PSHE teaches a huge range of vital skills, including how to stay safe, how to live a healthy life and how to respect and look after others. It also provides a huge range of opportunities to develop our learning powers, particularly empathy, independence and co-operation. To find out more about what we teach and how learnng fits together, take a look at our skills and knowledge progression:  

• Skills and Knowledge Progression : PSHE
   

The aim of our PSHE curriculum

We want our children to develop the skills and understanding needed to become open, principled and engaged citizens in contemporary society. We want them to know how to stay safe and make good decisions; how to protect their own rights and stand up for the rights of others; how to live a healthy lifestyle; and how to be ready for life and work beyond school. Moreover, they need to leave our school understanding and embracing the values of liberty, equality, democracy, the rule of law and a sense of right and wrong. 

To that end, we have built on both guidance from the PSHE Association and, in particular, the One Decision programme of study to provide an education that reflects the needs of our diverse community. We know that many of our children are vulnerable and that parts of Stevenage are not the safest places in which to grow up, and as a result we put a strong focus on the themes of Keeping & Staying Safe and Being Responsible. We also know that our town has high rates of smoking, obesity and teenage pregnancy, and therefore the themes of Keeping Healthy and Relationships are important to us, too. We further support our Relationship and Sex Education through a programme run each year by Big Talk Education, providing age-appropriate sessions to all children from Nursery to Year 6. 

Finally, we want out children to be engaged and active members of society, keen to share their ideas, become leaders in their community and pursue ambitious goals. To support this, we encourage open discussions in lessons, learn about money and the world of work and offer children opportunities to take on leadership roles.

Experiences we want every child to have at Bedwell:

• Have opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge in safe, real-life contexts (eg. Hazard Alley, Kidzania, Crucial Crew) 
• Take on positions of responsibility and leadership within school (School Council, Prefects, Sports Crew) 
• Participate in democracy, through annual School Council elections in Years 1-6 (with speeches, voting papers, a secret ballot and all votes counted) 
• Meet local leaders in a range of fields (councillors, faith leaders, business people etc.) and learn about their role and the skills they need to be successful 
• Participate in fundraising and other charity events (such as Race for Life, NSPCC Dance-a-thon, bake sales and food bank collections) 
• Have regular opportunities to discuss personal views, ideas and beliefs in an open, trusting environment

This term's learning

Our assemblies in the second half of the Autumn term were led by Eddy Empathy, focussing on themes of understanding, respect and honesty - you can watch them here.