SRE
(Sex and Relationship Education)
It is our duty, as a school, to ensure all our pupils are taught about keeping safe. At Earlsfield, RSE is taught within the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) curriculum and therefore has strong links with our school values of Care, Respect, Achieve, Challenge, Inspire and Enjoy. We strongly believe that a child’s wellbeing, health and relationships alongside resilience should be at the forefront of their education as they prepare themselves to face the challenges of modern life.
With this in mind, our objectives of RSE are to:
- Keep children safe when facing changes in their life
- Ensure children’s wellbeing is a top priority when learning about Relationships and Sex Education as well as Health Education
- Provide a consistent standard of relationships, sex and health education across the school
- Help pupils develop feelings of self-respect, confidence and empathy
- Promote responsible behaviour (in accordance with our Behaviour Policy)
- Create a positive culture of communication around issues of relationships
- Teach pupils the correct vocabulary to describe themselves and their bodies
- Provide an age-appropriate scheme of work in which sensitive discussions can take place
- Prepare pupils for puberty, and give them an understanding of sexual development and the importance of health and hygiene
- Give pupils an understanding of reproduction and physical development
- Ensure that all pupils, by the time they reach secondary school age, are well equipped and on an equal footing, to deal with the secondary RSHE curriculum
- To provide all pupils with knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will enable them to make positive and healthy choices concerning relationships as they grow up and deal with risk
- Combat exploitation
As a maintained primary school, we must provide Relationships Education to all pupils as per section 34 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/16/section/34/enacted.
In teaching RSE, we must have regard to guidance issued by the secretary of state as outlined in section 403 of the Education Act 1996.
Department for Education guidance states that by the summer term 2021 all primary schools were expected to teach Relationships and Health Education. The teaching of Sex Education in primary schools remains non-statutory, with the exception of the elements of sex education contained in the science national curriculum: including knowledge of the main external body parts; the changes as humans develop to old age and reproduction in some plants and animals. Other related topics that fall within the statutory requirements for Health Education are puberty and menstrual wellbeing.
Within the statutory guidance document for RSE and Health Education, the DfE also encourages schools to deliver age-appropriate sex education if they feel their pupils need this information:
“It will be for primary schools to determine whether they need to cover any additional content on sex education to meet the needs of their pupils. Many primary schools already choose to teach some aspects of sex education and will continue to do so, although it is not a requirement…”
“It is important that the transition phase before moving to secondary school supports pupils’ ongoing emotional and physical development effectively. The Department continues to recommend therefore that all primary schools should have a sex education programme tailored to the age and the physical and emotional maturity of the pupils. It 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 Earlsfield we follow ‘The Christopher Winter Project’ which has been quality assured by the PSHE Association. With a strong focus on safeguarding and keeping children safe, it provides teachers with clear objectives linking to the statutory framework and up to date resources appropriate for each age group. We think it is important that children as young as Reception age are included in RSE, especially with the fast, modern world around them encouraging them to ask more questions and want more answers. It encourages children to develop their listening skills and ways to show empathy by talking about feelings and relationships with people they trust. Vocabulary is also a key element of progression in this scheme and we believe it is essential for all children to be using age appropriate, scientific vocabulary that they understand when learning about RSE.
- Some lessons in Year 6 are not statutory and parents have the right to withdraw their children from 3 of the 4 lessons. If you wish to do so please email the Year 6 email address.
- In some lessons in years 5 and 6 the girls and the boys will be taught separately.
At Key Stage 2, the Science curriculum includes teaching the changes to the human body as animals and humans grow from birth to old age, including puberty. This remains statutory. Religious education links to relationships education by looking at family, values and morals, and the celebration of marriage in different traditions. Health education, which was made statutory in state funded schools from the summer term of 2021, includes teaching feelings linking to mental wellbeing, the importance of friends and family, the impact of bullying, and how children can seek help if they have worries. It also requires schools to teach about the emotional and physical changes that take place during puberty.
You can view our lesson plans and resources for Reception to Year 6 through the links below.
You can view our policy through the policy page.
Key objectives of the statutory Relationships Education curriculum are outlined below
Families and people who care for me
Children should know:
- that families are important for children growing up because they can give love, security and stability.
- the characteristics of healthy family life, commitment to each other, including in times of difficulty, protection and care for children and other family members, the importance of spending time together and sharing each other’s lives.
- that others’ families, either in school or in the wider world, sometimes look different from their family, but that they should respect those differences and know that other children’s families are also characterised by love and care.
- that stable, caring relationships, which may be of different types, are at the heart of happy families, and are important for children’s security as they grow up.
- that marriage represents a formal and legally recognised commitment of two people to each other which is intended to be lifelong.
- how to recognise if family relationships are making them feel unhappy or unsafe, and how to seek help or advice from others if needed.
Caring Friendships
Children should know:
- how important friendships are in making us feel happy and secure, and how people choose and make friends.
- the characteristics of friendships, including mutual respect, truthfulness, trustworthiness, loyalty, kindness, generosity, trust, sharing interests and experiences and support with problems and difficulties.
- that healthy friendships are positive and welcoming towards others, and do not make others feel lonely or excluded.
- that most friendships have ups and downs, and that these can often be worked through so that the friendship is repaired or even strengthened, and that resorting to physically or verbally aggressive behaviour is never right.
- how to recognise who to trust and who not to trust, how to judge when a friendship is making them feel unhappy or uncomfortable, managing conflict, how to manage these situations and how to seek help or advice from others, if needed.
Respectful Relationships
Children should know:
- the importance of respecting others, even when they are very different from them (for example, physically, in character, personality or backgrounds), or make different choices or have different preferences or beliefs.
- practical steps they can take in a range of different contexts to improve or support respectful relationships.
- the conventions of courtesy and manners.
- the importance of self-respect and how this links to their own happiness.
- that in school and in wider society they can expect to be treated with respect by others, and that in turn they should show due respect to others, including those in positions of authority.
- about different types of bullying (including cyberbullying), the impact of bullying, responsibilities of bystanders (primarily reporting bullying to an adult) and how to get help.
- what a stereotype is, and how stereotypes can be unfair, negative or destructive.
- the importance of permission-seeking and granting in relationships with friends, peers and adults.
Online Relationships
Children should know:
- that people sometimes behave differently online, including by pretending to be someone they are not.
- that the same principles apply to online relationships as to face-to-face relationships, including the importance of respect for others online including when we are anonymous.
- the rules and principles for keeping safe online, how to recognise risks, harmful content and contact, and how to report them.
- how to critically consider their online friendships and sources of information including awareness of the risks associated with people they have never met.
- how information and data is shared and used online.
Being Safe
Children should know:
- what sorts of boundaries are appropriate in friendships with peers and others (including in a digital context).
- about the concept of privacy and the implications of it for both children and adults; including that it is not always right to keep secrets if they relate to being safe.
- that each person’s body belongs to them, and the differences between appropriate and inappropriate or unsafe physical, and other, contact.
- how to respond safely and appropriately to adults they may encounter (in all contexts, including online) whom they do not know.
- how to recognise and report feelings of being unsafe or feeling bad about any adult and others.
- how to ask for advice or help for themselves or others, and to keep trying until they are heard.
- how to report concerns or abuse, and the vocabulary and confidence needed to do so.
- where to get advice e.g. family, school and/or other sources.
Statutory Science Curriculum links
In Key Stage 1 children learn:
- To identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body and say which part of the body is to do with each sense
- To notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults
- To find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air)
- To describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene
In Key Stage 2 children learn:
- To identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat
- To identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement
- To describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans
- To identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions
- To describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals
- To describe the changes, as humans develop to old age
- To identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood
- To recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function
- To describe the way nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans
- To recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents
Non Statutory Sex Education Links:
The DfE guidance 2019 recommends that all primary schools have a Sex Education programme tailored to the age and the physical and emotional maturity of pupils, and this should include how a baby is conceived and born. Although Sex Education is not compulsory in primary schools, we believe children should understand the facts about human reproduction before they leave primary school. We therefore provide some non-statutory sex education, covering how human reproduction and conception occurs. As stated in our policy the following learning intentions and outcomes are non-statutory and, as legally prescribed, parents and carers have the right to withdraw their child from these lessons. See section 6 of this policy for more information about this.
Resources
Year Group Overviews and vocabulary list
