Mellis Church of England Primary School - 'To Be Our Best'

'Effective PHSE should equip children... with the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live healthy, safe, productive and fulfilled lives.' Sir Alisdair MacDonald.

PSHE Statement of Intent.

Intent

At Mellis Primary School, we believe that personal, social and health education (PSHE) enables our children to become healthy, safe, independent and responsible members of society. It aims to help them understand how they are developing personally and socially and tackles many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up. We provide children with opportunities for them to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society. At Mellis we are dedicated to ensuring that it is a happy, stimulating and caring place. We encourage our children to develop their own sense of self-worth by playing a positive role and contributing to the school life and wider community.

Implementation

We have established the idea of pupil voice within the school and children are encouraged to take part in a range of practical roles and activities that promote citizenship: School Councillor, Junior Road Safety Officer, Buddies, House captains, Sports captains, Head boy and Girl, Librarians. Children have opportunities to work with the local community: visits to church, charity fund raising, visitors to school.

PSHE is taught as explicit lessons, using as a base the PSHE association schemes of work, that are then extended and adapted to fit the needs of particular classes, making use of YMCA modules, mindfulness modules etc. It is also embedded in other areas of the curriculum and day to day life of the school.

Impact

We aim to support:

• Self-improvement (including through constructive self-reflection, seeking and utilising constructive feedback and effective goal-setting)
• Identifying unhelpful ‘thinking traps’ (e.g. generalisation and stereotyping)
• Resilience (including self-motivation, perseverance and adaptability)
• Self-regulation (including promotion of a positive, growth mindset1 and managing strong emotions and impulses)
• Recognising and managing peer influence and the need for peer approval, including evaluating perceived social norms
• Self-organisation (including time management)
• Strategies for identifying and accessing appropriate help and support
• Clarifying own values (including reflection on the origins of personal values and beliefs) and re-evaluating values and beliefs in the light of new learning, experiences and evidence
•  Recalling and applying knowledge creatively and in new situations
• Developing and maintaining a healthy self-concept (including self-confidence, realistic self-image, self-worth, assertiveness, self-advocacy and self-respect)
• Empathy and compassion (including impact on decision-making and behaviour)
• Respect for others’ right to their own beliefs, values and opinions
• Discernment in evaluating the arguments and opinions of others (including challenging ‘group think’)
• Skills for employability, including :

• Active listening and communication (including assertiveness skills)
• Team working
• Negotiation (including flexibility, self-advocacy and compromise within an awareness of personal boundaries)
• Leadership skills
• Presentation skills
• Enterprise skills and attributes (e.g. aspiration, creativity, goal setting, identifying opportunities, taking positive risks)
• Recognising, evaluating and utilising strategies for managing influence

• Valuing and respecting diversity
• Using these skills and attributes to build and maintain healthy relationships of all kinds
• Identification, assessment (including prediction) and management of positive and negative risk to self and others
• Formulating questions (as part of an enquiring approach to learning and to assess the value of information)
• Analysis (including separating fact and reasoned argument from rumour, speculation and opinion)
• Assessing the validity and reliability of information
• Identify links between values and beliefs, decisions and actions
• Making decisions