Our PSHE intent

Our intent: Personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) helps to give pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy lifestyles and to become informed, responsible citizens. We teach PSHE with the aim to help children deal with the real life issues they face as they grow up. We cover issues including e-safety, road safety, friendships, first aid, sex and relationships, emotional health and personal finance.

Alongside weekly lessons, PSHE is enhanced through our supportive school ethos, where all children are valued and encouraged, positive relationships are seen as important and there is a safe and secure school environment in which to learn.

Forest school supports and enhances our PSHE curriculum 

To enhance our PSHE curriculum, we allow the children to grow as citizens of the future through Votes for Schools. Votes for Schools is an online voting platform which engages learners to discuss issues affecting them. By voting, the children are able to let the world know what they think about current topics.  

SRE

Effective sex and relationship education (SRE) is essential if children are to make responsible and well informed decisions about their lives. Our lessons aim to provide children with the opportunity to learn about:

  • Physical, moral and emotional development
  • Respecting the similarities and differences that exist between people.
  • The importance of stable and loving relationships,  respect, love and care
  • Sex, sexuality and sexual health.
  • The names of body parts using correct terminology and how their bodies work.

SRE goes beyond biological information and focuses on positive attitudes and values, developing self–esteem and the skills young people need to manage relationships. Our SRE programme provides information which is easy to understand and relevant and appropriate to the age and maturity of the pupils at our schools. The teaching of SRE will be supported by high quality resources and materials, and delivered through a framework of themes which guarantee that children are, subject to parental agreement, exposed to appropriate knowledge.

Our PSHE curriculum uses the Ofsted approved LifeWise resources.

 

How does Lifewise cover the RSHE 2026 guidance?

 

Lifewise provides a primary school PSHE curriculum for children aged 4-11 that is built to fully comply with the Department for Education (DfE) statutory guidance for Relationships, Sex and Health Education. All RSHE lessons are threaded into a wider whole-school PSHE framework designed to prepare pupils for life's challenges. To help schools navigate these requirements, the curriculum library includes an RSHE filter to easily identify all statutory content.

 

Relationships Education

For Relationships Education, Lifewise focuses on the "building blocks" needed for positive and safe relationships. It covers all five statutory categories required by the end of primary school:

  • Families and people who care for me.
  • Caring friendships.
  • Respectful relationships.
  • Online relationships.
  • Being safe.

In line with DfE guidelines, LGBTQ+ content is fully integrated into the "Caring and Respectful Relationship" categories rather than being delivered as a standalone unit56.

Health Education

 

The Health Education portion of the curriculum aims to give children the information needed to make good decisions about their own health, recognize issues in themselves or others, and seek support early. It covers the following statutory areas:

  • Mental wellbeing.
  • Internet safety and harms.
  • Physical health and fitness.
  • Healthy eating.
  • Drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
  • Health and prevention.
  • Basic first aid.
  • The changing adolescent body.

Sex Education and Biological Facts

Lifewise follows government guidance by not extending its curriculum to cover sex education beyond the National Curriculum for science.

It focuses on the purely physical and biological facts of human development, such as sperm production, fertilisation, and how a baby is conceived and born because these are considered biological processes, Lifewise indicates that these lessons are not eligible for parental opt-out.

Sensitive Topics and Safeguarding

To support safeguarding, the curriculum introduces the scientific names for internal and external genitalia as early as Year 1.

This approach ensures children have the vocabulary and confidence needed to report concerns or abuse. While menstruation and puberty are introduced in Year 5, schools have the flexibility to deliver these lessons earlier if their pupils' needs require it.

Implementation and Flexibility

Lifewise offers a proposed sequence for each year group, but this is not mandatory. Schools are encouraged to use the lessons flexibly based on their specific school demographic and present-day challenges. 

For Year 6 pupils, the curriculum also includes non-statutory supplementary lessons on global citizenship topics, such as law, tax, and the world of work, to help them transition to secondary school.

Parent Engagement

Lifewise supports schools in being transparent with parents by providing detailed summaries of lessons that cover sensitive topics. These resources help schools clarify which parts of the curriculum are statutory and where parents have a right to request withdrawal.

 

A wealth of information including the long term plans can be found here. 

Because of our curriculum, St Mary's children are: