At Eastling Primary School, we believe that Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education is an essential part of preparing our children for life. Our PSHE curriculum supports pupils to develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values they need to become confident, healthy, safe, resilient and responsible individuals.

Our school values of excellence, kindness, honesty, respect, collaboration and perseverance are at the heart of our PSHE provision. Through PSHE, children learn to understand themselves and others, build positive and respectful relationships, manage their emotions, make informed choices and recognise their responsibilities within their school, local community and the wider world.

Our PSHE Curriculum

From September 2026, Eastling Primary School uses the 1decision programme to support the teaching of PSHE and Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) from the Early Years through to Year 6.

We selected 1decision because it provides a comprehensive, progressive and age-appropriate approach to PSHE. The programme is a PSHE Association Quality Assured Resource and supports the statutory requirements for Relationships Education and Health Education, alongside the wider elements of PSHE that we believe are important in preparing our pupils for their future.

The curriculum has a strong emphasis on giving children the knowledge and skills to make positive choices. Through engaging, child-centred resources and real-life scenarios, pupils are encouraged to discuss situations, consider possible choices and consequences, express their views and develop the confidence to make informed decisions.

What do our children learn?

Our curriculum is carefully sequenced so that children's knowledge and skills are revisited and developed as they move through the school. Learning is organised across key areas including:

· Keeping and Staying Safe – developing an understanding of risk, personal safety and how to seek help.

· Keeping and Staying Healthy – learning about healthy choices, physical health and positive habits.

· Relationships and Growing and Changing – developing positive relationships, empathy, personal boundaries and an age-appropriate understanding of growing and changing.

· Being Responsible – understanding choices, consequences and personal and social responsibility.

· Feelings and Emotions – recognising, understanding and managing emotions and supporting positive mental wellbeing.

· Computer and Online Safety – developing the knowledge and skills needed to use technology safely, responsibly and respectfully.

· Our World and the Working World – learning about families, communities, caring for our world, money and the world of work.

· A World Without Judgement – developing children's understanding of fairness, democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law, respect, tolerance, diversity and inclusion.

· Fire Safety and First Aid – helping children recognise risks, respond appropriately in an emergency and know how and when to seek help.

Learning begins in the Early Years, where 1decision resources support children's Personal, Social and Emotional Development through stories, discussion, real-life scenarios and opportunities to explore emotions, relationships, safety and the world around them. This provides strong foundations which are progressively developed throughout Key Stages 1 and 2.

Relationships and Health Education

Relationships and Health Education are statutory in primary schools and form an integral part of our PSHE curriculum.

Relationships Education supports children to understand families and people who care for them, caring friendships, respectful and kind relationships, online relationships and how to keep themselves safe.

Health Education develops children's understanding of physical and mental wellbeing, healthy lifestyles, online wellbeing, healthy eating, physical activity, personal safety, basic first aid, health protection and developing bodies.

At Eastling, learning is always delivered in a factual, sensitive, inclusive and age-appropriate way, taking account of the age, maturity and needs of our pupils.

Safeguarding and wellbeing

PSHE plays an important role in our whole-school approach to safeguarding. Our curriculum helps children develop the vocabulary, confidence and knowledge they need to recognise when something may be unsafe or worrying, understand appropriate boundaries, identify trusted adults and know how to ask for help.

Alongside physical safety, our curriculum places a strong emphasis on children's emotional and mental wellbeing. Pupils learn to recognise and talk about their emotions, develop strategies for managing difficult feelings and understand the importance of seeking support when they need it.

Our School Values and Picture News

At Eastling Primary School, PSHE is not limited to a weekly lesson. The knowledge, skills and attitudes children develop through our taught curriculum are reinforced through our wider school ethos, assemblies, everyday interactions and opportunities for pupil voice.

Our school values of excellence, kindness, honesty, respect, collaboration and perseverance are embedded throughout school life. Children are encouraged to understand what these values mean, recognise them in their own actions and the actions of others, and apply them within their relationships, learning and wider community. These values complement our PSHE curriculum by supporting children to develop empathy, resilience, responsibility, positive relationships and respect for themselves and others.

We also use Picture News as part of our wider PSHE and personal development provision. Picture News provides children with regular opportunities to explore and discuss current issues and events in an age-appropriate and accessible way. Through carefully chosen questions and discussion, children are encouraged to think about the world beyond Eastling, listen to different viewpoints, express and justify their own opinions and consider how issues may affect other people.

Picture News enables children to make meaningful connections between their PSHE learning and events taking place in the wider world. It supports the development of oracy, critical thinking, empathy and respectful discussion, while providing opportunities to explore themes linked to relationships, health and wellbeing, equality, diversity, citizenship and responsibility.

Together, our school values, Picture News and the 1decision curriculum ensure that PSHE is not taught in isolation. Children are given regular opportunities to revisit and apply their learning, consider real-life situations and develop the confidence to participate thoughtfully and respectfully in discussions about their school, community and the wider world.

This whole-school approach helps us to ensure that the principles at the heart of PSHE – respect, responsibility, kindness, safety, equality and informed decision-making – become part of children's everyday experience at Eastling.

 

Preparing children for life in modern Britain

Our PSHE curriculum contributes significantly to pupils' Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development and promotes the Fundamental British Values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance.

Children are taught to value themselves and others and to understand that families, communities and individuals can be different. Through age-appropriate learning about equality, diversity and the protected characteristics, we encourage our pupils to treat others with kindness, dignity and respect.

Ultimately, our aim is for every child leaving Eastling Primary School to have developed not only knowledge, but the confidence and skills to apply that knowledge to their own lives. We want our pupils to understand how to look after themselves and others, build healthy relationships, make responsible decisions, manage challenges and play a positive role in their community.

Our PSHE curriculum is about equipping Eastling children with the knowledge, skills and values they need to flourish – at school, at home and in the wider world.