PSHE at Ferham Primary School
At Ferham, PSHE is an essential part of the curriculum as it promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences for life in modern Britain. We ensure SMSC is developed throughout our curriculum; PSHE lessons allow us to focus solely on developing our pupils as well-rounded people.
The Department for Education (DfE) states that schools should make provision for PSHE education and our bespoke curriculum ensures that we focus on the wellbeing of all pupils in order to equip them with skills, empathy and confidence to be successful members of society now and in their future.
Curriculum Intent
Our PSHE curriculum is text-rich to equip pupils with a sound understanding of risk and with the knowledge and skills necessary to make safe and informed decisions. Supporting Ferham’s strong reading ethos, our curriculum incorporates picture books, poems and song in all Key Stages to introduce topics in a familiar yet depersonalised context and to allow accessibility to all.
At Ferham, we believe that our ‘Ferhamised’ curriculum , combined with assemblies, encompasses these requirements and more: is tailored to the needs of our children regarding our diverse community and the area around them.
Our children are taught to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance. We promote our children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development and actively promote fundamental British Values.
Curriculum Implementation
In each year group of KS1 and KS2 PSHE is taught weekly. In EYFS, preparation for formal learning of PSHE is through continuous provision based on the PSED strand of Development Matters. This provides a solid foundation for PSHE learning in KS1 and 2 by focusing on self-regulation, managing self and feelings and behaviour.
A typical lesson in KS1 and 2 provides explicit teaching of subject areas. Vocabulary is a key driver at Ferham, and not only is this part of the curriculum plan, it is taught explicitly at the beginning of each lesson and is added to working wall which is referred to throughout the unit to ensure continuous retrieval.
All lessons begin with a question which the children answer at the beginning of the lesson. Learning is contextualised using the carefully-chosen texts and further explored using a range of drama techniques. The question is then answered again to ensure understanding. Appropriate adaptation is made in all areas of the lesson to make learning accessible to EAL and SEND pupils. This could include, but is not limited to, visual stimuli, peer/group work and adapted resources.
Guest speakers are regularly invited into school to deliver specialised sessions related to the content of the curriculum or as part of our commitments to mitigate contextual safeguarding risks. Crucial Crew, for our Y6 pupils, provides an immersive experience in which they can further explore ways to maintain their own safety prior to transitioning to secondary school.
Our PSHE curriculum is complemented by an Online Safety plan for each year group based on the Project Evolve scheme. It is important to us that our children know how to keep themselves safe online. We also share concise and consistent regular updates with families via Class Dojo to support them to keep their children safe online.
The safety of our pupils - now and in their future - is paramount to us; we teach St John's Ambulance KS2 pathway and all children are taught how to make a 999 call.
The visitors above are accentuated by a diverse range of people from a myriad of different careers and workplaces who join us for our annual Careers Festival so that our pupils can link their own talents and interests to potential careers.
Curriculum Impact
We ascertain impact using assessment in three forms: assessment for learning; assessment as learning; and assessment of learning.
In PSHE, assessment for learning is continuous as teachers adapt their teaching according to learners’ needs, based on immediate feedback in lessons. This may include explaining concepts in different ways, using adult or peer support, or visual vocabulary.
In PSHE, assessment as learning is created through a well-structured curriculum which revisits themes yearly such as ‘keeping safe’ and ‘anti-bullying’. Similarly, whole school assemblies focus on PSHE themes and provide weekly retrieval practise of Ferham’s Rules, Vision and Values.
In PSHE, assessment of learning takes two forms. Firstly, class teachers assess children’s understanding based on their ability to answer a unit question which covers learning from all lessons of the unit. Secondly, there are regular pupil interviews carried out by the subject lead to assess the level of knowledge and understanding. The results of this monitoring enable the curriculum to be adapted to meet the needs of our children and the Ferham community and guides the planning of subsequent learning. Leaders will also use the attitudes and behaviour of the children to assess the impact of PSHE lessons and, where appropriate, reactive PSHE will be put in place to address any issues. These could take the form of additional lessons, focused assemblies or specific interventions.
The quality of the impact of the teaching of PSHE is assured through regular and varied monitoring: learning walks, pupil voice, planning support and scrutiny.
Parents will receive an overall annual assessment of their child’s learning in PSHE as part of a written report.
We will be adding or PSHE Curriculum Overview shortly.
