What Are Our Intentions?

As a SEND school, we are aware of the diverse needs of our students and recognise that they may be more vulnerable to exploitation, bullying and other issues, in the real world and online. With this in mind, we have planned our RHSE curriculum and wider provisions to address our students’ highest priorities with regards to their safety and wellbeing.

Although many of our students are working below the academic level of their mainstream peers, they face the same life challenges and often have greater difficulties managing these challenges due to their additional needs. Recognising they need to develop the skills to manage these challenges, we teach age, not stage, appropriate content.

Through our RSHE provisions, we create safe and supportive environments where students can explore and learn about different types and different features of relationships. They develop respect for themselves and others, whilst learning about consent in different contexts. We teach our students about potential harm and dangers, on and offline, and support them to recognise and report concerns appropriately.  Students are taught about physical and mental well-being and how to identify when they need help or support. They are taught about different types of help and support that is available and how to access it. Furthermore, we promote respect and empathy for all by developing our students’ understanding of diverse identities, cultures, and beliefs.

Through our RSHE provisions our students are taught how to navigate the complexities of modern life, enabling them to thrive academically, emotionally, and socially beyond their lives at Fairmead school. We aim to equip them with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to lead independent, healthy and fulfilling lives.

How Do We Achieve This?

At Fairmead school, RSHE incorporates our equality and safeguarding duties, the government’s British Values agenda and our students’ SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural) development. These are important factors when working towards our overarching goal of preparing students for safe, successful and happy futures in which they enjoy healthy relationships and safely engage with communities, both online and offline.

In lower primary, RSHE focuses on developing students’ relational and self-help skills through daily provisions that are linked to their topics or EHCP targets. They are learning to; attend to others and be part of a group; develop their play schemas; manage feelings associated with conflict and disagreements; develop an awareness of themselves and express their feelings and emotions. They are developing their resilience to change and transitions and are learning to follow daily routines. Regarding health education, lower primary students are learning to take care of their own basic hygiene and develop self-help routines. They partake in continuous provisions to develop their physical strength and dexterity and to promote healthy bodies and minds. Students are supported with visuals and wider personalised support to engage and make progress in their early RSHE learning. We have devised our own RSHE framework to guide provision and capture progress. This is informed by the Early Years Foundation Stage Development Matters Framework, the AET Autism Progression Framework and The Early Years Developmental Journal. 

In upper primary, key stage three and key stage four students have weekly timetabled RSHE lessons that follow a two-year long-term plan (attached below). When planning our age-appropriate curriculum content we took guidance from the Department of Educations Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education statutory documentation. After consulting with students, parents and staff we were able to identify the key priorities for our students. We have given heavier weighting to these areas within the planning.

Recognising that the online world is a place many of our students spend their free time, we put greater emphasis on online safety. Students in key stage three and four have an additional RSHE with online safety lesson a week. These lessons address online relationships, behaviours and safety. The RSHE leads meet with the Computing lead to determine the objectives of these lessons. They are reviewed annually to ensure they meet the changes needs of our student and address key issues in the ever-evolving online world.

In our aim to be transparent with our curriculum content, we record all RSHE lessons objectives and file lesson resources so they are easily located should parents and carers wish to access them. By doing so, overtime we are building a bank of quality resources which are age and stage appropriate for our learner. Teachers and RSHE leads are responsible to checking the suitability of resources and adapting them to suit our learner's communication styles.

RSHE is not only taught through timetabled RSHE lessons, but also addressed cross-curricular through Computing, Accessing the Community, Science, Humanities, Religious Education, Physical Education and English. Our primary and secondary assemblies are delivered by the teaching team and address current and popular RSHE themes. We also look to utilise wider opportunities to teach RSHE, such as; off-site trips; inviting external visitors into school offering non-academic accreditations (i.e. The Duke of Edinburgh Award); offering school council opportunities; weekly off-site forest school provision for primary and key stage three students; annual school camping and for some individual students, 1:1 therapy sessions.

What is the Impact?

Our RSHE provision has a clear impact on the personal development, safety and well-being of our students. Students are valued and feel valued as members of the school community.

Through personalised approaches and whole-school practice, students are developing their self-esteem and resilience, and learning to recognise and manage their emotions appropriately. They are developing their understanding of what constitutes a healthy relationship and the role they play within one. Consent is revisited throughout the RSHE curriculum and, as a result, students know they have a right to say no, and their decision should be respected. They also learn to respect and honor another person’s decision to refuse consent.

Students are taught the knowledge and skills needed to lead mentally and physically healthy lives. Overtime, we aim to develop the skills of ‘stopping and thinking’ in the moment and self-reflection. Whilst exploring strategies to support self-regulation.

Our RHSE curriculum actively promotes equality, diversity, and an appreciation of different cultures and identities. Pupils learn to recognise and challenge stereotypes, leading to a more tolerant and inclusive school community.

Additional Information