Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education/Relationships, Sex and Health Education

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) is our comprehensive curriculum for supporting children's personal development, health, wellbeing and understanding of relationships.

We are required by law to teach Relationships Education and Health Education to all primary-aged pupils. We deliver these statutory subjects within our broader PSHE programme. Where we teach about human reproduction (sex education), we do so in line with the principles and approach of the 2025  Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) statutory guidance, in which sex education itself remains non-statutory (but recommended) in primary schools.

Our PSHE curriculum also includes age-appropriate aspects of economic education, preparing children to understand spending, saving and the world of work, and citizenship education including British Values, helping children understand their rights, responsibilities and role in society.

Our Vision for PSHE Education

At Chiltern Primary School we believe every child deserves an education that prepares them not only for academic success but also to thrive as rounded individuals in modern society. Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education sits at the heart of this commitment.

PSHE is not an add-on to our curriculum; it is fundamental to our children’s development as confident, healthy and respectful members of society. Through high-quality PSHE, we equip pupils with the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to stay safe, maintain wellbeing, and build positive relationships throughout their lives.

Our curriculum is carefully designed to be developmental and progressive. From the moment children join our school, they begin to explore emotional literacy—learning to recognise, name and talk about feelings. This foundation grows year by year, helping pupils to manage emotions, develop resilience, and make informed decisions that support their own and others’ wellbeing.

By embedding PSHE across our school culture, we nurture a community where respect, inclusivity and responsibility flourish. In doing so, we prepare our pupils not only for the challenges of childhood but also for adulthood, work and active citizenship.

We are committed to:

• Supporting the whole child - recognising that children's emotional and social development directly impacts their capacity to learn
• Creating a safe, inclusive environment where every child feels valued and able to discuss concerns without fear or stigma
• Building foundations for the future - providing age-appropriate learning that prepares children for the challenges and opportunities of adolescence and beyond
• Working in partnership with families, recognising that parents are children's first educators in many aspects of relationships and health
• Embedding PSHE across school life - not just in weekly lessons, but through our values, relationships, and everyday interactions

Statutory Requirements and Curriculum Framework

Under the Education Act 2002 and the Academies Act 2010, all schools must provide a curriculum that:

• Promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils
• Prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life

The Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (England) Regulations (updated July 2025) make Relationships Education and Health Education statutory for all primary-aged pupils. These subjects must be taught in all maintained schools, academies, independent schools, maintained special schools, non-maintained special schools, and alternative provision settings.

We deliver statutory Relationships and Health Education within our comprehensive PSHE programme, using materials from Jigsaw PSHE 3-11. This provides children with a carefully sequenced, age-appropriate curriculum that meets all statutory requirements whilst also developing wider personal and social capabilities. Our PSHE curriculum also supports our safeguarding responsibilities as set out in Keeping Children Safe in Education and the Prevent Duty, helping children to recognise concerns, stay safe online and offline, and seek help when needed.

Our curriculum addresses all statutory requirements including:

• Families and people who care for me
• Caring friendships
• Respectful, kind relationships
• Online safety and awareness
• Being safe
• Mental wellbeing
• Internet safety and harms
• Physical health and fitness
• Healthy eating
• Drugs, alcohol, tobacco and vaping
• Health protection and prevention
• Basic first aid
• Developing bodies (including puberty as part of Health Education)

We use Jigsaw PSHE as our curriculum framework because it provides a comprehensive, carefully sequenced scheme of work that brings consistency and progression to children's learning across their primary years. Built on current research and best practice in child development, safeguarding and health education, it is kept continuously up to date with evolving statutory guidance and enables us to deliver high-quality PSHE education that meets our children's needs. The programme is distinctive in its approach including:

Emotional literacy at the core - Every Jigsaw lesson systematically develops children's emotional vocabulary and understanding. Children learn to recognise, name and talk about a wide range of feelings in themselves and others. This emotional literacy supports children's ability to share and discuss things that are important in their lives, to seek help when needed, and to build positive relationships.

Mindful practice - Every Jigsaw lesson begins with 'Calm Me Time', a mindfulness activity designed to support self-regulation and create a safe, focused space for learning. This consistent practice forms part of our approach to children's emotional wellbeing and helps children to be ready for open, thoughtful discussion.

Connection and community - The 'Connect Us' activity in every lesson strengthens relationships within the class and develops children's social skills, building a sense of belonging and mutual respect that underpins all learning.

