Intent

PSHE education enables our children to become healthy, independent and responsible members of a 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 our children with opportunities for them to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society. Our children are encouraged to develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community.

The curriculum will demonstrate appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding to fulfil the duties of the Relations Education (RE), Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education (HE) whereby schools must provide a ‘balanced and broadly-based curriculum which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils and prepares them for the opportunities and responsibilities and experiences for later life.

Implementation

At Great Barton the PSHE Curriculum is delivered through using the new framework provided by the PSHE Association in September 2020 in line with statutory requirements.

3 key themes ‘Health and Well-being’, ‘Relationships’ and ‘Living in the Wider World’ are visited in every year group from Year 1 to 6. The EYFS programme has also now been adapted to fit with the PSHE Association format to ensure continuity throughout the school.

There is an overarching key question as the focus for each half term or term. These begin in key stage 1 as ‘What? And ‘Who?’’ questions and build throughout Key Stage 2 into ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’ questions.

Each year group is provided with a medium - term plan overview detailing the objectives to be covered during each half term along with suggested resources that can be used. 

The school also has access to the PSHE Association website which is continually being updated with up-to-date resources. Teachers then plan their lessons using these suggestions whilst considering the needs of their class. 

Impact

Children will demonstrate and apply the School Values of ‘Growth, Respect, Enjoy, Achieve and Team.’

There are also 12 Christian values that are focused on as well as our British Values of Democracy, Tolerance, Mutual Respect, Rule of Law and Liberty.

Children will demonstrate a healthy outlook towards school – attendance will be in-line with national and behaviour will be good.

Children will achieve age related expectations across the wider curriculum.

Children will become healthy and responsible members of society.

Children will be on their journey preparing them for life and work in modern Britain.

We aim to equip pupils with a sound understanding of risk and with the knowledge and skills necessary to make safe and informed decisions.

PSHE is integral to the development of children’s values in order for them to become a positive citizen in a forever changing community. PSHE is everywhere - in discreet lesson, as part of the wider curriculum and as an important part of school assemblies where children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural curiosity is stimulated, challenged and nurtured.

Assessment and Monitoring

In lessons teachers can monitor the impact of the lesson/unit by comparing the baseline task at the start with what is added by pupils at the end.

For each half term/term focus teachers currently create scrap books. Photographs of activities along with examples of pupils’ work are included which provides evidence of impact. Talking in lessons and pupil perception interviews provide valuable evidence regarding pupil’s attributes and skills, knowledge and understanding and grasp of key vocabulary and concepts.

At present, teachers provide attainment data annually at the end of the academic year.

Monitoring by the PSHE lead currently consists of: pupil perception interviews, monitoring of class scrap books, assessment data analysis, governor monitoring, long-term planning evaluation, resource monitoring/ordering and provision.

Plans for further monitoring include: staff questionnaires, learning walks, lesson observations and parent perceptions.

Enrichment

In addition to the statutory guidance and the ‘PSHE Association’ framework objectives, children at Great Barton also embark in a range of complementary experiences and activities.

Special days are regular features throughout the school year. Days such as ‘Children in Need’ and those that evolve in response to issues locally, nationally or worldwide give children the chance to see the effect of the wider world. Anti-Bullying week and Mental Health week provides a specific focus on our feelings and the school embarks on activities to promote this.

Everyday school life contributes to PSHE from the rules and routines in class, to the focus and celebration of achievements in class and beyond in our assemblies. Special jobs and roles within school and break/lunch times also contribute to the children’s wider sense of belonging to school, their community and beyond.

What's new?

December 2022

PSHE Ambassadors

Good morning Hare and Osprey Class,

Following my announcement in Greatness Worship on Friday we have had so many people sign up to say that they would be interested in becoming one of the four PSHE ambassadors for our school. 

Mrs Ratley and I do not want to choose just from the names on the list so we are setting you a little interview task to complete during the Christmas Holidays.

If you are still interested we would like you to make a short video.

