PSHE / RSHE FAQ’s

Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education is a non-statutory curriculum subject. This subject covers learning that supports the development of knowledge, skills and attributes for young people to keep healthy and safe, and to live and work in modern Britain.

Relationships, Sex & Health Education (RSHE).  These are three new subjects for schools. Statutory guidance for Relationships, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health education was published by the Department for Education in June 2019. This new guidance outlines what schools must cover across these subjects from September 2020.

Although health education is part of PSHE, it will now be a standalone subject. No changes have been made to the status of economic wellbeing and careers education at this time.

DfE Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education (June 2019).

Download (577KB - PDF)

The background to the development of the guidance is available on the Gov.UK site.

RSE and SRE are often used interchangeably; both refer to Relationships and Sex Education. The new Statutory guidance for Relationships, RSE and Health education published in June 2019 will replace existing statutory SRE guidance from 2000. 

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development is the over-arching umbrella that encompasses personal development across the whole curriculum. Expected SMSC development in pupils is defined in the Ofsted School inspection handbook (November 2019).  PSHE and RSHE are key aspects of SMSC development in schools.

From 2020 mandatory for:

• All primary schools (maintained, academies or independent) to provide relationships education (and will retain their current choice to teach age-appropriate sex education).
• All secondary schools (maintained, academies or independent) to provide relationships and sex education (RSE).
• ALL state funded schools to teach health education (currently mandatory for independent schoolstoteachPSHE).

  Schools teaching SEND students and PRU's also included.

The subject of Relationships Education at Primary School include learning about;

• Families and people who care for me.
• Caring friendships.
• Respectful relationships.
• Online relationships.
• Being safe.

 

Relationships & Sex Education at Secondary School includes learning about;

• Families.
• Respectful relationships including friendships.
• Online and media.
• Being safe.
• Intimate and sexual relationships including sexual health.

 

Health Education;

At primary and secondary school includes learning about;

• Mental wellbeing.
• Internet safety and harms.
• Physical health and fitness.
• Healthy eating.
• Facts and risks associated with drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
• Health and prevention.
• Basic first aid.
• Changing adolescent body.

 

The PSHE Association have produced a summary explaining what the statutory changes mean for primary and secondary schools, with FAQ's and top tips.  

Statutory Relationships and Health Education explainer for KS1-2

Download (494KB - PPTX)

Statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education for KS3-4

Download (498KB - PPTX)

School-based health education has benefits on both health and wellbeing and educational outcomes.  This includes improved dietary habits, physical activity and social skills, and reductions in bullying.

The Department of Education (2015) highlight the potential benefit of PSHE education on educational outcomes as ‘A virtuous circle can be achieved, whereby pupils with better health and well-being can achieve better academically, which in turn leads to greater success’.

It is important to note these benefits are achieved when the provision of learning is underpinned by a well-planned and delivered programme.  While many schools do provide a good programme, this has not been delivered universally to all young people.  In a 2013 report, a lack of high quality, age-appropriate sex and relationships education was noted in more than a third of schools (PSHE: Not Yet Good Enough 2013). 

One of the risks of insufficient or inadequate education is that this may leave children vulnerable to inappropriate sexual behaviours and sexual exploitation. Therefore, the new guidance has significant focus on understanding and identifying healthy and unhealthy behaviours, to help children and young people keep safe. 

The subject of PSHE education hasn’t been made statutory.  However, section 2.5 of the national curriculum states that all state schools ‘should make provision for personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), drawing on good practice'. The Department for Education (DfE) consider PSHE education ‘an important and necessary part of all pupils’ education and the vast majority of schools have some kind of PSHE provision.

It is important to also note that with the introduction of the statutory guidance from September 2020, the majority of PSHE education will be compulsory in all schools.

The small number of PSHE areas that have not yet been made compulsory, remain important and necessary learning and therefore should be included within school’s coherent programme of learning.

(Note: PSHE education is compulsory in independent schools.)

This is entirely up to the school. The main things are to ensure descriptions are consistent and that all understood what is meant by it. It must include all the elements of the statutory guidance and meet the needs of the pupils.  Some schools are choosing alternative names for the subject in the timetable to capture the teaching, for example, ‘Life’ or ‘Wellbeing’.

The subjects will be made part of the basic school curriculum, which allows schools flexibility in developing their planned programme, integrated within a broad and balanced curriculum.