Developing skills for respectful dialogue - PSHE lessons provide regular opportunities for children to develop and practise essential communication skills including listening to others, expressing their own views clearly and respectfully, considering different perspectives, and engaging in constructive discussion. These oracy skills are fundamental to building positive relationships and respectful communities, enabling children to navigate differences with kindness and to participate confidently in democratic discussion.

Age-appropriate spiral curriculum - Topics are revisited across year groups with increasing depth and complexity, enabling children to build on prior learning in line with their developing maturity and understanding, with teachers able to adapt according to their pupils’ needs.

Interactive, participative teaching - Lessons are designed to be engaging and active, using discussion, role-play, problem-solving and creative activities to develop skills alongside knowledge. Children don't just gain information - they explore topics in age-appropriate ways and develop practical skills that support them in their everyday lives.

The Six Jigsaw Puzzles

Our PSHE curriculum is organised into six themed units ('Puzzles'), each taught for approximately half a term:

Relationships and Health Education: Statutory Content

Relationships Education

Relationships Education is compulsory for all primary-aged children and there is no right of withdrawal. It focuses on teaching children the fundamental building blocks of positive, respectful relationships with family, friends, peers and adults.

By the end of primary school, our children will understand:

• Families and people who care for me - That families come in many forms and all can provide love, security and stability; the characteristics of healthy family life; how to recognise unhealthy family relationships and seek help; marriage and civil partnerships as legal commitments.
• Caring friendships - How friendships contribute to happiness and security; characteristics of healthy friendships including mutual respect, trust, loyalty and kindness; how to recognise and navigate friendship difficulties; how to make and maintain positive friendships.
• Respectful, kind relationships - The importance of paying attention to others' needs; setting and respecting boundaries; communicating effectively and managing conflict with kindness; the importance of respect and self-respect; different types of bullying and how to respond; understanding stereotypes and how to challenge them.
• Online safety and awareness - How to behave respectfully online; critically evaluating online relationships and information; understanding privacy and personal information; recognising and reporting online risks; age restrictions for social media; understanding that content online can be inappropriate or upsetting.
• Being safe - Understanding appropriate and inappropriate boundaries; concepts of privacy and consent; that each person's body belongs to them; how to recognise when relationships are unsafe; how to respond to concerning adults; how to report abuse and seek help with confidence.

Health Education

Health Education is compulsory for all primary-aged children and there is no right of withdrawal. It focuses on supporting children to make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing.

By the end of primary school, our children will understand:

• Mental wellbeing - The normal range of emotions; how to recognise, talk about and manage feelings; simple self-care techniques; that mental health challenges are common and can be supported; where and how to seek help when needed.
• Internet safety and harms - The benefits and risks of internet use; rationing screen time; recognising and displaying respectful online behaviour; age restrictions on games and apps; being discerning about online information; where to report concerns.
• Physical health and fitness - Benefits of an active lifestyle; building regular physical activity into routines; risks of inactive lifestyles; when to seek health support.
• Healthy eating - What constitutes a healthy diet; principles of healthy meal planning; risks of unhealthy eating including impacts on teeth and weight; impacts of alcohol on health.
• Drugs, alcohol, tobacco and vaping - Age-appropriate facts about legal and illegal substances and associated risks, including the risks of nicotine addiction.

• Health protection and prevention - Recognising early signs of illness; sun safety; importance of good quality sleep; dental health and oral hygiene; personal hygiene and germ spread; facts about vaccination and immunisation.
• Personal safety - Recognising hazards and reducing risks; road, water and rail safety; when and how to seek help in emergencies.
• Basic first aid - How to make emergency calls; dealing with common injuries including head injuries.
• Developing bodies - Understanding growth and body changes during adolescence; correct names for body parts; facts about the menstrual cycle including physical and emotional changes (noting that whilst average age of menstruation is 12, it can begin from age 8, so we teach this content before girls experience menstruation).

Challenging Stereotypes and Promoting Respect

Throughout our PSHE curriculum, we actively work to break down harmful stereotypes, including gender stereotypes that can limit children's aspirations, reinforce inequalities, or contribute to disrespectful behaviour, and explain how some characteristics are protected under UK law. As children progress through the programme, they encounter several protected characteristics in age-appropriate ways, understanding why certain groups have legal protection from discrimination and how this relates to treating all people with dignity and respect.

