Intent

At St Kentigern’s, we are inspired by Jesus to treat others as we would like to be treated. We look after one another and show respect and love through our relationships with one another. Jesus is invited into our hearts. In the Beatitudes, Jesus invites us to lead a full life with him by explaining what makes people blessed or happy. This is about understanding how loving our neighbour enables us to be happy too. Therefore, having a good relationship with ourselves and the other people in our lives makes us grow and flourish and we respect that everyone is a unique and beautiful part of God’s creation. We are all children of God, called to grow in love for him through the person of Jesus Christ and to spread the Good News through the action of the Holy Spirit. Our PSHE and HRSE curriculum enables our children to become healthy, safe, independent and responsible members of society, bringing together citizenship with personal and mental well-being, whilst promoting fundamental British values and Christian Gospel values.

Implementation

At St Kentigern’s, we follow the Life to the Full programme as published by Ten:Ten Resources. This is an ambitious, evolving programme of work that offers a fully-integrated and holistic programme in Relationship Education that truly enables children to ‘live life to the full’ (John 10:10).

The programme adopts a spiral curriculum approach so that as a child goes through the programme year-after-year, the learning will develop and grow, with each stage building on the last. We utilise a variety of resources and world-wide events to ensure full coverage of the PSHE curriculum. Our Gospel Values underpin all that we do and we celebrate through assemblies and class liturgies.

Although PSHE is taught through discreet lessons, it also underpins all activities, assemblies, educational visits and extra-curricular clubs. We encourage our children to take part in a range of practical roles and activities that promote active citizenship: Play Leaders, School Council, Head Boy and Head Girl, Eco club and Anti-bullying ambassadors. Pupils are involved in whole school fundraising, supporting younger pupils – such as buddies and engagement in school and local community and both national and global charitable events. Children have opportunities to meet and work with members of the community, such as: firefighters, librarians, sports coaches, artists, authors, representatives from the local church and representatives from various organisations. We participate in, and promote events such as Safer Internet Day and Walk to School using the travel tracker. We aim to keep close links with our local high schools to assist children in their transition. Pupils are encouraged to take part in a wide range of activities and experiences across and beyond the curriculum, contributing fully to the life of their school and parish communities.

Our entire PSHE curriculum is supported by our Learning Mentor’s role across school, working with children and their families, providing guidance/counselling skills following the ELSA scheme of work addressing emotional development, resilience, life skills and diversity within our community. Blackpool Community Trust and Healthy Heads are also providing additional sessions of Physical Education and PSHE throughout the year to embed understanding, support mental health and well-being and encourage fitness. In addition, at St Kentigern’s we have a school dog, Marley, who visits classrooms and groups, supporting children and helping them develop their confidence. Children are able to walk with him at lunchtime once a week.

Impact

The impact of our PSHE and HRSE curriculum provides our children with a chance to reflect, learn and apply these crucial skills taught within the program and beyond. 

To recap, through our curriculum, we teach our children to:

  • Stay safe physically, mentally and online,
  • Understand how to be healthy,
  • Build self-esteem, resilience and problem-solving strategies in order to respond to challenges,
  • Communicate effectively and work with others,
  • Understand how to develop and maintain positive and healthy relationships,
  • Have respect for themselves and others,
  • Have a sense of purpose and be an active partner in their own learning,
  • Demonstrate Christian values,
  • Be active citizens within the local parish community,
  • Explore issues related to living in a democratic society,

The children will demonstrate and apply the British Values of Democracy, Tolerance, Mutual Respect, Rule of Law and Liberty. They demonstrate a healthy outlook towards school which impacts positively upon pupil behaviour and learning across the wider curriculum.