Intent

At Grayswood, we recognise the huge importance of teaching PSHE and the role that it has in supporting children to develop their resilience of character through nurturing many personal attributes. By following the Department of Education’s statutory guidance on both Relationship and Health Education, we are secure that our children’s mental and physical wellbeing is being fostered.

We are very aware that PSHE is more than a stand-alone subject – it is an extension of the ethos and values that the school has, and therefore is also addressed through our daily school routines and the expectations we have with regards to behaviour. Children’s positive mental health and well-being is a fundamental thread which runs through the centre of our curriculum and contributes to our overall aim that they will all be happy and successful.

Our school environment is a nurturing one, in which children have the confidence to discuss the content covered during PSHE lessons. Grayswood’s school vision aims to build children's ability to embrace the future with confidence and become purposeful, responsible citizens of the community and we feel that we do equip the children with the skills they require to accomplish this.

The National Curriculum states that ‘Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is an important and necessary part of all pupils’ education.’ And that ‘All schools should teach PSHE, drawing on good practice.’

The Department of Education has introduced the statutory subjects of Relationship Education and Health Education for all primary schools to embed in their curriculums. The DfE would like these subjects to ‘put in place the key building blocks of healthy, respectful relationships, focusing on family and friendships, in all contexts, including online. This will sit alongside the essential understanding of how to be healthy.’ They also state that ‘Teaching about mental wellbeing is central to these subjects.’

Implementation

At Grayswood we follow the SCARF scheme of learning, which is provided by Coram Life Education. SCARF stands for Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience and Friendship – representing the importance of these values for all children. The scheme offers a whole-school approach to mental health, wellbeing, behaviour, resilience and achievement. The scheme’s vision is that all children will acquire the life skills needed to thrive.

It supplies us with everything we need to meet the new DfE Relationships Education and Health Education statutory requirements. SCARF’s framework is mapped to the PSHE Association’s Programme of Study. We therefore feel very confident when delivering this scheme of work as it is robust in both content and coverage, however we have made some adaptations to suit the needs of the children in our school.  

SCARF also offer in-school workshop days for children which further enhance the children’s Relationship and Health Education. Workshops are also available for staff, in order to support their own continued professional development. 

The SCARF scheme offers well-structured lesson plans, which our experienced teachers are able to adapt and differentiate to suit the specific needs within their classes and make sure that the learning is accessible to all.

The framework that SCARF uses is a spiral one; there are six main themes taught across the year (Me and My Relationships; Valuing Difference; Keeping Myself Safe; Rights and Responsibilities; Being My Best and Growing and Changing) and each academic year the learning in these areas broadens and deepens. The yearly repetition of these themes is brilliant for the children as they will ultimately recall conversations and content from previous years.

SCARF has a spreadsheet called ‘Vocabulary Builder’ – this lists the key vocabulary in each half termly unit. The children are introduced to new words, which are defined and explained by staff and revisited throughout the unit of work. This repetition being key for children to retain these new words.

As well as following the SCARF scheme of learning, Grayswood endeavours to provide wider opportunities to support and enhance elements of the PSHE curriculum:

In Year 4, Grayswood has introduced the Archbishop of York’s Young Leaders Award. This Award enables young people to ‘fulfil their individual potentials, develop key life skills, and, through youth-led social action, foster a desire for justice and a concern for others that will transform lives and communities.’ We believe this award runs nicely alongside the values we hold at Grayswood and the values that are at the forefront of the SCARF scheme.

We are very aware of the increasing need for children to receive opportunities for Mindfulness. In Year 6, the children take part in mindfulness sessions during the build up to their SATs in order to calm their minds. We also offer a Yoga club to support wellbeing. 

Other areas of the curriculum and school life that continuously build children’s attributes are: Forest school, playtimes, celebration assemblies, sporting competitions and residential trips.

Impact

SCARF offers a number of assessment options. At Grayswood we have chosen to use:

SCARF Progress: Pre/post quizzes. Children complete the pre and post unit quiz. These quizzes enable to children to clearly see the progress they have made themselves and also allow Teachers to see how well learning has been embedded.

We are therefore following the PSHE Association’s guidance to Assessment for Learning and progression: "Assessment in PSHE education should not be about levels or grades, passing or failing. The model of assessment that is most meaningful is ipsative assessment. This compares the pupil’s results against his or her previous results in a similar way to an athlete measuring today’s performance against their previous performance. So the benchmark against which progress is measured is the pupil’s own starting point; not the performance of others or the requirements of an exam syllabus. "

SCARF Success: ‘I Can’ statements. These statements give us a clear indication of what the children have covered within their PSHE lessons. The teacher is able to highlight the statements for individual pupils for each unit. They are highlighted and colour coded as to whether the child is working at an emerging, expected or exceeding level. We can clearly see from these ‘I can’ statements if there are children who require additional support and plan in next steps to support them.

The way in which children conduct themselves around the school is also testament to the overarching PSHE input at Grayswood. Children frequently embody the school values of: Teamwork, Perseverance, Love, Kindness, Respect and Forgiveness. The children are recognised and praised for this each Friday morning during Celebration Assembly. House points – are also awarded in recognition of personal attributes as well as achievements and successes.

Enrichment in PSHE

PSHE runs through all aspects of school life at Grayswood and the mental health and wellbeing of all members of our community is hugely important to us. Below are a few examples of some of the additional things we do to support the PSHE curriculum, but this is not a complete list. 

• FANTASTIC FRED workshops, a mental health resource for primary schools 
• At least 2 PE sessions per week 
• Morning exercise sessions before school
• A wide variety of sporting clubs
• SuperYou club which is based upon the KS1 PHSE and RSE curriculum and the "NHS 5 Steps to Mental Wellbeing"
• Mental Health lead who promotes wellbeing throughout the school 
• Mental health policy to support wellbeing of all
• ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) in school 2 days per week 
• Parent workshops 
• First responders visit 
• Visits from the fire and police service
• Mindfulness sessions 
• Yoga club
• Archbishop Award for Year 4
• Anti-bullying week
• Supporting and fundraising for a variety of charities
• Safer Internet day 
• Annual NSPCC assembly 
• NSPCC workshop for Years 5&6