunities of an ever-changing modern Britain and help students be the very best versions of themselves.
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Preventative PSHE education helps students to know how they can support each other, manage their own behaviour and get help for themselves or their friends when they need it, therefore supporting positive behaviour and attitudes and the school behaviour policy.
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Compassionate, inclusive and diverse PSHE helps students feel safe and secure in school and able to express themselves how they wish in an ever changing and evolving society.
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Overall Aims
The PSHE programme at RWBA aims to make a major contribution to preparing young people for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life. It aims to help students develop in the following key areas:
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We will:
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Help students to aspire to be the best they can be, to have dreams for their future and know what is required to reach them.
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Provide opportunities for our students to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a valuable member of an ever-changing diverse society. We will help them to understand and consider many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up in Modern Britain.
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Deepen our students’ understanding of the fundamental British values of democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law and mutual respect and tolerance.
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Develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community
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Encourage and promote the Bassett Leaner and Bassett Leader Values throughout.
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Tackle current and community issues head on. Our curriculum is dynamic and ever changing relating the current needs.
.•Stimulate, challenge and nurture student’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural curiosity.
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Help students to understand the importance of their physical and mental health, understand emotions and feelings and have strategies to help them become resilient and confident.
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Help students to have a good understanding of themselves, to have empathy, an ability to work with others and to form and maintain positive relationships treating everyone equally with tolerance and respect.
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Teach our students age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships through appropriate relationship and sex education.
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Teach our students about personal safety (online and off-line) and we will ensure students know where and how to get help if needed.
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Format for delivering PSHE
A blended approach is taken with delivery. Certain topics are delivered in ilearn via the tutor. Resources are prepared by the PD coordinators and delivered in ilearn from 8:30-9:00. Topics are chosen with relevance and work around the Personal Development Time (PDT). PDT is time built into our curriculum model so ensure that students receive a regular diet of PD content. These lessons or currently on a Wednesday Week B, P5 and 6.
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PD in ilearn Sessions: Over two days each week the statutory sessions for PSHE are delivered over the three core themes of Health and wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the wider world. We also have Assemblies during this time, we look at current affairs, do guided reading, look at the UN Rights of the Child, Internationalism and careers. We cover the requirements of the DfE Guidance on statutory Relationships Sex and Health Education. We have also been following a pilot scheme by the Sex Education forum called Positive Choices. This gave structured lessons for Year 9 students as well as the creation of a Healthy Schools Council
How do we ensure all students can access the curriculum?
PDT lessons provide an inclusive environment in completely mix ability tutor groups. Students are either with their tutors or trained members of staff so they feel comfortable and safe to discuss issues they are worried or fee anxious about. Members of staff have CPD in Quality first teaching and look to develop the Bassett learner and leader in their lessons. With a thorough, well delivered and planned PDT curriculum it can help students be happy, safe and in a better position to learn.
There are a number of ways we ensure the PDT curriculum is accessible for all:
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Sessions are taught by their ilearn tutor who is trained and has seen resources in advance. If it is specialist material, particularly RSE then this will be delivered by someone who is best positioned to deliver it and is comfortable and thoroughly trained in the delivery.
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Consultation with TAs takes place before a PDT so that they are aware on content. In some cases students are taken out and work in small groups with TAs. Consultation with pastoral teams also happens if there are any particular trigger subjects in the content.
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Some content is delivered in small groups
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Building on prior learning: A spiral curriculum will build on and revisit consolidate learning. These are planned by the same person to allow for progress and continuity across the year groups.
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Sessions are primarily discussion based with less focus on the need to write significant amounts
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Targeted questioning to adapt our teaching to the needs of students in our groups.
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Allowing the “think, pair, share” concept of discussions to allow for confidence.
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Addressing misconceptions through circulation of the class.
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Assessment through RAG rated sheets, mind maps and low stakes quizzes to gauge student understanding and progress.
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Implementing the SEN code of practice and promoting Quality First Teaching in everything we do.
Lesson Examples






Mr D Storey
Teacher of Geography and Associate Lead for Diversity, Equality and Personal Development

