Rationale for the teaching of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE)

At St. Anne’s we develop the whole child and our comprehensive PSHE programme of learning develops the key skills and knowledge that children will need to be resilient, emotionally literate and responsible citizens. PSHE is a subject through which pupils develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe, and prepared for life and work. In the Early Years, this is referred to as Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED).

With strong emphasis on emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health, our PSHE curriculum properly equips our staff to deliver engaging and relevant PSHE within a whole-school approach. Our Jigsaw lessons also include mindfulness allowing children to advance their emotional awareness, concentration and focus.

How we teach and learn PSHE at St Anne’s

At St. Anne’s we use Jigsaw alongside our own planned theme weeks, visitors and trips to offer a comprehensive programme for Primary PSHE. This includes statutory Relationships and Health Education (RSE), in a spiral, progressive and fully planned scheme of work, giving children relevant learning experiences to help them navigate their world and to develop positive relationships with themselves and others. As we are a Church of England School, we use the Goodness and Mercy resources alongside Jigsaw. 

The Jigsaw scheme of work includes six whole school puzzles, one for each term. Each puzzle is broken down into six pieces (or lessons) which follow a similar model across the school but develop the relevant skills, concepts and information for each year group. Goodness and Mercy gives us the structure and framework to plan and implement RSHE in a way that is most effective to our school context. 

PSHE is taught at least weekly in its own dedicated session and is also developed through whole school, key stage and class assemblies and during specialist theme weeks where specific PSHE skills are focussed on. 

Our theme weeks include annual Anti-Bullying or Kindness Weeks, where children develop the key social and emotional skills to recognise and prevent bullying; Money Week, during which children develop financial and entrepreneurial skills; and Children’s Mental Health Week, which promotes the children’s understanding of their own mental health and how to look after themselves and others.

During these weeks, we have frequently invited visitors from travelling theatres performing plays based on friendship and anti-bullying and have worked with schools’ teams from local banks who have developed the children’s understanding of how to manage their finances.

Jigsaw Journals are used to record PSHE learning. This is often a weekly occurrence. If the session has resulted in a group piece of learning or a photograph, then these are recorded alongside annotations from the children. In EYFS the classes have a 'PSHE floorbook', in Key Stage 1 'Class Journals' and in Key Stage 2 all children have their own 'Jigsaw Journals'.

Jigsaw sessions follow the same structure across the school, allowing children to become familiar and confident with the key phases of a lesson. The structure of a piece (or lesson) is as follows:

• Connect Us: we share the Jigsaw Charter, develop social skills and maximise collaborative learning skills.
• Calm Me: we calm the children’s minds in preparation for learning, engendering a peaceful atmosphere.
• Open My Mind: we focus on a specific learning intention.
• Tell Me or Show Me: we initiate new learning though the introduction of new information, concepts and skills.
• Let Me Learn: we facilitate learning activities by allowing children to manipulate, play and use their new knowledge to reinforce the learning.
• Help Me Reflect: we support children in reflection of their new learning and personal development enabling them to consolidate and apply their learning.

By following this structure, each lesson provides opportunities for whole class, group, paired and independent learning. In addition to this structure, Goodness and Mercy enables us to focus on key theological vocabulary linked to the specific area of learning.

A broad range of skills are developed through the teaching of PSHE from children’s social and emotional skills though to finance and entrepreneurialism. In addition to the core skills taken from the national framework for PSHE, our curriculum also covers every aspect of children’s Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development. Each piece (lesson) contributes to at least one of the aspects children’s development. Our PSHE lessons foster an ethos of open reflection through which children can explore their own questions, make connections and make space for their own thoughts, ideas and concerns. Many topics develop the children’s understanding of morals and values and provide opportunities for them to express their views on both ethical and personal issues. Our lessons promote a sense of belonging and help children to identify their place in the community. We explore the complex nature of society and the children’s roles as citizens within it and the responsibilities which come alongside this. This includes an appreciation of cultural diversity and how we show respect to other people’s values and beliefs, therefore challenging racism and valuing equality. Furthermore, our comprehensive programme includes key coverage of British Values and Prevent agendas.

As a result of the diverse range of skills developed in PSHE sessions, all Learning to Learn characteristics are developed and explored across the six puzzles (termly themes) and pieces (lessons).

Part of the PSHE curriculum encompasses children’s citizenship and democracy development. To further enhance these skills, two children from each class in Years Two to Six are elected as School Council representatives. St. Anne’s School Council meet regularly throughout the year to discuss current topics, make key decisions across the school and assist in planning key events.

How we celebrate our PSHE learning

PSHE lends itself to frequent formative assessment which takes place during every lesson. These formative assessments allow teachers to follow the children’s lead in sessions and make adaptions to future sessions within that puzzle. As PSHE covers a diverse range of sometimes personal areas, it is imperative to us that teachers have the freedom to develop the sequence of lessons within a puzzle to meet the unique make up of their class.

Each puzzle ends with a formal opportunity for assessment which is recorded in Jigsaw Journals. This takes the form of ‘My Jigsaw Learning Record’ and is used at the beginning and end of each puzzle to show progress against the attainment descriptors banded into Working Towards, Working at and Working Beyond. These descriptors are specific to Jigsaw – there are no national level descriptors for PSHE.

The fantastic outcomes of our PSHE learning are shared with parents and the wider school community through assemblies, displays, items on the school website and newsletter and through whole school events such as a sale of children’s goods at the end of Money Week and our annual celebration of children’s talents: St. Anne’s Has Talent. In addition, children’s individual successes are celebrated through end of puzzle certificates, designed to praise each child’s specific achievement at the end of a unit.