Kerr Mackie Primary School

PSHE

Intent

At Kerr Mackie, our pupil’s personal, social, health and economic education is an important and necessary part of their learning journey through school.

PSHE and Relationships Education at this school enables our children to become healthy, independent and responsible members of a society. It aims to help them understand how they are developing personally, socially and emotionally, and tackles many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up in today’s society. 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.

At Kerr Mackie, we use Mindmate to provide the children with the knowledge, skills and understanding of mental health; what is means, how it can be recognised and tools to empower them with on how to cope with mental health and related issues. It is important each individual child has the confidence to recognise when mental health may affect their potential to succeed to the best of their ability; seeking help from school staff, including our inclusion Team and our Mental Health Lead. Through our curriculum your child will begin to understand how it affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. We want to ensure each pupil is aware that Mental Health is important at every stage of life; from childhood, adolescence to adulthood. We will equip pupils with skills and knowledge to take into the wider world beyond Kerr Mackie Primary School.

Through using our spiral, sequential curriculum we aim to deliver activities which engage and challenge pupil’s knowledge understanding. We want pupils to know how important healthy friendships are and, how by sharing experiences, we can support each other during difficult times. Our pupils will be aware that friendships have ups and downs but will know that exclusion and violence is never right; friendships are based on trust and loyalty. Pupils will be taught how to manage conflict and seek help from others, knowing that this is not a weakness.

Implementation

Our spiral curriculum builds on from the PSED skills embedded in Early Years. Here at Kerr Mackie we follow a curriculum that focuses on

  • Health and Well Being
  • Living in the wider world
  • Relationships

These themes run through our teaching from Year One to Six building on the previous teaching and the children’s own knowledge. Each class has a weekly timetabled slot with each new theme starting with a baseline activity to gain understanding of the children’s knowledge. The teacher then uses our curriculum objectives to plan for the class’s individual needs.

As well as following our curriculum we also use Mind Mate which is a scheme of work written by Leeds City Council Health and Well Being Team that provides progressive lessons to support class- based discussions and learning around mental health and wellbeing. It focusses on the key skills of self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.

At Kerr Mackie we dedicate one afternoon each half term to teach these skills.

Impact

By implementing our curriculum, we are preparing our children to become thoughtful, caring members of society with the skills to challenge and question opinions and behaviour.

The impact will be measured through pupil voice, behaviour and discussions around school. Children should be able to speak confidently and articulately about the views they have but also be open to change these views through constructive conversation. Children at Kerr Mackie behave in a manner that is respectful to all, showing an understanding of the diversity within our community.