Personal, Social, Health, Citizenship and Economic (PSHCE) education is an integral part of our curriculum and wider Personal Development provision at St Mark’s. It equips pupils with the knowledge, skills, confidence and attributes they need to flourish, make informed decisions and prepare successfully for life beyond school. Through PSHCE, pupils develop the understanding and resilience needed to stay healthy and safe, build positive relationships, recognise and manage risk, seek help when they need it, and make the most of opportunities in their personal, social and working lives.

Our carefully sequenced spiral curriculum ensures that important knowledge and concepts are revisited, reinforced and extended as pupils progress through the school. Learning builds deliberately on pupils’ prior knowledge and experiences, enabling them to develop increasingly sophisticated understanding and apply what they have learned to situations they may encounter in their lives.

Our PSHCE curriculum is responsive to the needs of our pupils and the context of our school community. Curriculum content is regularly reviewed and refined in response to pupil voice, safeguarding and pastoral information, emerging local and national issues, changes in legislation and developments in medical and technological knowledge. This ensures that learning remains relevant and purposeful, while information and resources are accurate, current, age-appropriate, unbiased and balanced.

At St Mark’s, PSHCE is delivered primarily by Form Tutors, enabling learning to take place within established, trusted relationships. Staff are supported to create a safe and respectful environment in which pupils can explore complex issues, ask questions and develop their thinking. Where specialist knowledge is beneficial, trusted external speakers and organisations enrich the curriculum by bringing additional expertise and perspectives.

PSHCE is an entitlement for every pupil. We recognise that pupils bring different experiences, needs and starting points to the curriculum and ensure that teaching and resources are adapted appropriately so that all pupils, including those with SEND, disadvantaged pupils and those who may experience additional barriers to their learning or wellbeing, can participate meaningfully and benefit from the programme.

Our PSHCE curriculum works alongside our RSHE, Careers and Safeguarding programmes as part of a coherent whole-school approach to Personal Development and Wellbeing. Together, these programmes help pupils understand themselves and others, develop respectful relationships, make safe and informed choices, contribute positively to their communities and prepare confidently for their next steps.

We evaluate the effectiveness of our PSHCE provision through pupil voice, curriculum review and quality assurance, using what we learn to continually refine the programme. Our aim is not simply for pupils to encounter important topics, but for them to know more, understand more and be increasingly able to apply that knowledge to their own lives.

Our curriculum is fully aligned with relevant Department for Education guidance on Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE).

 

Our PSHCE curriculum is structured around three core areas of Personal Development:

RSHE stands for Relationships. Sex and Health Education and it is a compulsory subject for all secondary students in England. The DfE guidance states that “young people need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way.” The aim of RSHE is to give young people “the information they need to help them develop healthy, nurturing relationships of all kinds, not just intimate relationships… This will help pupils understand the positive effects that good relationships have on their mental wellbeing, identify when relationships are not right and understand how such situations can be managed.” Health education covers both physical health and mental wellbeing. DfE guidance states that “the starting point for health and wellbeing education should be a focus on enabling pupils to make well-informed, positive choices for themselves.” 

DfE, Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education, 2019, p25

DfE, Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education, 2019, p3

 

The programme we use at St Mark’s is delivered through the Ten Ten ‘Live Life to the Full’ curriculum and a bespoke programme for KS5; this is balanced and  delivered in an age appropriate and inclusive way that is accessible to all. The content of the curriculum is based upon the God-given dignity of each and every pupil and, through an understanding of virtues, teaches young people to make healthy choices that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

RSHE is taught by a trained team of teachers and we deliver this through PSHE lessons for years 10 and 11 and on dedicated drop down days for years 7-9 and the sixth form. The team is made up of the RE department, members of SLT and the PSHE lead. Further information about the RSHE programme and when it is delivered is available in our policy and in the RSHE Overview document.

RSHE Policy

 

RHSE Overview Document 2024-2025

 

 

One of the most distinctive features of a Catholic Relationships, Sex and Health Education programme should be emphasising the vital role that parents have in nurturing their children on these matters. Ten Ten provides a variety of resources and tools to help engage with parents.

1. Parent Consultation Tool provides parents and carers with a full and honest appraisal of the Life to the Full programme, and gives parents an opportunity to ask questions about the programme.

2. Online Parent Portal provides an overview for parents of every session, including suggestions for Home Learning activities.

3. Hosting Parent Sessions provides a way for you to engage parents and carers in topics relating to Life to the Full by hosting information sessions either online or in school.

4. Parent Access provides access to parents of the lesson content their children will be studying in Life to the Full. This is either through the Online Parent Portal or through Full Programme Access requested by a parent through the school to Ten Ten Resources.

Log in details for the Parental Portal are shared with all parents prior to the delivery of RSHE. Please contact the school if you do not have access to this. 

If you have any questions about our RSHE curriculum please contact our Deputy Headteacher, Mrs McGinty through the Headteacher’s PA.