The guidance is clear on the themes and issues to be covered, in an age-appropriate way, building knowledge and life skills over time in a way that prepares pupils for issues they will soon face.

The guidance outlines some key school requirements in the way the subjects are planned and delivered.

This includes that there is a “planned programme of lessons” delivered and assessed in a “carefully sequenced way”.  The subjects are properly “resourced, staffed and timetabled”, with a dedicated “subject lead”, not just replaced by a series of visiting speakers or isolated interventions. External providers can play an important role in enhancing planned provision with specialist knowledge it is vital that schools choose wisely.

Therefore, schools will need to commit sufficient time in the timetable for these subjects.  One-off themed assemblies or drop-down days will not be sufficient.  

The content and method of teaching should be “inclusive, age-appropriate, sensitive and accessible for all”.  The same high expectations should apply for the quality of these subjects as for other curriculum areas. There should be regular feedback on pupil progress in these subjects and the curriculum should be designed to build on the knowledge pupils have previously acquired.

Schools will need to consider the support teaching staff may require if they are new to delivering these subjects.  In a 2019 survey of teaching staff in Doncaster schools 40% of respondents had never had any RSE training.

Learning in these subjects should support the protected characteristics of the Equality Act (2010). These are age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity.  Schools can choose to consider the faith perspective on some issues, within the context of “balanced debate” that includes the law.  Young people need to clearly understand what the law allows and does not allow.

Flexibility is provided for schools in developing their planned programme, but it must be integrated within a broad and balanced curriculum.  The guidance is clear on the themes and issues RSE should cover, in an age-appropriate way and the expected learning at the end of primary school and secondary school.   The Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives team along with the Learning Opportunities team at Doncaster Council have purchased a RSHE (5-16) Scheme Of Work which will be made available for all Doncaster Schools, to ensure there is universal access to good quality, evidence-based information and resources that form the teaching of these subjects.  It includes learning for all the elements that is required to meet the statutory guidance. 

More details on the Scheme of Work are here.

Schools should note that the guidance is very clear that the programme should be tailored to meet the needs of their school community, this may include adding in further topics or going into more detail, covering some learning earlier, revisiting topics again in later years etc.

The new Ofsted education inspection framework came into effect from September 2019. Ofsted (2019) Education Inspection Framework. The new Ofsted framework is built on four key judgements: ‘quality of education’, ‘behaviour and attitudes’, ‘personal development’ and ‘leadership and management’. 

There is more scope for PSHE education to be a focus of inspections under this new framework in providing evidence for key judgements, particularly ‘personal development’.  However, Ofsted will consider key aspects of school’s RSHE provision through pupil’s personal development, behaviour and welfare and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman said "In the new inspection model, we are particularly interested in how schools contribute to the personal development of children. This area is now a judgement in its own right. This makes more space in inspection for discussing things like the PSHE lessons in which wider life issues can be explored."

Ofsted will be looking for evidence that the school ‘prepares learners for life in modern Britain’, and this specifically includes ‘developing pupils’ age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships through appropriate relationship and sex education’ as one of the most significant dimensions. 

Education also makes a unique contribution to general school standards and particularly safeguarding; helping schools to fulfil their statutory duty to teach pupils to keep themselves safe. Ofsted’s 2013 report on PSHE emphasised that schools judged as outstanding almost always have outstanding PSHE education.

Independent schools inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) are required to have schemes of work for PSHE which reflect the aims and ethos of the school and that are ‘implemented effectively’. These have to be available via the school website or submitted to ISI prior to an inspection.

There is a statutory requirement for schools to have a RSE policy.  Under the guidance primary schools are not required to teach sex education and therefore this won’t be included, unless the school chooses to teach sex education in which case the policy should reflect this.

There is no statutory requirement for a school to have a whole-school PSHE education policy, however, many schools choose to and we would recommend having a policy for such an important and potentially sensitive subject.   To achieve Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives accreditation we expect a PSHE policy to be in place.

DfE have included some details on what should be included in a RSE policy (pg 11 & 12) of the guidance.

Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives have also produced a guidance document to help schools develop or review a policy.  To access the document look in the PSHE segment of your HLHL wheel, in the 'shared examples' section of criteria 1. If you haven’t yet signed up to the Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives programme or have forgotten your log-in details, get in touch.

