Relationship & Health Education

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Relationships and Health Education at St Mary's

Intent

Our belief in the unique dignity of the human person as made in the image and likeness of God underpins the approach to all education in our school. Our approach to relationship and sex education therefore is rooted in the Catholic Church’s teaching of the human person and is presented positively and prudently. Stemming from this vision of what it means to be human, we seek to educate the whole child: spiritually, intellectually, morally, emotionally, psychologically, and physically towards our understanding of Christian maturity.

Implementation

To facilitate the teaching of RHE at Holy Family, we have chosen to use the ‘Life to the Full’ programme, recommended by Southwark Archdiocese. This is a fully resourced Scheme of Work in Relationships and Health Education (RHE) for Catholic primary schools which embraces and fulfils the new statutory curriculum.

Taught with a spiral approach to learning, in which pupils will revisit the same topics at an age-appropriate stage through their school life, the programme includes teaching about personal health, physical and emotional wellbeing, strong emotions, private parts of the body, personal relationships, family structures, trusted adults, growing bodies, puberty, periods, life cycles, the dangers of social media, where babies come from, an understanding of the Common Good and living in the wider world.

The entire teaching is underpinned with a religious understanding that our deepest identity is as a child of God - created chosen and loved by God. The programme is fully inclusive of all pupils and their families. The RHE programme of study forms an integral part of The Holy Family Curriculum and may be modified to take into account the needs of all pupils, ensuring appropriate progression as they move through the Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 and 2. Advice and support from outside agencies will be sought as and when necessary.

Impact

Through our RHE curriculum, we strive

To encourage children’s growth in self-respect, acknowledging we are all created in the image and likeness of God.
To help children develop an understanding that love is the central basis of relationships.
To help children to understand the nature of relationships and to encourage them to reflect on their own relationships and respect differences between people.
To develop children’s confidence in talking, listening and thinking about feelings and relationships.
To help children acquire the personal and social skills necessary to develop and sustain positive (healthy) relationships.
To offer sex education in the wider context of relationships (in close liaison with parents/carers)
To ensure that children protect themselves and ask for help and support when needed.
To ensure that children are prepared for puberty (in close liaison with parents/carers).
To educate and increase understanding of the child’s own growth and development and the different rates at which changes take place (in close liaison with parents/carers).
To develop respect for their own bodies and the bodies of others.
To provide an acceptable vocabulary for all parts of the body.
To promote the belief that each human person has a unique and special dignity and worth and is not dependent on an individual’s age, abilities, social acceptability or any other characteristic.
To enable the development of well informed, balanced persons capable of making choices and accepting responsibility for the consequences of their actions.
To be sensitive and tolerant to the decisions and choices that people make.
To foster the attitude that what we say with our bodies should reflect what we mean in our hearts and minds.
To help pupils to develop a healthier, safer lifestyle, including when online.
To prepare children to play an active role as citizens and to understand the Catholic vision of what it means to be citizens of the Kingdom/reign of God.