PSHE
As a part of your child’s education at Abbey Gate College, we promote personal wellbeing and development through a comprehensive Personal, Social, Health and Economic, (PSHE) education programme. PSHE education is the curriculum subject that gives young people the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live safe, healthy and productive lives. It addresses subjects and issues which are relevant to our society and equips our pupils with skills to be able to make informed choices. The curriculums, approach and ethos at Abbey Gate College enable our pupils to be socially as well as academically astute.
PSHE education is taught throughout the school in every year group and is monitored and reviewed regularly by the staff and governing body. Within our PSHE curriculum we include RSE, (Relationships and Sex Education). RSE was made mandatory in all schools across the UK since September 2020. We have always believed PSHE and RSE to be important elements of the whole school curriculum and as such we are happy to be able to state that we already have a comprehensive, wide-ranging and engaging programme in place.
Mental Health And Emotional Wellbeing
Developing good mental health, self-esteem and resilience, dealing with stress, coping with change and loss, challenging stigma, recognising unhealthy coping behaviours e.g. self-harm and eating disorders, and how to get support or support a friend.
Healthy And Unhealthy Relationships
Expectations of a partner, readiness for sex, consent, recognising positive, healthy relationships, recognising exploitation and manipulation, abuse, sharing explicit images, impact of content on adult sites*, online relationships, and gender and sexual orientation.
*Research shows that many young people are being exposed to inappropriate adult content, often accidentally when it appears via adverts or pop-ups whilst using the internet. To try to reduce the harm of young people being exposed to pornography we try to highlight the pitfalls of it within relationships and concentrate on developing the understanding of positive aspects of healthy relationships including how to establish, generate and foster respect.
Money
Money, savings and debt; gambling; ethical choices about how we spend our money; consumer rights; financial risk.
Careers And Aspirations
Exploring different careers; goal setting; developing employability skills; enterprise projects, e.g. setting up your own business; preparing CVs and job interviews.
Physical Health
Puberty; drug education – including alcohol and smoking; healthy food choices and exercise; maintaining a balanced lifestyle; managing risks to health.
Personal Safety And Risk Management
Online safety; first aid; recognising and responding to risks in different situations; developing independence; travel safety.
Media Influence
Body image; the influence of social media on attitudes and decisions; being a critical consumer of information; fake news; propaganda; stereotypes; finding reliable sources.
Friendships And Anti-Bullying
Making and maintaining friendships; conflict resolution; peer pressure and influence; recognising and responding to all types of bullying including online; managing change and transition, e.g. to new school / leaving school.
Diversity And Prejudice
Celebrating diversity; developing mutual respect; challenging prejudice and discrimination including racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, human rights, British values and tackling extremism.
Sexual Health
Maintaining sexual health, types and purposes of contraception, negotiating contraceptive use, STIs, choices following an unplanned pregnancy, changing fertility and conception options and how to access sexual health services.
Family Life
Positive family relationships, diverse families including adoption and fostering, managing conflict in the home, the role of parents and carers, expectations of parenthood.
All our lessons are appropriately resourced from PSHE Association sites, partners or other relevant and recommended bodies. We have set up a spiral curriculum which ensures topics are not merely addressed as one-off entities but instead are revisited over the whole key stage and natural interweaving between topics also occurs. At all times lesson content is age-appropriate. Pupils in lessons are encouraged to openly discuss their views and ideas in a non-judgemental setting. Lessons are designed to be factual and to explore subjects. They are not directive or representative, necessarily, of a teacher’s personal opinions. We factually provide information in accordance to British laws and values and signpost children to sources of further information should they wish.
Occasionally visiting speakers will be invited to come into school to deliver workshops. We will only invite visiting speakers onto the school site if we believe that they add value to the PSHE / RSE curriculums.
