Personal, social, health and economic education underpin the philosophy and practice at Riverside Primary. We promote pupils’ personal social and emotional development, as well as their health and wellbeing. It helps to give children the knowledge and skills they need to lead confident, healthy and independent lives. It aims to help them understand how they are developing personally and socially, and tackles many of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up. It gives children an understanding of the rights and responsibilities that are part of being a good British citizen and introduces them to some of the principles of democracy, English Laws through learning about British values.

PSHE education is a planned, developmental programme of learning through which children acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives now and in the future. As part of a whole-school approach, PSHE education develops the qualities and attributes pupils need to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society.

PSHE education equips pupils to live healthy, safe, productive, capable, responsible and balanced lives. It encourages them to be enterprising and supports them in making effective transitions, positive learning and career choices and in achieving economic wellbeing. A critical component of PSHE education is providing opportunities for children and young people to reflect on and clarify their own values and attitudes and explore the complex and sometimes conflicting range of values and attitudes they encounter now and in the future.

PSHE education contributes to personal development by helping pupils to build their confidence, resilience and self-esteem, and to identify and manage risk, make informed choices and understand what influences their decisions. It enables them to recognise, accept and shape their identities, to understand and accommodate difference and change, to manage emotions and to communicate constructively in a variety of settings. Developing an understanding of themselves, empathy and the ability to work with others will help pupils to form and maintain good relationships, develop the essential skills for future employability and better enjoy and manage their lives.

PSHE education can help schools to reduce or remove many of the barriers to learning experienced by pupils, significantly improving their capacity to learn and achieve. The PSHE education programme makes a significant contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development, their behaviour and safety and the school’s statutory responsibility to promote pupils’ wellbeing. In addition the learning provided through a comprehensive PSHE education provision is essential to safeguarding pupils, as Ofsted has set out.

Our PSHE programme has been aimed at providing a wide scope as well as including sensitive issues that are relevant to the children’s learning. It is planned and delivered as a standalone session but elements can be seen to be taught throughout the curriculum.

The school accepts the importance of remaining sensitive to a child’s individual needs while recognising the pupils’ variety of backgrounds, experiences and stages of development. With this in mind, at Riverside Primary school, we have designed a personalised programme of study to meet the needs of our pupils.