PSHE Subject Leader - Mrs K Burden
What is PSHE Education?
PSHE stands for Personal, Social, Health Education
PSHE education is a planned programme of learning through which children and young people acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives – now and in the future. As an Academy we have chosen after extensive research and recommendations from other schools in the borough to deliver our PSHE curriculum through use of a scheme called ‘Jigsaw – the mindful approach to PSHE’.
What is Jigsaw, and how does it work?
Jigsaw is a comprehensive and completely original PSHE Education programme for the whole primary school from Years F1 and 2 through to Year 6 (ages 3-11). It was launched in July 2013 and hundreds of schools across the country are using it.
Jigsaw has two aims for all children:
• To build their capacity for learning
• To equip them for life
Jigsaw brings together PSHE Education, emotional literacy, mindfulness, social skills and spiritual development. A variety of teaching strategies are used and are mindful of each child’s preferred learning style. Jigsaw is designed as a whole school approach, with all year groups working on the same theme (Puzzle) at the same time. This enables each Puzzle to start with an introductory assembly, generating a whole school focus for adults and children alike. There is a Weekly Celebration that highlights a theme from that week’s lesson across the school, and encourages children to reflect that learning in their behaviour and attitudes.
What impact has introducing Jigsaw had on our children?
Towards the end of the first year of us adopting the Jigsaw Scheme of work the staff delivering the lessons were asked for some feedback relating to its implementation. Here are just some of their comments;
In your opinion has it positively impacted on the schools ethos and culture? If so, how?
100% responded with ‘yes’ it has positively impacted upon the schools ethos and culture.
"It teaches respect, children develop understanding of others"
"It has helped to promote a culture of ‘it’s ok to be different’ and has helped celebrate those differences in a positive way."
"Everyone feels valued and has the opportunity to share their feelings"
"There is now a ‘whole school’ ethos about PSHE and as current Y1 children move to Y2, and R to Y1 etc. they will see the journey for themselves and it will have further positive impact"
How do you feel it has impacted on our pupils?
Do you feel it has developed the pupil’s emotional literacy?
(E.g. dealing with anger or stress in a positive way and being able to express themselves)
100% responded with ‘yes’ they felt it had helped develop the children’s emotional literacy.
"I have had children come up to me after playtime saying that they had fallen out but had used some of the skills learnt in jigsaw to resolve it".
"Personally for our class the children are able to deal with minor issues and are able to go to teaching/support staff if there are bigger issues."
"We have had lots of opportunities to discuss emotions and ways of dealing with negative feelings."
"I do not have a particularly boisterous class but on the odd occasions when lunchtime/playtime incidents do occur children are handling themselves and their emotions more positively."
"It has helped to build their confidence and express their emotions."
"We have a lot of emotional children who are able to explain and express their feelings in a more positive way."
"It has helped us to talk through what we should do in certain situations."
"Children refer to jigsaw lessons often when discussing behavioural issues/feelings"
"Its early days but once firmly embedded I can envisage a big impact. For some children it has begun to change the way they express themselves when dealing with anger/stress and we see evidence of this in class and on the playground as the children are not so quick to react negatively."
Do you think it encourages the pupils to become more open to discussing issues affecting their lives?
100% of staff responded with ‘yes’, it did encourage children to be more open.
"It’s given them the forum to be able to talk about issues affecting their lives within a calm, safe environment where everyone respects each other."
"Most issues discussed relate to school life, less about home life. All children do discuss topics openly and honestly and there is a respect for confidentiality etc. Jigsaw has been good for this."
"It gives the children a purpose and reason to talk."
"Because of the scenarios given via Jigsaw sessions it has given lots of opportunities for discussion."
"The children look forward to their jigsaw lessons as they enjoy sharing their thoughts, opinions and experiences."
"In Jigsaw lessons they do share lots and are very tolerant of what the other children say."
Jigsaw is structured into 6 half-termly Puzzles (units) with the whole school studying the same Puzzle at the same time.
The Puzzles are sequential and developmental from September to July.
Each half term we work on a different ‘puzzle piece’ of the jigsaw.
We thought it might be helpful to share an overview of what we will be exploring so that you can ask your child about it at home.
Our puzzles for the spring term are…
Dreams and Goals - Spring 1
We will be;
Relationships - Spring 1
We will be;
RSE Parent Workshop
‘Talking about our bodies, relationships and keeping ourselves safe’
We are currently working on reviewing and updating our current RSE policy so that we are ready for the statutory requirements which come into place in September 2020. So we therefore invited parents/carers to attend a workshop to share developments within this area. The workshop was led by Natasha Chamberlain who is Senior Education Improvement Advisor for Health and Wellbeing within Solihull Education and Improvement Service alongside our PSHE Subject leader Kate Burden.
Many thanks to all of the parents/carers who attended the workshop, we had a good turn out with over 30 parents/carers attending. You can access the Power Point presentation that was delivered as part of the workshop below (within our useful documents section), alongside the Jigsaw parent advice leaflets too.
Here is a selection of the comments that parents/carers were kind enough to put forward, following on from the workshop;
"I found the session really interesting and will make it easier when my child asks me questions regarding relationships. Thank you"
"Very good approach to learning in this subject. Very happy at how age appropriate this is"
"Thank you for today. Working together will prepare them for their future 'big girl' and 'big boy' talk. Food for thought and given me a heads up. Times are changing and it pays to be open and honest"
"A very informative workshop. Great opportunity for parents to gain an insight into this aspect of the curriculum"
"I liked the approach the school takes in this and enjoyed the session and info for my child and how to support them"
"I felt reassured following the workshop. I felt the two ladies that delivered it were knowledgable, respectful of parents views and delivered the information well."
"Thank you. Great parent RSE workshop. This provided me with useful and interesting information."
Please click below to view the following Policies:
The following websites give Information and guidance relating to how to talk to your children about alcohol awareness.
We have chosen to add this to our website in response to our most recent HRBQ data which highlighted that an increasing number of children are 'tasting' alcoholic drinks.
Each class in Years 1 and 2 elect 2 Playground Buddies at the start of each new half term. To be considered to become a Playground Buddy you need to be friendly, sensible, patient and most importantly be a good listener! You also need to have a good understanding of the school and playground rules and be able to set a good example as regards to following the rules.
What is the role of a Playground Buddy?
How do we spot Playground Buddies on the playground?
They wear a yellow high visibility waistcoat with 'Playground Buddy' displayed upon the back and each of the buddies wears a yellow Playground Buddy badge.
Each of our Playground Buddies is presented with a special 'Kindness Award' certificate during our celebration assemblies at the end of each half term. This is our way of saying a big thank you for all of their help!