PSHE & RSE

Shoscombe Church School realises the importance that Personal Social Health Education (PSHE) plays in health and well-being of children, along with emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) & RSE

We aim for all of our children to leave us having developed into inquisitive, thoughtful, and well-rounded young people who want to make a positive contribution in life.

We use our Christian Values, the promotion of fundamental British Values, and our work in PSHE to explore themes with children to help them develop into the best versions of themselves—with a deeper understanding and respect for the multifaceted, multicultural country and world in which we all live. We want our children to know they are valued and to accept everyone.

Our PSHE Curriculum: The Jigsaw 3–11 Approach

At Shoscombe, every class uses Jigsaw, a holistic, progressive scheme of work that connects PSHE, Emotional Literacy, Social Skills, and Spiritual Development. Jigsaw offers a mindful approach, providing pupils with regular opportunities to reflect, discuss, and build mental health resilience.

To ensure comprehensive coverage across our mixed-age classes, we deliver PSHE on a two-year rolling programme:

Cycle A: Year 1, Year 3, and Year 5
Cycle B: Year 2, Year 4, and Year 6

Across the academic year, all year groups explore six progressive units (termed “Puzzles”):

Being Me in My World
Celebrating Difference
Dreams and Goals
Healthy Me
Relationships
Changing Me (Taught in Term 6)

What’s Updated in Our Jigsaw Curriculum?

Our curriculum incorporates the updated Jigsaw framework, embedding modern safeguarding, safety, and well-being guidance:

The Safety STAR Framework: A decision-making tool (Stop, Think, Assess, React) integrated across all age groups.
Modern Online & Physical Safety: Explicit lessons covering online search awareness, the updated ‘SMARRT’ rules, persistent help-seeking, identifying a child’s “inner circle” of trusted adults, alongside dedicated fire, road, railway, and water safety modules.
Integrated Physical & Mental Health: Refreshed key stage learning linking physical health directly with emotional resilience and relaxation techniques.

Parent Transparency & Jigsaw Information for Parents

We strongly believe that working in open partnership with parents and carers is essential for effective RSHE delivery. In accordance with Department for Education (DfE) statutory guidance, parents have a full right to inspect and review all teaching resources and materials used in our RSHE curriculum.

To help parents understand what is taught across each year group, Jigsaw provides comprehensive parent overviews and mappings:

Jigsaw 3–11: Information for Parents and Carers (Link to Jigsaw 3-11 Parent Guide) – An overview of the Jigsaw scheme, how lessons are structured, and how emotional literacy is developed.
Jigsaw Snapshot Overview (Link to Jigsaw Snapshot Overview) – A high-level visual guide showing the six Puzzles and how learning progresses from Early Years through to Year 6.
Jigsaw RSHE & Statutory Curriculum Mapping Document (Link to Jigsaw RSE Mapping Doc) – A detailed breakdown showing how Jigsaw aligns with all statutory Department for Education Relationships, Sex, and Health Education requirements.
How Does Jigsaw PSED meet the Early Learning Goals (Link to How Jigsaw meets the personal social and emotional development goals) – See how our Reception PSHE curriculum maps directly to the EYFS framework to support children’s Personal, Social, and Emotional Development (PSED.

Inspecting Teaching Resources

Commercial copyright and terms with external providers (such as Jigsaw) do not prevent parents from viewing teaching slides, digital Knowledge Organisers, or lesson plans. Parents can inspect resources or view our digital Jigsaw Parent Presentations by contacting the school office or during our scheduled parent consultation sessions.

Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)

Relationships Education and Health Education are compulsory statutory requirements for all primary schools in England.

Delivery & Single-Age Groups

Our RSE curriculum is delivered during Term 6 within the Changing Me unit. To ensure age-appropriate delivery and target specific developmental milestones, classes are split into single age groups for these lessons.

Puberty and Body Changes (Statutory Health Education)

Teaching children how their bodies change inside and out as they grow up, as well as what to expect during puberty, is covered under statutory Health Education. Parents do not have the right to withdraw their children from statutory Health Education or any science content in the National Curriculum.

Sex Education (Non-Statutory Elements & Right to Withdraw)

At Shoscombe, we believe the facts about human reproduction should be taught before children transition to secondary school. Sex Education ensures that pupils understand how a baby is conceived and born, drawing on knowledge of the human life cycle set out in the National Curriculum for Science.

For primary schools, Sex Education (beyond the National Science Curriculum) is non-statutory. At Shoscombe, explicit Human Reproduction lessons from the Jigsaw scheme are delivered in Year 6. These non-statutory sex education lessons cover:

Jigsaw Year 4, Changing Me (Piece 2): “Having a Baby” (understanding male/female reproduction parts and egg/sperm joining)
Jigsaw Year 6, Changing Me (Piece 4/5): “Conception and Birth” (understanding sexual intercourse, IVF, conception, and how a baby is born)

Right to Withdraw: Parents have the statutory right to request that their child be withdrawn from the specific non-statutory Sex Education lessons listed above. There is no right to withdraw from Relationships Education, Health Education (including puberty), or Science.

We write to Year 6 parents during the term prior to these specific units being taught to remind families of the curriculum content, share portal viewing access to materials, and outline the procedure for requesting a withdrawal.