Personal, Social, Health, Economic, Relationships & Sex Education

Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education is a school subject through which children develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to manage their lives - now, and in the future. These attributes help children to stay healthy, safe and prepare them for life and work in modern Britain.  

At Goudhurst and Kilndown, we have a well-taught PSHE curriculum that helps children achieve their academic potential and leave school equipped with skills they will need throughout later life. PSHE has a particular impact on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. 

At Goudhurst and Kilndown we follow the SCARF scheme which we have adapted to the needs of our school and children.   Details of the units and learning objectives are on the Curriculum Matrix.  An overview can be seen here.

scarf editablelong termplanforpsheandwellbeingeducation eng v2 1 3 .pdf

It strongly meets the needs of today’s children and is regularly updated to meet these changing needs as well as meeting the National Curriculum suggested provision.  It also covers 2020 statutory requirements to teach Relationships and Health Education

We aim to develop the skills and attributes of resilience, self-esteem, risk-management, team-working and critical thinking in the context of three core themes:

• Health and Wellbeing

• Relationships

• Living in the Wider World

We also help the children learn about mental health as well as physical health as part of our whole school well-being approach to teaching and learning.  Children are taught how to describe emotions, discuss their anxieties and worries and develop coping strategies. We teach from two different perspectives of mental health: helping children understand, recognise and challenge prejudices surrounding mental health conditions and offering children strategies and support to protect their own mental health and emotional well-being.

Our curriculum aims to give our children the knowledge to understand the choices they face as they grow up and the skills to make safe choices as they prepare to become adults.  Pupils learn to recognise, name, express and manage a range of emotions. They learn about healthy lifestyles, personal safety (including on- and off-line), managing money, relationships and preparing for work.   Healthy lifestyles includes being prepared for puberty, drugs education (especially smoking, vaping and alcohol) and sexual health. We learn about developing positive friendships and also explore bullying and controlling behaviour, and what to do if a child is being treated in a way they do not like.

Topics and lesson content are adapted to the needs of each group of children and school staff are adept at making sensitive issues accessible to all children in a safe and supportive environment. We do this by each class jointly establishing appropriate ground rules such as listening to others, not making assumptions about things or people, being open, choosing to pass when discussing things and having a non-judgemental approach.  In EYFS and Key Stage 1, PSHE education helps children adopt healthy behaviours and strategies laying the foundations for more specific learning later on in more protective strategies in order to reduce the risk of children turning to unhealthy coping mechanisms. Where possible, we invite visitors to help with particular topics and link our learning throughout our curriculum.

Finally, we strongly believe that consultation and partnership with parents is an essential part of educating children across the core themes.  We therefore provide advice and information to our parents that have been created through a DfE, NAHT, NGA and ASCL collaboration.  We continue to offer an open door policy to all families who wish to discuss any queries and concerns they have.  

Character Education - We are committed to helping children develop a set of character traits, attributes and behaviours that underpin success in school and work such as:

• confidence, optimism, 

• motivation, drive, 

• neighbourliness and community spirit, 

• tolerance and respect, 

• honesty, integrity and dignity; and 

• conscientiousness, curiosity, focus.