For example, children learn that all people deserve respect regardless of their sex, and we challenge outdated ideas about what boys and girls "should" be like, what they can achieve, or how they should behave. We help children understand that boys and girls can have diverse interests, strengths, and personalities, and that qualities like kindness, strength, nurturing, and courage are human qualities that everyone can demonstrate, not traits that belong only to one sex.

Age-appropriately, we address how stereotypes and prejudiced attitudes, including misogyny, can lead to unkind behaviour, bullying, and a lack of respect in relationships. We make clear that everyone - boys and girls - has responsibility for treating others with kindness and respect, and that harmful attitudes or language are never acceptable.

This approach supports both safeguarding and the development of healthy, equal relationships, helping all children to feel valued and to respect others.

Sex Education at Chiltern Primary School

Sex education is not compulsory in primary schools, however the Department for Education recommends that all primary schools teach age-appropriate sex education to ensure children are prepared for the changes adolescence brings and understand how human life begins.

We teach age-appropriate sex education in Years 5 and 6 as part of our PSHE curriculum, going beyond the statutory content about puberty to include factual information about human reproduction. We believe this information is important for children before they leave primary school, particularly as children naturally become more aware and curious about how life begins and may seek information from less reliable sources if we do not provide age-appropriate, factual teaching.

We define sex education as learning about human reproduction. It is defined as those lessons covering sexual intercourse, conception, the stages of pregnancy and birth. It includes the emotional impact of having a baby as well as the physical facts. Sex education is not learning about different types of sexual activity. 

This is distinct from the statutory Health Education content about puberty and menstruation, and from science curriculum content about life cycles and reproduction in mammals, from which children cannot be withdrawn.

The following Jigsaw lessons in the Changing Me Puzzle contain non-statutory sex education content:

Year 5: Conception

Year 6: Babies: Conception to Birth

Parent Engagement and the Right to Withdraw from Sex Education

Parents have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education taught as part of PSHE. Parents do NOT have the right to withdraw children from:

• Relationships Education (statutory)
• Health Education, including puberty education (statutory)
• Science curriculum content, including content about reproduction (statutory)

Before deciding to withdraw a child from sex education, we invite parents to discuss their concerns with the Headteacher. This discussion helps us to understand the request and enables us to clarify the nature and purpose of the curriculum, discuss the benefits of the education, and consider any potential impacts of withdrawal on the child.

We inform parents about sex education content by sending curriculum information letters at the start of the summer term and holding parent information sessions where the materials that we use in lessons are available to view.

Responding to children's questions

We recognise that children may ask questions beyond our planned curriculum. Teachers use professional judgement to respond and may answer briefly and factually if age-appropriate, suggest the child speaks with their parent or carer, or acknowledge the question while explaining they'll learn more when older.

If a withdrawn child asks questions about sex education content, teachers will sensitively explain this is something their parents would like to discuss at home. We will inform parents so they can follow up.

Inclusive Practice and Equality

We are committed to an inclusive PSHE curriculum that is accessible to and respectful of all children and families.

Meeting the Equality Act 2010

We comply with the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty, ensuring that PSHE is taught in a way that:

• Does not subject pupils to discrimination
• Promotes equality of opportunity
• Fosters good relations between people with protected characteristics and those without

The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

Supporting Children with SEND

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive appropriate, adapted PSHE education that meets their needs. PSHE is particularly important for children with SEND, who may be more vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and bullying. Teachers adapt lessons to ensure content is accessible, using:

• Visual supports, simplified language, concrete examples
• Additional pre-teaching or small group work where needed
• Multi-sensory approaches and practical activities
• Extended time for processing and responding
• Personalised social stories or resources where appropriate

For some children with SEND, certain PSHE content may need to be taught in different ways or at different times to ensure understanding and safety.

Working in Partnership with Parents and Carers

We recognise that parents and carers are children's first and most important educators, particularly regarding relationships and health. Effective PSHE education works in partnership with families, supporting parents to continue conversations started in school and keeping them informed about what their children are learning.

Consultation and Communication

We want parents to feel informed about what their children are learning in PSHE. We provide several ways for parents to access information about the curriculum:

We engage with parents and carers throughout the year and when developing and reviewing our PSHE policy, seeking their views on content, approach and resources. This includes:

• Regular communication about PSHE curriculum through newsletters, class communications and our website
• Opportunities to view teaching materials
• Parent information sessions to explain curriculum content and answer questions, with opportunities to view teaching materials