Reviewed by: Janine Green, PP&C Committee, Autumn 2024

Next Review: Autumn 2026

Introduction

This is the policy of Kelvin Grove School on the approach taken to Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE), approved by PP&C Committee on 17^th October 2024 following a consultation with parents and carers on Summer 2024.

Legal context

The law was changed with effect from September 2020 so that primary schools in England must teach relationships education and health education (The Children and Social Work Act 2017).

• The relationships education part of the new curriculum teaches what children need to learn to build positive and safe relationships with family and friends and online.
• The health education part of the new curriculum covers both physical health and mental wellbeing and teaches children how to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing; how to recognise issues in themselves and in others; and how to seek support as early as possible when issues arise.

Sex education is not compulsory in primary schools, but:

• The new curriculum for relationships education and health education does include content on puberty.
• The national curriculum for science includes subject content in related areas, such as the main external body parts; the human body as it grows from birth to old age (including puberty); and reproduction in some plants and animals.

Following this change in the law, the Department for Education published Statutory Guidance for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education (2019).  This guidance requires primary schools in England to have a written relationships education policy to cover the following:

• How relationships education is delivered
• What sex education (if any) a school chooses to cover that goes beyond the national curriculum for science and relationships education.

There is no equivalent requirement for a health education policy but, in line with best practice, this RSHE policy also covers health education.

This RSHE policy also supports legal requirements relating to the following:

• The Equality Act 2010.
• The Education Act 1996.
• Statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education 2020.

The following policies are also relevant to this Relationships and Health Education policy:

• Safeguarding
• Esafety
• Attendance and Punctuality
• Anti-Bullying

Definition

RSHE supports children and young people’s personal development including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Its aims are to help children and young people to deal with the real-life issues they face as they grow up and that they will encounter as adults. Their learning will support them both online and offline, to make informed choices about their safety, physical and mental health, enabling them to live positive and fulfilled lives.

RSHE is enhanced by a supportive school ethos where everyone is valued, positive relationships are promoted and there is a safe learning environment.

Statutory Requirements:

Please click on below for the full DFE Guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-education-primary

DFE quote:

The focus in primary school should be on teaching the fundamental building blocks and characteristics of positive relationships, with particular reference to friendships, family relationships, and relationships with other children and with adults.

This starts with pupils being taught about what a relationship is, what friendship is, what family means and who the people are who can support them. From the beginning of primary school, building on early education, pupils should be taught how to take turns, how to treat each other with kindness, consideration and respect, the importance of honesty and truthfulness, permission seeking and giving, and the concept of personal privacy.

Establishing personal space and boundaries, showing respect and understanding the differences between appropriate and inappropriate or unsafe physical, and other, contact – these are the forerunners of teaching about consent, which takes place at secondary.

Respect for others should be taught in an age-appropriate way, in terms of understanding one’s own and others’ boundaries in play, in negotiations about space, toys, books, resources and so on.

From the beginning, teachers should talk explicitly about the features of healthy friendships, family relationships and other relationships which young children are likely to encounter. Drawing attention to these in a range of contexts should enable pupils to form a strong early understanding of the features of relationships that are likely to lead to happiness and security. This will also help them to recognise any less positive relationships when they encounter them.

Aims

The aims of our RSHE programme are:

 

• Provide accurate and age-appropriate information.
• Include all children.
• Help children make informed, reasoned and responsible choices and develop a strong moral code.
• Develop knowledge, skills and attitudes.
• Promote a healthy lifestyle. Help children develop feelings of self-respect, self-esteem, mutual respect, confidence, tolerance and empathy for themselves and others.
• Teach children to use the correct vocabulary to describe themselves and their bodies.
• Prepare children for the next stage of education and adulthood.
• Prepare students for puberty, and give them an understanding of sexual development and the importance of mental, physical and emotional health, and high standards of hygiene.
• Develop positive and inclusive attitudes to everyone, particularly to those with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.  

Roles and Responsibilities

An effective programme of RSHE requires support from the whole school community and the following people have specific roles and responsibilities:

Trustees/governors

Delegated to the PPC Committee (Parents, Pupils and Community) and ratified by the Full Governing Body.

Headteacher

• Overseeing the development and delivery of RSHE.
• Providing staff with the opportunity to contribute to the development of RSHE.
• Providing information to the trustees/governors.
• Providing training for the subject leader and staff, as required.
• Supporting the subject leader to liaise with parents and carers.
• Dealing with parents and carers who wish to withdraw a child from sex education.

Subject Leader

• Leading the development and delivery of effective RSHE.
• Keeping up-to-date with the development of RSHE.
• Supporting colleagues as required.
• Monitoring and evaluating RSHE and providing necessary reports.
• Liaising with parents and carers.
• Keeping subject information up-to-date, including on the school website.
• Overseeing external visitors and resources used in RSHE.

All Staff

• To understand and implement the policy of RSHE.
• To teach RSHE in line with the agreed curriculum.
• To assess and monitor the progress of children.
• To respond to the needs of individual children.

Teaching and Learning

RSHE is delivered in line with the teaching and learning policy. However, as the subject deals with real-life experiences, it is important to establish a safe and positive learning environment using the following approaches:

• Establishing clear ground rules in consultation with children. Ground rules should include confidentiality, respect for others, privacy and boundaries.
• Using clear language to avoid misunderstandings.
• Avoiding prejudice and assumptions about children’s abilities, desires, background and experiences.
• Dealing sensitively with unexpected questions and comments.
• Assessing and building on existing knowledge and experiences.
• Ensuring that learning is engaging, using a range of activities, including structured discussion and problem-solving.
• Providing a range of opportunities to learn, practise and demonstrate knowledge, skills and attitudes.
• Allowing time for reflection.
• Providing differentiated learning.
• Using a variety of groupings to enhance learning.
• Promoting Fundamental British Values as part of SMSC in schools (guidance for maintained schools on promoting basic important British values as part of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC)

Curriculum Content

Long term planning

Kelvin Grove has chosen to use the Kapow Primary RSE scheme of work, which provides full curriculum coverage, including all the statutory content, for each year group.

