Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) consultation

As a part of your child’s education at Ranskill Primary School we promote personal wellbeing and development through a comprehensive Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHEE) education programme. PSHEE is the curriculum subject that gives children the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live safe, healthy, productive lives and meet their full potential.

Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) will be a statutory subject from January 2020. It forms part of the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE) curriculum and will be taught throughout the year to all year groups. This covers the following:

• Relationships Education: building positive and healthy relationships with friends and family members, respect for others, online relationships, positive emotional and mental wellbeing and staying safe;

• Sex Education: relationships and health, including puberty. This will be taught in an age-appropriate manner across all year groups. 

• Health Education: teaching the characteristics of good physical health and mental wellbeing.

More information can be found in the draft SHINE policy, linked below.

Below are the outlined topics relating to Relationships and Sex education, which are delivered in an age-appropriate manner.

The first is exemplified in the area of Me and my relationships: Relationships and Sex education

Pupils should know:                                                                                                                                               

• that families are important for children growing up because they can give love, security and stability               
• the characteristics of healthy family life, commitment to each other, including in times of difficulty, protection and care for children and other family members, the importance of spending time together and sharing each other’s lives
• that others’ families, either in school or in the wider world, sometimes look different from their family, but that they should respect those differences and know that other children’s families are also characterised by love and care
• that stable, caring relationships, which may be of different types, are at the heart of happy families, and are important for children’s security as they grow up
• that marriage represents a formal and legally recognised commitment of two people to each other which is intended to be lifelong
• how to recognise if family relationships are making them feel unhappy or unsafe, and how to seek help or advice from others if needed

As part of the National Curriculum for Science, we will also be teaching the following objectives within compulsory science lessons: 

Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Pupils should be taught to:

• notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults.

• that animals including humans, move, feed, grow, use their senses and reproduce.

Key Stage 2 (Year 5)

Pupils should be taught to:

• describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird.

• describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals.

• describe the changes as humans develop to old age.

• recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents.

Children in Year 6 will also take part in Sex Education, which covers conception, and changes in the adolescent body, alongside support for this. Parents have the right to withdraw their child from lessons involving conception, at the headteachers' discretion, however all other Sex and Relationship education lessons, in any year group, are compulsory and cannot opt out of them. This relates to the current government guidance. 

Assessment will take place in the form of class scrap books, where ideas are collated and referred to throughout the year; individual workbooks and discussions; quizzes and reflections. Individual teacher assessment is also used to inform further support or interventions.