Relationship and Sex Education at Parkwood

 Aims and objectives

 By the end of Year 6, children should have been taught about:

• the importance of family life, friendships and relationships including same-sex relationships, single parent families and adopted families (including online interactions);
• respect for the views of other people;
• respect for their own bodies and how to take care of themselves;
• respect for the bodies of other people;
• the importance of sexual activity as part of a committed, long-term, and loving relationship;
• the physical development of their bodies as they grow into adults;
• the way humans reproduce;
• relationship issues;
• sex abuse and what they should do if they are worried about any sexual matters
• the concept and importance of consent
• Some of these will be taught from EYFS and through to KS2; others are specific to older year groups, such as Year 6.

 What do we teach when and who teaches it?

 Whole-school approach

 Jigsaw covers all areas of PSHE for the primary phase including statutory Relationships and Health Education. The table below gives the learning theme of each of the six Puzzles (units) and these are taught across the school; the learning deepens and broadens every year.

 At Parkwood Primary School we allocate 1 hour to PSHE each week in order to teach the PSHE knowledge and skills in a developmental and age-appropriate way.

These explicit lessons are reinforced and enhanced in many ways:

Whole-school assemblies, our School Values & house points, through relationships child to child, adult to child and adult to adult across the school. We aim to ‘live’ what is learnt and apply it to everyday situations in the school community.

Class teachers deliver the weekly lessons to their own classes, where possible.

 Relationships Education

 What does the DfE statutory guidance on Relationships Education expect children to know by the time they leave primary school?

Relationships Education in primary schools will cover ‘Families and people who care for me’, ‘Caring friendships’, ‘Respectful relationships’, ‘Online relationships’, and ‘Being safe’.

The expected outcomes for each of these elements can be found further on in this policy. The way the Jigsaw Programme covers these is explained in the mapping document: Jigsaw 3-11 and Statutory Relationships and Health Education.

It is important to explain that whilst the Relationships Puzzle (unit) in Jigsaw covers most of the statutory Relationships Education, some of the outcomes are also taught elsewhere in Jigsaw e.g. the Celebrating Difference Puzzle helps children appreciate that there are many types of family composition and that each is important to the children involved. This holistic approach ensures the learning is reinforced through the year and across the curriculum.

Health Education

 What does the DfE statutory guidance on Health Education expect children to know by the time they leave primary school?

Health Education in primary schools will cover ‘Mental wellbeing’, ‘Internet safety and harms’, Physical health and fitness’, Healthy eating’, ‘Drugs, alcohol and tobacco’, ‘Health and prevention’, ‘Basic First Aid’, ‘Changing adolescent body’.

The expected outcomes for each of these elements can be found further on in this policy. The way the Jigsaw Programme covers these is explained in the mapping document: Jigsaw 3-11 and Statutory Relationships and Health Education.

It is important to explain that whilst the Healthy Me Puzzle (unit) in Jigsaw covers most of the statutory Health Education, some of the outcomes are taught elsewhere in Jigsaw e.g. emotional and mental health is nurtured every lesson through the Calm me time, social skills are grown every lesson through the Connect us activity and respect is enhanced through the use of the Jigsaw Charter.

Also, teaching children about puberty is now a statutory requirement which sits within the Health Education part of the DfE guidance within the ‘Changing adolescent body’ strand, and in Jigsaw this is taught as part of the Changing Me Puzzle (unit).

Again, the mapping document transparently shows how the Jigsaw whole-school approach spirals the learning and meets all statutory requirements and more.

Sex Education

 The DfE Guidance 2019 (p.23) recommends that all primary schools ‘have a sex education programme tailored to the age and the physical and emotional maturity of the pupils.

Schools are to determine the content of sex education at primary school. Sex education ‘should ensure that both boys and girls are prepared for the changes that adolescence brings and – drawing on knowledge of the human life cycle set out in the national curriculum for science - how a baby is conceived and born’.

At Parkwood Primary School, we believe children should understand the facts about human reproduction before they leave primary school so they will be taught this content in Year 6 as part of the ‘Changing Me’ puzzle piece in the Summer term.

We define Sex Education as learning factual information regarding human reproduction as part of the science curriculum.

Parents’ right to request their child be excused from Sex Education

 At Parkwood Primary School, puberty is taught as a statutory requirement of Health Education and covered by our Jigsaw PSHE Programme in the ‘Changing Me’ Puzzle (unit), and we conclude from the DFE Guidance that sex education refers to Human Reproduction. In order to teach this in a scientific context, and knowing that National Curriculum Science requires children to know how mammals reproduce, we have opted to teach this within our Science curriculum, not within PSHE or Relationships and Sex Education as we believe this is most appropriate for our children.

Therefore, the parent right to withdraw their child is not applicable.

We are of course happy to discuss the content of the curriculum. We will hold parent information evenings for each year group in Summer 1 to explain the content of the ‘Changing Me’ unit.