Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE)

PSHE at The Swanage School is designed to ensure our students have the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live safe, healthy and productive lives, and meet their full potential.

In Years 7, 8 and 9, students receive 2 hours of PSHE lesson time per fortnight.

In Years 10 and 11, PSHE is focused into more in-depth Challenge Days and assemblies with workshops.

Curriculum

A brief overview of the topics covered in PSHE:

Key Stage 3

In Years 7,8 and 9 students will learn about topics such as:

Now and the future
Healthy lifestyles
Basic first aid
Personal health and illness prevention
Families and respectful relationships (RSE)
Risk, online safety and media (RSE)
Managing money
Drugs and alcohol awareness
Mental health and wellbeing
Internet safety and body image
Intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health (RSE)
Planning for the future

Topics labelled RSE form part of the Relationship & Sex Education curriculum. Some topics are repeated with different emphasis and in greater depth, appropriate to the age of the students, as they progress through the school.

Key Stage 4

Years 10 and 11 will have Challenge Days and assemblies with workshops focused on:

RSE - Families and respectful relationships
RSE - The media and being safe online
RSE - Intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health
Drugs and alcohol awareness
Mental health and wellbeing

Aims of Relationship and Sex Education (RSE)

The aims of RSE at The Swanage School are:

To provide students with a safe environment in which to speak to trusted adults and find support about relationships, of all kinds, not just intimate relationships.
To give our students the information they need to develop healthy, nurturing relationships of all kinds.
To teach our students to understand human sexuality and to respect themselves and others, rather than to encourage early sexual experimentation.
To give our students knowledge about sexual health and safer sex, to ensure they are equipped to make safe, healthy and informed choices.
To ensure our students know the law surrounding sexual relationships, including the age of consent in the UK.
To give our students the tools they need to identify different healthy and unhealthy relationship traits.

Parents’ Right of Withdrawal

Under the new Statutory Requirements for Relationship and Sex Education (2020), parents of all students have the right to withdraw their child from sex education, in most circumstances, up until three terms before their child turns 16.

There is no right to withdraw from relationships education, covering issues such as family, friendships and online safety.

If you wish to discuss withdrawing your child from sex education, please contact the Headteacher, Jenny Maraspin (see staff contact list).

FAQs

For more information regarding the government’s new Statutory Requirements for Relationships and Sex Education (2020) see this article.

Further Information

If you require any additional information regarding The Swanage School RSE curriculum, or the wider PSHE curriculum, please contact Steph Humby (see staff contact list).

You will find our Relationship and Sex Education Policy on our policies page.