Personal Social and Health Education
At St Thomas' we teach the statutory Relationships and Health Education through Ten Ten’s new programme for Catholic primary schools, Life to the Full. This teaches the statutory element of the curriculum within the context of a Christian understanding of human sexuality rooted in the wisdom and teaching of the Catholic Church.
Given that RHE (Relationships and Health Education) is a statutory subject for all schools from September 2020, we are embracing “the challenges of creating a happy and successful adult life” by giving pupils knowledge “that will enable them to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships” (DFE Statutory Guidance).
We will deliver this teaching through the prism of Catholic RSHE. The framework of our programme is taken from the Model Catholic RSE Programme by the Catholic Education Service, which has been highlighted by the Department of Education as a work of good practice.
"In PSHE, we learn about how we can look after ourselves and our bodies to make sure we stay healthy."
"We learn about how we can be respectful and demonstrate the Catholic values in our lives."
"I enjoy PSHE because we have lots of discussions about important things."
"In PSHE, we learn how we can be valuable members of our community."
Children have the opportunity, within PSHE, to learn about a variety of different current issues that are present not only in our local area, but nationally and internationally and that could impact on their day to day lives and communities. Our children are given the opportunity to experience visitors e.g. nurses, dentists, emergency services to further enhance their learning, but to develop familiarity with careers opportunities that they could have when they are older. Financial education is also something that we are keen to develop within our children from an early age so that they have the tools to be able to manage their money and understand how this can impact them when they are older. Through Multi-Faith teaching, each year group visit a different place of worship and study a world religion for the year to develop their understanding of the world in which we live.