Follow this link to view the Kapow Primary RSE curriculum overview

This programme’s complimentary updates ensure we are always using the most up to date teaching materials and that our teachers are well-supported. 

How we teach it

RSE content is delivered throughout the PSHE curriculum. The focus is on building healthy relationships, healthy lifestyles, positive mental health and well-being.

PSHE is taught as a unit of work each week and is supplemented by assemblies and themed events.

*Family and Relationships

*Health and Wellbeing

*Safety and the changing body

*Citizenship

*Economic Well-being

*Identity (Year 6 only)

Kapow covers all areas of PSHE for the primary phase including statutory Relationships and Health Education

Confidentiality

Confidentiality within the classroom is an important component of relationships, health and sex education and teachers will respect the confidentiality of their pupils as far is possible.  They will, however, report any concerns or disclosures that indicate potential abuse to the Designated Safeguarding Lead as per the school’s Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.

Pupils will be informed of the school’s responsibilities in terms of confidentiality and will be supported to understand what action may be taken regarding any concerns that they share.

Resources

Teachers will select any additional resources carefully, and the subject leader will oversee the selection.

Additional resources will be:

• Up-to-date.
• Relevant to children.
• Consistent with the aims and values of the school.

Visitors

Visitors can enhance children’s learning. Teachers will select visitors in liaison with the subject leader. The following will be used to guide the use of visitors:

The school will use visitors to enhance the lessons delivered by the class teacher; and information on where a visitor fits into the long-term plan will be shared with the visitor. The school will make visitors aware of the school policy for RSHE. The school will check the content of sessions delivered by visitors to make sure that it fits with the school’s ethos and meets legal requirements. A member of staff will be present in sessions delivered by visitors. The school will make sure visitors undergo the necessary checks as required by the school safeguarding policies.

Equality

Under the Equality Act 2010, the school is under a legal duty to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relationships between those with protected characteristics and those without. The protected characteristics are:

• Age.
• Marriage and Civil partnership.
• Disability.
• Race.
• Religion and belief.
• Sexual orientation.
• Sex.
• Pregnancy and maternity.
• Gender reassignment.

In addition, the school must consider the needs of those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

The RSHE programme will meet the needs of all children. Lessons will include content that will tackle discrimination and foster good relationships. 

Consultation with Parents

We recognise that the role of parents and carers in supporting their children to learn about relationships, health and sex is vital.  We intend to give parents and carers every opportunity to understand what we are teaching in the relationships, health and sex education curriculum, and to be consulted with, and offer feedback on the curriculum content and delivery.  Information for parents will be available on the school website.  Parents and carers will be kept informed via emails and half termly curriculum letters of upcoming themes and content within the PHE/RSE lessons taught.

Right to withdraw from Sex Education

Parents or carers cannot legally withdraw their child from any part of the statutory Relationships Education or Health Education curriculum. However, the school recognises the importance of cultural and personal sensitivities in delivering Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). We are committed to approaching these topics with care and understanding and welcome open, respectful discussions with parents who have any concerns.

A parent or carer does have the right to withdraw their child from sex education unless what is being taught is part of the science national curriculum.

As agreed with the Parents, Pupils and Community Committee and ratified by the Full Governing Body the following content is deemed to be sex education:

This should be agreed in consultation with staff, parents and carers.

The suggested Kapow Primary lessons that are deemed to be sex education are:

• Year 6: Safety and the changing body, Lesson 5: Conception
• Year 6: Safety and the changing body, Lesson 6: Pregnancy and birth

The following process must be followed if a parent or carer wishes to withdraw their child from sex education:

The process at Kelvin Grove School, covering the following:

• Parents/carers will be informed about sex education lessons by letter.
• Parents/carers should contact the school (for example, by letter or phone).
• Parents/carers will be invited in for a meeting. Meetings give an opportunity for the school and the parent/carer to discuss concerns and to outline the impact on the children of missing sex education lessons.
• Alternative arrangement will be discussed with the headteacher and class teacher for the child during the sex education lesson that the child will not attend.

Safeguarding

RSHE includes sensitive topics. It is, therefore, possible that discussions will prompt safeguarding disclosures. Reference should be made to safeguarding policies and procedures to deal with these appropriately. 

The subject leader/teacher should discuss with the designated safeguarding lead any potentially sensitive topics. Appropriate steps must be taken to provide additional support for children if required.

Staff should consider the timing of lessons to ensure that children have the opportunity to report any concerns they may have either that day or the following day.

Support

RSHE should not be a time for children to make disclosures. It is important, however, to inform children of the support that is available to them if they are worried about anything raised in a lesson. The following support will be highlighted to children as appropriate:

In school:

• Class teacher/TA
• ELSA staff

External:

• Local agencies.
• National agencies such as Childline.

Monitoring and Evaluating

The headteacher and subject leader will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating RSHE in line with other subjects on a yearly basis.

• Scrutiny of planning.
• Lesson observations.
• Learning walks.
• Evidence of learning.
• Feedback from staff.
• Feedback from parents/carers.
• Pupil voice.

Professional Development

The headteacher and subject leader will assess the professional development needs of staff regularly. Appropriate development will be provided using internal or external expertise.

Communication of policy

The RSE policy will be available to read and download from the school website.

Download the policy here

RSE Policy 2024Download