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Dear Parent/Carer,
Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) forms part of our offer around health, wellbeing and Character & Culture development. Its fully planned curriculum programme, delivered through timetabled lessons in Year 7-11, builds and develops knowledge each year introducing new age appropriate issues and relevant topics. In our last inspection Ofsted concluded that the programme contributes, ‘… very well both to pupils’ welfare and to preparing them for their future lives… with excellent provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development’ and that the promotion of ‘pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding’ (Ofsted, 2017).
Students will undertake a range of modules including emotional wellbeing, physical health, equality and diversity, social and cultural issues, bullying, online safety, environment, the law and substance awareness. Materials have been developed using resources from specialist sources such as The Tackle Homophobia Project, SHARHP (a clinically evidenced alcohol awareness project), Smart Moves Emotional Resilience, NHS Smoking Cessation, Home Office Democracy and Lloyds Money for Life. The full programme can be found on the school website- : https://seafordhead.org/our-education/pshe-wellbeing/
We have made the decision to run PSHE as a core subject but without accreditation to ensure the students get the most from their learning experience without the pressures of an exam. The assessment process within PSHE ensures that students reflect and consider their development of knowledge, reasoning, skills and understanding. These self-reflective grades are combined with teacher assessment and will appear in student academic reports as a percentage.
As part of the school’s PSHE programme every Year 7-11 student will receive Relationships, Sex and Health education (RSHE) lessons. Age-appropriate materials have been developed in line with the government endorsed PSHE Association curriculum and in line with new statutory guidance that came into effect in September 2020. Information regarding RSHE can be found on our website, in our new RSHE policy, and the statutory DfE guidance can be found on the government website-: DfE Link
At Seaford Head School, we recognise the importance of high quality RSHE which supports young people to lead safe and healthy lives into adulthood. RSHE is an entitlement for all young people. We believe that its delivery should be inclusive, taking into account young people’s protected characteristics, learning needs, health, culture, individual and family circumstances. RSHE at Seaford Head School will seek to enable young people to develop knowledge, gain information and explore attitudes and values.
We firmly believe that RSHE is most effective when provided in a wider context of social and emotional development and therefore our programme places the emphasis upon relationships, and supports pupils’ understanding and skill in developing positive and healthy relationships alongside sex, sexuality, sexual orientation and sexual health. It is not about the promotion of sexual orientation or sexual activity. RSHE follows a spiral curriculum, as recommended by the PSHE association and Sex Education Forum. This means key areas, such as healthy relationships, peer pressure and consent, will be revisited throughout the students’ experience in an age-appropriate manner, providing timely and age appropriate information about their bodies and relationships, so that they can make their transition into adulthood with the confidence and knowledge to understand what is happening to them, and hopefully grow into confident and healthy adults able to make positive choices.
Specialist workshops and assemblies will be delivered throughout the course of the year to complement the existing programme. Working with Public Health, we are leading on a county wide project that will see all secondary schools receive a package of lessons and workshops around Substance Misuse and Harmful Sexual Behaviours (HSB).
All of the work delivered in PSHE lessons will be enhanced by the ongoing social and emotional education that is imbedded across our curriculum and through our pastoral support system. The school regularly engages with external agencies and partners to ensure the welfare and wellbeing needs of our students is met to the best of our ability. In addition to the educational delivery around health we have an extensive support provision within the school to support students physical and emotional wellbeing, further details of which can be found here-: https://seafordhead.org/parents/supporting-your-child/ . We have a tiered approach to support young people making sure we can give the right support at the right time. For targeted and enhanced support, students are usually referred in by year group teams, but students as well as parents and carers can also email health@seafordhead.org to get support for their child. If you are concerned about the wellbeing of your child around the issues mentioned in this letter or any other health and wellbeing aspects, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with the school initially via the year group teams.
As part of the ongoing reflection and planning process of PSHE we regularly consult students to ensure the programme meets their needs. We also would like to gain regular parent and carer views on PSHE and as such have an ongoing survey open for you to access at any point: Survey Link
If you have any questions about PSHE, health or student Wellbeing at Seaford Head School please visit our website for more information, contact your child’s Director of Learning or myself.
Mr Sam Whittaker
Assistant Headteacher
East Sussex Secondary PSHE Lead- Public Health
Phone : 01323 872724
Email : SamWhittaker@seafordhead.org
Health & Wellbeing : health@seafordhead.org