As part of your video we would like you to think about and include the following things:

* Why would you like to be one of our PSHE ambassadors? 

* What skills do you have that would make you good at this role?

* Why do you think PSHE and Mental Health are important?

* What ideas do you have for helping us start a PSHE/mental health club in the new year?

* Do you have any other ideas or activities we could do in school to promote PSHE and mental health? 

Please upload your video to your google classroom or if you have any problems bring it into school on a memory stick. 

The deadline for videos will be Friday 6th January and I will try to do a reminder when we return after Christmas in the new year. 

Good luck - we look forward to hearing from you. 

Best wishes Mrs Millin and Mrs Ratley 

Children's Mental Health Week: 6th- 12th February 2023

As part of Children's Mental Health Week each class took part in activities to promote mental health on the theme of 'Let's Connect'.

Some classes completed some of the activities recommended by 'Place to Be' and some completed the 'Task Master' challenges.

During their Forest School session, Foundation Stage created self portraits. We also has a special dress up day to end the week where everyone was able to 'Dress to Express.'

Have a look at the photograph to get a feel of what we all got up to during the week.

PSHE Ambassadors 2023

Congratulations to Beth, Eva, Lucy and Sophie who have just become our new PSHE Ambassadors. 

They have been working hard with me, Mrs Millin, to start planning our new 'Chill and Chat' lunchtime club. 

The girls have designed invitations that will be given out to the Early years and KS1 classes initially. They have also been coming up with lots of different ideas for activities that we will do at the club.  

Mrs Green also told me that the girls recently spoke at a Governors meeting telling them all about the 'Chill and Chat' club and all of their other ideas that they would like to develop as part of their ambassador roles.  Well done girls - I am already so proud of you for all the enthusiasm and energy you have shown.

Chill and Chat 2023

Chill and Chat is currently run by Beth, Eva, Lucy, Sophie and Mrs Millin on Wednesday lunchtimes. 

Currently we have some children from the early years and KS1 classes who were invited to come along.

Chill and Chat gives everyone the chance to talk, build confidence, share worries, mix with different people and have fun.   

Sometimes we plan indoor activities and games and now with summer approaching we will also go outside for some fun making the most of the better weather.

Anti-Bullying Week 13th-17th November 2023

The theme for this year was 'Make a noise about bullying!'

We started off the week with a special assembly led by our PSHE Ambassadors, Beth, Eva, Lucy and Sophie and the members of our 'Chill and Chat' group. Lucy had great fun using the loud haler to get everyone's attention. The children explained examples of what bullying was. They also explained how negative behaviour became bullying when it was several times and on purpose. They acted out some different scenarios and everyone in assembly had to decide if it was unkind behaviour or bullying. To end the assembly we encircled the whole room in blue wool to show we were all against bullying. 

Throughout the week children took part in different activities to think about bullying. 

On Friday, to end the week, everyone came to school with crazy hair and odd socks so that we could celebrate our uniqueness. 

Ofsted: 14th-15th November 2023

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school’s established personal development programme supports pupils as they grow and develop. This highly considered and deliberate approach helps pupils to develop their character and independence over time. They learn about different relationships through the school’s highly effective relationships and sex education provision. Pupils learn about their mental health and celebrate difference between themselves and others. The ‘chill and chat’ club provides well-tailored opportunities for pupils to develop their self-confidence.

How amazing to have Ofsted make such wonderful comments about our PSHE curriculum and our'Chill and Chat' group!

I am beyond proud of the PSHE Ambassadors and 'Chill and Chat' children for how confidently they spoke to the Lead Inspector who came to join us at our lunchtime session. The children told the Inspector all about their anti-bullying assembly which they had done at the start of the week. Kiki told him about how nervous she had been to speak in assembly but how pleased and proud she was after she had done it. 

I am totally proud of you all - one for the amazing assembly and two for speaking up so well about PSHE and what we do in 'Chill and Chat.'

