PSHE

PSHE @ McKee College

Personal, Social and Health Education plays a central part within our whole school approach
and curriculum. The Department for Education states that PSHE is ‘an important and
necessary part of all pupils’ education’ and to this we deliver our PSHE programme as part of
the whole school core curriculum.

Our PSHE curriculum is designed to give pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding they
need to lead confident, healthy, independent lives and to become informed, active and
responsible citizens within the UK. For our most vulnerable students, we believe it will equip
them with the necessary knowledge and skills to keep themselves safe and grow in resilience.

PSHE is taught to both KS3 and KS4 mixed ability and mixed gender tutor groups. PSHE is
delivered as a discrete timetabled lesson for all groups twice a week. The curriculum is broad
and extensive. The content covers all statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education
(RSHE – see separate policy document) as required by the Department for Education, but
also includes the PSHE Association’s advocated content, the Citizenship programme and
aspects of our Careers Education programme.

PSHE Department Staff

Mrs K Kaye-Field – Head of Humanities and PSHE Lead
Mrs S Milhell – Teacher of PSHE and KS3 History
Miss L Pisarcikova– Teacher of Geography and PSHE

We fully appreciate the sensitive nature of this curriculum area and as such consult and work
closely with our parents/carers and wider community to ensure that it meets with their needs
and approval. Parents can contact the PSHE Lead or the Deputy Headteacher to discuss any
concerns or for more details of the PSHE Curriculum.

Curriculum Intent

Personal, Social and Health Education plays a central part within our whole school
approach and is delivered as part of the whole school core curriculum.

PSHE focuses on developing skills which are transferable to other subjects across the
curriculum and prepare students for the diversity of the world in which we live. It is also
vital that we explore in depth a range of key issues that are relevant to the lives of children
and young people, so that they be informed and equipped to make decisions that will
have a positive impact on their lives.

For our most vulnerable students, we believe it will equip them with the necessary
knowledge and skills to keep themselves safe and grow in resilience.

Implementation

PSHE is taught to both KS3 and KS4 mixed ability and mixed gender tutor groups. PSHE
is delivered as a discrete timetabled lesson for all groups twice a week.

The curriculum is broad and extensive.

The content covers all statutory Relationships, Sex and Health
Education (RSHE – see separate policy document) as required by the Department for
Education, but also includes the PSHE Association’s advocated content, the Citizenship
programme and aspects of our Careers Education programme.

We have chosen to broadly follow the PSHE Association Competencies Secondary
Programme Builder. This allows us to tailor our curriculum, based not only on the relevant
content, but also the skills students need to develop, particularly at KS3. Following a
thematic approach here would not meet the needs of all students in mixed age classes,
many of whom historically have large gaps within their education.

Content covered in PSHE lessons falls into three core themes:

1. Living in the Wider World – This develops students’ knowledge and
understanding of finances, enterprise, employability skills, further and careers
education. We also explore a range of other key concepts around stereotyping,
beliefs, cultures and what leads to extremism/right wing ideologies.

2. Health and Wellbeing – Through this topic we develop the student’s knowledge
and understanding of the skills they need to develop to make informed decisions
regarding their own personal health and mental well-being.

3. Relationships – Through this topic we study the different types of relationships,
features and implications of positive and negative relationships. We then explore
sexual relationships in an age-appropriate way with learning focused on consent,
sexual health, body image, media, and social pressures.

PSHE topics are also supported using external agencies that visit every year, including
Lancashire Sexual Health and Safe Haven Children & Young People’s Service, Fylde
Coast Women’s Aid. The Military Preparation Programme also supports links with
Lancashire Police Community Education programmes around knife and violent crime, the
JJ Effect, and ‘No More Knives’.

The PSHE programme is led by Mrs Kirsty Kaye-Field (Head of Humanities and PSHE
Lead) alongside other members of school staff. The PSHE Lead will support non
specialist teachers in delivering high-quality PSHE education through detailed lesson
planning, monitoring lessons/work completed as part of the work scrutiny cycle and by
directing staff to professional development opportunities to enhance teachers’ knowledge
of PSHE subject matter and teaching approaches.

The PSHE Lead has invested in high-quality, editable and updated PSHE resources from
reputable sources specialising in PSHE education such as the PSHE Association, EC
Publishing and Cre8tive Resources to support this. These resources have been carefully
selected to align with our curriculum intent. They include comprehensive lesson plans that
are mapped to the PSHE Association schemes, are engaging, scaffolded, and incorporate
assessment for learning opportunities.

Our PSHE curriculum also incorporates varied and well-planned activities that support
the development of literacy and numeracy skills. This approach will reinforce the
importance of these subjects and provide opportunities for students to apply their
knowledge in real-life contexts, fostering a holistic understanding of PSHE.

Intervention

PSHE staff have the flexibility that, if the need arises, they may deviate from the
curriculum map to address safeguarding, behaviour and social issues affecting their
students. This may look like a standalone lesson or several lessons to intervene and
reduce misconceptions. The impact of this would be to decrease certain behaviours, raise
awareness and to build peer on peer relationships. Due to the nature of students
attending McKee at various times of the year, topics can be rolled over for a short amount
of time to ensure students are confident and have covered the content needed. The
curriculum will be revised to allow for catch up where content has been missed through
absence, external visits and interventions.

Impact

We aim to prepare students for life, helping them to really know and value who they are
and understand how they relate to other people in this ever-changing world. We hope that
through the teaching of the different threads in the PSHE and RSHE curriculum, students
will learn strategies to help them stay safe and healthy and be able to manage their
personal and social lives in a positive way. Key areas are revisited so students can gain
a good understanding of how to be healthy, how to create respectful relationships and
how to look after their mental wellbeing.

This can be seen anecdotally throughout school in the ways in which students interact
with staff and with their peers. Staff communicate very high expectations, enthusiasm and
passion for PSHE, and this is reflected through pupil voice. Students are clear on the
value of PSHE, for its relevance to their daily life and that they enjoy the lessons.

For each PSHE topic, students complete a baseline Confidence Questionnaire at the start
to gauge prior knowledge and understanding and return to this questionnaire to assess
endpoint learning. This allows staff and students to identify gaps in learning that may need
to be addressed further. Students also complete ‘End of KS3/KS4’ questionnaires when
they join the school. These ask pupils to identify what content they have previously
covered in mainstream settings. This enables staff to identify any additional topics which
may need to be addressed within lessons outside of the curriculum map.

Students are assessed through ‘low stakes testing’ in the form of recall quizzes and
diagnostic tests, built into each unit of work and challenge all abilities. This identifies gaps
and misunderstandings in knowledge and allows a comparison of where a student is at
the end of a unit against where they were at the beginning.

The benchmark against which progress is measured is the student’s own starting point, not the performance of others.

Subject specific terminology is taught and modelled by PSHE staff. Students are expected
to use this terminology in both oral and written answers. Knowledge organisers contain
vocabulary lists to help deepen the knowledge and understanding and is evidenced
through the growing use of extended writing and literacy exercises within PSHE lessons.
This is in line with the whole school focus on the development of extended writing across
all curriculum subjects.

Review

This document will be reviewed annually to ensure its effectiveness and relevance. We
will gather feedback from teachers, students, and parents to continually refine and
improve our PSHE curriculum. Regular evaluation and reflection on the intent,
implementation, and impact of our PSHE provision will inform future planning and
enhance the overall quality of education at McKee College.

 

Downloads

Link to RSHE Policy
PSHE – Curriculum Intent
PSHE Curriculum Maps
Link to a sample of PSHE Association/DfE approved resources for parents