PSHE
Our aim at St John’s Walham Green is to deliver a curriculum accessible to all that will maximise the outcome for every child. PSHE is at the heart of our school ethos: to love one another. We equip children with opportunities, experiences, skills and knowledge to become healthy, responsible and independent members of their school community and wider society. We aspire to develop the children’s sense of self-worth by providing them with a range of enriching opportunities inside the classroom and through external provisions in the local community. In an ever-changing world, it is important that children understand the diverse world they live in and leave primary school able to negotiate positively and appropriately the challenges of various relationships, physical and health well-being, sex education and living in the wider world.
We intend to provide children with both knowledge and skills so they can make informed decisions when facing risks, challenges and complex contexts; build their resilience; be tolerant of differences; know when to ask for help; and know where to access support. All of this is done with our three core Christian Values at the heart of everything: courage, compassion and wisdom. Courage never to give up and to persevere even when the learning is challenging; compassion to help create a shared understanding of how to treat each other both inside and outside of the classroom and to appreciate that we all learn in different ways and at different paces; and wisdom to learn from our successes and our mistakes to help us make even wiser choices the next time.
At St John’s Walham Green CE Primary School we have chosen to follow a PSHE curriculum called Jigsaw.
"Jigsaw 3-11 offers a comprehensive Programme for Primary PSHE including statutory Relationships and Health Education, in a spiral, progressive and fully planned scheme of work, giving children relevant learning experiences to help them navigate their world and to develop positive relationships with themselves and others.
With strong emphasis on emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health, Jigsaw 3-11 properly equips schools to deliver engaging and relevant PSHE within a whole-school approach. Jigsaw lessons also include mindfulness allowing children to advance their emotional awareness, concentration and focus."
The name 'Jigsaw' was chosen for the scheme as it carefully connects the pieces of Personal, Social and Health Education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development. All these pieces are important for our children to reach their potential and thrive as active citizens in the 21st century. The content of this scheme involves a progressive, whole school approach which aims to help children know, value and articulate who they truly are and understand how they relate to other people in our diverse and ever-changing world.
Our lessons also include teaching mindfulness allowing children to calm practise developing their emotional awareness, concentration and focus. We also have weekly whole class reflection times.
Our staff have been trained to deliver this curriculum through a weekly lesson. Each half term, the focus is the same for the whole school and pupils will reflect on their own thoughts, experiences and emotions.