As a school, it is our aim to provide children with the knowledge, understanding, attitudes, values and skills that they need in order to reach their potential as individuals and within the community.  Our PSHE teaching aims to support this by developing the skills, attitudes, values and behaviour, which enable children to:

• Have a sense of purpose
• Value their self and others
• Form relationships
• Make and act on informed decisions
• Communicate effectively
• Work with others
• Respond to challenges
• Be an active partner in their own learning
• Be active citizens within the local community
• Explore issues related to living in a democratic society
• Become healthy and fulfilled individuals

We use the scheme Jigsaw PSHE to ensure that our children have a thorough and consistent approach to the subject.  Jigsaw covers all areas of PSHE for the primary phase including the statutory Relationships and Health Education.  Jigsaw brings together PSHE Education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development in a comprehensive scheme of learning.  Teaching strategies are varied and are mindful of preferred learning styles and the need for differentiation.  Jigsaw is designed as a whole school approach, with all year groups working on the same theme (Puzzle) at the same time.  This enables each Puzzle to start with an introductory class assembly generating a whole key stage focus for adults and children alike. 

There are six Puzzles in Jigsaw that are designed to progress in sequence from September to July.  Each Puzzle has six Pieces (lessons) which work towards an ‘end product’, for example, The School Learning Charter or The Garden of Dreams and Goals.  Each Piece has two Learning Intentions: one is based on specific PSHE learning (covering the non-statutory national framework for PSHE Education but enhanced to address children’s needs today); and one is based on emotional literacy and social skills (covering the SEAL learning intentions but also enhanced).  The enhancements mean that Jigsaw is relevant to children living in today’s world as it helps them understand and be equipped to cope with issues like body image, cyber and homophobic bullying, and internet safety.  Every Piece (lesson) contributes to at least one of these aspects of children’s development.  This is mapped on each Piece and balanced across each year group.

These explicit lessons are reinforced and enhanced in many ways: Assemblies and collective worship, praise and reward systems, , through relationships child to child, adult to child and adult to adult across the school.  We aim to ‘live’ what is learned and apply it to everyday situations in the school community.

The Jigsaw content is delivered by confident and able staff members who are suitable for supporting children through sometimes difficult discussions and who know the children well enough to be able to guide individual children though aspects that may be difficult to discuss.  There is a clear action plan in place to ensure that this area of learning remains up to date and changes as required.  Monitoring is carried out half termly to ensure that there is a consistency in the teaching of the subject.