When developing your curriculum content, whether you are using the scheme of work we are offering or an alternative, it is important to ensure local needs are taken into account.  Insight can be gathered from a wide range of sources including from teachers, school nurses and other local health professionals, parental feedback and pupil voice.  There are also some other tools and resources available. These include school health profiles that have been collated by the Healthy Learning, Heathy Lives team to summarise local area level health information.   To access the document look in the ‘Central Files’ section of your HLHL wheel. If you haven’t yet signed up to the Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives programme or have forgotten your log-in details, get in touch.

Online public health profiles are available on the Public Health England Fingertips site providing useful local data but note this is usually only at a Doncaster wide level.

The school-age children profile includes data about low income families, physical health and accidents.

For more detailed local data, schools can take part in Doncaster’s Pupil Lifestyle Survey.  This is completely free for schools in the borough and provides the opportunity to capture school level data about health and wellbeing.    

A requirement of the new guidance is that schools must consult on their Relationships and Sex Education policy.

The consultation should be based upon good communication and opportunities for parents to understand and ask questions about the school’s approach to help increase confidence in the curriculum. Schools should ensure that parents know what will be taught and when and clearly communicate the fact that parents have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education delivered as part of statutory RSE.

The guides below are to help parents know more about these subjects and are related to the  Relationships education, relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education guidance.

Download the primary and secondary school guides;

DfE_RSE_primary_schools_guide_for_parents

Download (362KB - PDF)

DfE_RSE_secondary_schools_guide_for_parents

Download (353KB - PDF)

The guides are also available in some different languages.

 

Many schools will have existing mechanisms in place to engage parents and should continue to draw on these as they respond to the new legal framework. It is important through such processes to reach out to all parents, recognising that a range of approaches may be needed for doing so.

It is important to note the clear instructions in the statutory guidance that parental involvement is important but it does not amount to a veto over a school’s curriculum.  Therefore, schools should be clear about the intention and purpose of the consultation to minimise the risk of conflict and unrealistic expectations of the outcomes of the consultation.

The DfE has published a guide for head teachers on parental engagement on relationships education, to set out how this is intended to operate.

ParentKind have also developed a blueprint for parent-friendly schools, this free resource can be used to encourage and support the culture and practices where all parents are partners, playing an active role in their child’s school life.

 

Many parents/carers themselves do not have the confidence or skills to openly talk to their children about sensitive topics and may have received misinformation. Therefore providing information about the purpose and content of Relationships Education and RSE is particularly important. As is providing parents/carers with resources they can use to discuss the topics with their children outside of the learning in school. The parents section of this website has many useful resources.  

 

The DfE (DfE) have issued an update on the position of statutory Relationships Education, Sex Education and Health Education from September 2020, considering the impact of coronavirus and school closures. 

Key points;

• The statutory requirement to provide Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) is still in place from September 2020, and schools should continue to prepare for this date where possible.
• However, some flexibility has been granted due to coronavirus and closures; schools who are not in a position to implement fully from September 2020 now have until the Summer term (2021) to do so.
• In such cases, the DfE suggests a phased approach to ensure teaching begins as soon as possible, and that schools should consider prioritising curriculum content on mental health and wellbeing, as supporting their own and others’ wellbeing will be important for pupils as they return to school (the Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives programme can support  with this).  
• Schools should also note that if not done so already, the time up to Summer Term 2021 includes engaging parents on the schools policy as well as planning curriculum provision.

Locally, we are continuing to offer support to schools where possible.  The team in Sheffield are continuing their work on the Scheme of Work and it is becoming available to Doncaster schools. Further details on the curriculum are available here. 

We will continue to provide updates to schools.

Visit the Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives PSHE Resources section for a wide range of links on various topics related to relationships, sex and health topics.  Sign up to the Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives programme and remember to look in the 'see more' sections of the wheel to help you achieve the accreditation.

Sex Education Forum and PSHE Association are member organisation but both offer some free-to-access resources.

Church of England Resources for Schools - The Church of England has recently published a set of resources to support schools implementing statutory RSHE. This includes a Charter with several principles very close to those published by the Sex Education Forum. 

Please note there is lots of content on these topics online, however, there are many programmes that lack evidence of benefit and may even cause harm through unintended consequences. More information about this and guidance on working with external providers and visitors here.

When sourcing resources ensure they are from a reputable source and are evidence-based.

If you are not sure check with a health professional or contact the Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives team.

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