PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) at King Solomon Academy 

Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE), including Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), delivered via the curriculum, the school environment and the school ethos is an essential part of a child’s development. Not only does it provide information, it helps children develop their skills and form positive beliefs, values and attitudes.  

It is our belief that effective PSHE and RSE has a positive impact on self-esteem and enables our pupils to have a positive and healthy view of personal, social and health education, relationships, sexuality and sex and embeds a culture of both personal and mutual acceptance and respect.  

Although it is important that the PSHE and RSE programme recognises that there may be different cultural or faith-based views relating to this area of the curriculum, it is essential that what is taught reflects the diverse society in which we live, which includes LGBT+, and that all children have access to age-appropriate information free from stereotyping or discrimination. 

Since September 2020, the Health Education and Relationships Education (Primary) and the Secondary Relationships and Sex Education (‘RSE’) aspects of PSHE education are compulsory in all schools. 

In response to national and local policy change and a media spotlight on some key safeguarding issues for children and young people, we have reviewed our whole PSHE and RSE policy and curriculum. We have consulted widely on this, running: 

  • Focus groups with pupils from Year 5-Year 13 
  • Parent consultation coffee morning, an open consultation period on the website followed by a second follow-up coffee morning 
  • Staff consultation 

We have therefore updated our PSHE and RSE curriculum to ensure we prioritise learning more about consent, e-safety, peer-on-peer abuse and sexual harassment and sexual abuse. Our lessons are age-appropriate and we make every effort to ensure our pupils are prepared for the wider world. 

We teach PSHE along three themes: 

  1. Health and Wellbeing 
  2. Relationships 
  3. Living in the Wider World 

We teach PSHE in Drop Down Days every term. This allows our teachers to dive into greater depth with our pupils on complex and important subjects giving them the time and space to commit to learning new knowledge and discussing it properly. 

King Solomon Academy is a proud member of the PSHE Association.  

The PSHE Association works in partnership with organisations around the UK to provide diverse, stimulating lesson plans to support children’s understanding of themselves and the world around them. Organisations include the NHS, Winston’s Wish, Every Mind Matters and even the Premier League! KSA takes the best of these and adapts them to our setting to meet the local needs and priorities of our pupils. 

 

The objectives of the PSHE and RSE curriculum at our school are: 

● To provide the knowledge and information to which all pupils are entitled; 

● To clarify and reinforce existing knowledge and correct misconceptions and myths; 

● To develop and use communication skills and assertiveness skills to effectively manage the influences of their peers and the media; 

● To help gain access to information and support; 

● To raise pupils’ self-esteem and confidence; 

● To enable pupils to feel confident in building and sustaining positive healthy relationships with their own identity, and in their current and future relationships with family members, peers and the wider world; 

● To enable pupils to develop positive mental and physical health and emotional wellbeing; 

● To enable pupils to manage risk and make good decisions; 

● To enable pupils to make good financial choices, knowing about work and career opportunities as well as setting their own goals and targets 

● To develop media literacy and digital resilience; 

● To respect and care for their bodies; 

● To help pupils understand their sexual feelings and behaviours, so they can lead fulfilling and enjoyable lives; 

● To be prepared for puberty and adulthood (including parenthood). 

Below is our PSHE Overview which maps our learning outcomes all through King Solomon Academy. A key advantage of being an all-through school is our unique ability to plan for progression of children’s learning as they journey through KSA.  

For further information about PSHE at KSA, please see our Personal, Social and Health Education Policy PDF iconhere. 

If you have questions about the PSHE curriculum at KSA, please contact: 

Primary: Nick Walters, Assistant Principal (Head of Inclusion)  

n.walters@kingsolomonacademy.org  

Secondary

We are in the process of recruiting for this role.  

PSHE and Assembly Overviews

PDF iconPSHE overviews all-through.pdf
PDF iconPrimary assembly overview 2022-23.pdf

Diversity and Inclusion at King Solomon Academy 

We are delighted to have been awarded the Bronze Award from the charity Educate and Celebrate for our work promoting diversity and inclusion in our school community. We have:

  • Met with pupils across the school to learn what more we can do to include all members of our community
  • Revised our PSHE curriculum to include homophobic, bi-phobic and transphobic bullying
  • Updated our school policies to reflect inclusive, non-gendered language on identity and school uniform
  • Acquired new texts for pupils to read reflecting the diversity of contemporary society, addressing important themes and questions for our pupils to engage with.