Children's Mental Health Week: 5th-11th February 2024

The theme this year was 'Our Voice Matters' which linked really well to the 'Make a Noise about Bullying' theme that we focused on before Christmas for Anti-bullying week. 

We had a special assembly led by the PSHE Ambassadors and 'Chill and Chat' group to launch the week. The children shared ideas about the huge amount of emotions we can feel. They also talked about good mental health and how this is shown. We had some questions for everyone to answer and they promoted the idea that sometimes we can have the same thoughts and ideas and that sometimes these can be different. We realised that both of these were fine as 'Our voice matters!' 

Throughout the week the children worked on different activities within class to promote good mental health. The week finished on Friday with 'Dress to Express'. 

The PSHE Ambassadors and Chill and Chat group came up with some themes which helped the rest of the school decide what to wear.

Children could:

- come dressed as their favourite colour or even as many colours as possible.

- come dressed as a favourite character, either from a book, TV programme or even as a famous person.

- come dressed as an animal.

- come dressed in their favourite clothes. 

The key aim is that everyone could 'Express Themselves' with, however, they would like to dress for the day. 

Our Voice Matters: Badger Class

To start our task we first wrote down all the things we had done during the week that were good for our mental health. 

Next we created a piece of work based on the theme ‘Our voice matters.’

We created a swirl showing things that matter to us.

The things in the centre are things close to home working out to things that matter linked to the wider world.

Meet our new PSHE Ambassadors - July 2024

Beth, Eva, Lucy and Sophie have been fantastic as PSHE Ambassadors for the past year and a half and have really promoted and developed their roles since they began. Sadly, with them soon leaving for secondary school we needed to start recruiting some replacements. 

In assembly the girls encouraged the year 5 children to think about becoming Ambassadors. Anyone who was interested, was then asked to write a presentation as to why they would like to become an ambassador and what activities they might get the children to do in 'Chill and Chat.' They then invited anyone that wished to be interviewed to come to the next 'Chill and Chat session so that they and the members of the group could listen to what they had to say.

We are pleased to announce our new PSHE Ambassadors:

Hollie

Isla

Liberty

Lilia

Mollie 

Our new recruits will now spend a few sessions with Beth, Eva, Lucy and Sophie before officially taking over for September. 

Thank you Beth, Eva, Lucy and Sophie for all you have done and good luck to Hollie, Isla, Liberty, Lilia and Mollie taking over. 

Good luck and Goodbye July 2024
I wanted to take this opportunity to formally thank Beth, Eva, Lucy and Sophie for all of their hard work over the last two years being our PSHE ambassadors. They have been incredibly dedicated giving up most Wednesday lunchtimes to work with our ‘Chill and Chat’ group. They have come up with all sorts of activities for the children to do as well as encouraging them to take part in whole school assemblies that we have created about anti-bullying and children’s mental health.
It is testimony to their hard work, enthusiasm and commitment that we have had 11 year 5 pupils come forward to be interviewed hoping to take over as their replacements. 
Well done girls on helping me develop the PSHE Ambassador roles over the past two years and for helping to choose your replacements. Let's hope they will be as brilliant as you have been.
I wish you good luck and all the very best for high school.
Mrs Millin.

Anti-Bullying Week: 11th - 15th November 2024

This year's theme was 'Choose Respect.'

I was so impressed with our new PSHE Ambassadors. We had a planning meeting where we started to talk about the assembly and started to think about what we could do and how we could include the 'Chill and Chat' members. The following week the girls turned up to our next planning meeting with lots of Power point slides that they had prepared in their own time. With a bit more work in our planning session and then in the next few 'Chill and Chat' sessions they had planned and created an assembly ready to show the whole school and to launch Anti-bullying week. Just brilliant! 

As part of the assembly the girls showed and talked through their slides. We talked about what respect meant and the ways we can give and receive respect. The children acted out scenarios showing respectful behaviour and disrespectful behaviour and everyone in assembly had to decide which was which and explain why. To end the assembly we again talked about the blue wool that we had strung around the hall to show that we are all against bullying.   

