Intent

As staff, we are aware that our children struggle to understand social cues and often lack the social skills needed to interact successfully with other children. Our children spend a lot of time outside of school with their families, they therefore find communicating with others difficult, particularly visitors.  Our children have a limited understanding of emotions, they struggle to communicate how they are feeling and why.  

We want our children to become more independent, to understand how to keep healthy, both physically and emotionally. We want our children to be able to make successful friendships and express themselves. We intend for our PSHE curriculum to equip children with the basic personal, emotional and interpersonal skills they need to possess in order for academic teaching and learning to be successful. Our progression grids identify the key skills and concepts which children need to be taught at each stage in their development. 

Implementation

At Arboretum, we use the Jigsaw PSHE scheme.  It has a well-sequenced structure which builds upon prior knowledge. There are six areas of focus, one every half term.  These relate to relationships; aspirations; health and the wider world.   We adapt Jigsaw to meet the needs our children. The scheme includes opportunities to link British Values (BV) and SMSC into the curriculum. As well as being taught in standalone PSHE lessons, our weekly assembly focuses on values is a key element of our PSHE provision. Weekly class assemblies, focusing on personal development and values provide an opportunity for children to debate and discuss further.  We believe that improving oracy will increase confidence and empower children with the belief that their voice has value.  Furthermore, our focus on reading and vocabulary enrichment will give children the confidence, language and understanding, necessary to express their feelings and talk through issues.

Impact

We do not record PSHE in individual books as the focus of our teaching is on communication, discussion and practical activities.  We collate evidence of learning in our class big books. The PSHE teaching at Arboretum is designed to foster children’s wellbeing; equipping children with the tools to build successful relationships and resolve conflicts. We consider the ultimate achievement to be that our children leave us with the social skills and ability to compete in later life that is equal to or greater than their peers nationally.

Jigsaw, the mindful approach to PSHE, is a progressive and spiral scheme of learning. In planning the lessons, Jigsaw PSHE ensures that learning from previous years is revisited and extended, adding new concepts, knowledge and skills, year on year as appropriate.

The grid enclosed draws out the spiral knowledge and skills progression within all six Puzzles (units of work) including the key vocabulary used in each year group; explicit links to the DfE statutory Relationships and Health Education outcomes have been made in each Puzzle.