Well done PSHE Ambassadors and 'Chill and Chat' members - what a brilliant assembly. I'm so proud of all of you as you were able to stand up and speak out.

Throughout the week children took part in activities linked to the theme choose respect.

To end the week we came to school with crazy hair and odd socks to celebrate our individuality and uniqueness. 

Chill and Chat - November and December 2024

We decided to plan a craft activity for several weeks leading up to Christmas.

We all made Santa boxes. Each week we created a different part of the project. We had great fun helping each other as well as talking while we worked. At the end we had all created a Santa box that we could take home. We were all very pleased with what we created.

Well done everyone - this was great fun.

On Gold!

I am so very impressed by the hard work, dedication, imagination and initiative shown by Hollie, Isla, Liberty, Lilia and Mollie this term. They have been wonderful PSHE Ambassadors who have given up their own time to plan and run our 'Chill and Chat' sessions. They have been fantastically supportive of the children and it has been brilliant to see them all together having fun.

I had hoped for good replacements and these girls have certainly shown themselves to be the right recruits going beyond my expectations. Keep up the great work girls.

 As a reward for all of your efforts I am placing you all on Gold!

Children's Mental Health Week: 3rd - 9th February 2025

Thank you to Liberty, Hollie, Molly, Isla, Lilia and Esme for leading this morning's assembly to launch Children's Mental Health Week 2025. 

The theme this year is "Know Yourself, Grow Yourself".

This year the whole school is taking part in an art activity where children will learn more about themselves by imagining a plant in growth. It starts off by inviting children to reflect on the roots of their identity, what is important to them, and what helps them grow. They will then think about what is growing from these roots, as with greater understanding of oneself also comes an increased capacity for personal growth, resilience, and connection with others.

This year we didn't dress up as we have just taken part in a special fancy dress walkathon to raise money to create a special golden garden area. But the theme linked really well as plans are now being made to develop the area in the quadrant space in the middle of the school. We look forward to seeing the space transform using the £2852.50 that was raised from sponsorship. Well done everyone - an amazing amount of money and a lot of fun too.

Competition Time

Dear parents,

As you're aware, this week is Children's Mental Health Week and we are pleased to share a competition with you, should your child be interested in taking part.

Young Minds and M&S are inviting young people to enter their brand new design competition!

Young people aged 5 - 16 are asked to create a design for a new hoodie or sweatshirt – with the chance to have their design sold in M&S stores and online later this year. All profits from the sales will support Young Minds to help them keep fighting for young people’s mental health.

As well as having their design sold at M&S, the winning young person will receive: -

• An invite with their parent or carer to visit M&S’s London support centre and see their design transformed into artwork, or to tour the supplier factory in the Midlands and watch them be printed.
• The opportunity to participate in the product launch this September.
• Sweatshirts or hoodies for their whole class to wear for Hello Yellow on 10th October.

To take part, young people have been asked to create a design for either a hoodie or a sweatshirt inspired by what they would say to a friend who needs them.

Although we will be printing off the design sheets and sharing this with children in school, designs must be submitted by the child’s parent or guardian (age 18+).

Designs must be submitted by 11:59pm on Monday 31st March.

We will print off the design sheets for children to bring home from school, or to complete the design here in school, but here are the templates for the hoodie and the sweatshirt for you to print out if you would like another copy. Or your child could do their design on a plain sheet of A4 paper too. Your child can choose to design either a hoodie or a sweatshirt – the choice is theirs!  We are happy to scan any designs over to you for ease of uploading their entries if this helps - just contact either Miss Frost or Mrs Ratley.

To find out more about the competition and to submit your child’s completed design visit  https://mnsyoungdesignercompetition.powerappsportals.com/

Young Minds have resources for parents and carers to find help and advice if you’re ever concerned about a child or young person. You can find this on their website: www.youngminds.org.uk/parent.

Kind regards,

Miss Frost (Design Technology Lead) and Mrs Ratley (temporary PSHE Lead)