Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education
Personal, Social, Health and Economic Eduction
Intent
At Sampford Peverell C of E Primary School, we aim to not only achieve in academics but also to support children to develop their minds to strengthen their ability to self-manage their needs, friendships and emotions. We aim to nurture children into individuals who are able to see and value their own and others’ self-worth, become more fulfilled in their surroundings and succeed in many areas of their personality, learning and relationships. We follow a fantastic scheme from 1Decision, which provides a progressive approach to Personal, Social and Health Education. Below is our 2 Year Rolling Programme and the 1Decision Progression Route Document.
Implementation
We have a number of activity series that the children get involved with to help them become more equipped with the skills they need to manage their emotions, develop their friendships and build on their confidence. In addition to the adult-lead sessions that extend and develop children’s coping skills, our school has a strong system of group mentors, which are key to maintaining many areas of our school. Having the children work alongside each other helps to build on respect for each other and helps them to stretch their responsibilities. Parents are important to us too and we see their part in our implementation of our PSHE curriculum – we recognise that developing and supporting the families around the children benefits everyone. As the bottom are some helpful websites for parents to access even more information.
Friends Foundations – This is a 5-part series that looks at what it means to be a friend. It explores having trust, working as a team, turn-taking and what it means to really listen to your friends. This is done through a number of games and activities that the children enjoy together.
Mindfulness Exercises - This is a 5-part series where the children look lightly at how we remember things and develop techniques on how to build up strong sections of our brain’s muscle when faced with unsettling memories of worries.
Deepening Mindfulness – This is a 4-session programme where we explore what it means to strengthen parts of our brains and catch thoughts that pop in, often intrusively. For example, if a child is scared of the dark, they can notice this as a feeling that they CAN catch and then mindfully explore it. By building the positive behaviour, it strengthens and they are able to do this naturally before hitting the panic stage; children realise that they are in control of their thoughts, feelings and behaviours once they have slowed down. We learn to slow down by watching timers, fiddling, colouring and catching thoughts as we go, mindful eating and practising a number of breathing exercises that can help when feeling out of control.
Talk About Me – All children are different but many of the children have the same sort of struggles when it comes to feeling worthy. Talk About Me is a 4-week series that helps the children to look at themselves in a more positive light and encourage each other along the way with sharing meaningful, kind and supportive words/advice with each other.
Valuing Our Values – This is a 5-part series that helps some of the children look at our school values a little deeper each week and how they can actively use them with their friends, teachers and school acquaintances to build on their behaviours and relationships.
Transitioning Together – For children transitioning to secondary school, we look at different help lines they could use, what is available for their interests at their secondary school and familiarise themselves with their buddy system. We use our mental health 10-a-day system and how that can support them when they’re feeling overwhelmed by issues such as bullying, internet safety and friendships. This is all done in conjunction with speaking to parents to start letting them have phones and go out alone as they will be walking to the bus stop etc.
Mental Health Ambassadors – Their role is to support and guide their peers to the 10-a-day techniques (https://exeter.anglican.org/schools/mental-health-wellbing/eh4mh-10-a-day-poster/) and the adults who can help them. They also help host worship to highlight the 10-a-day, set fun days and activities to help the children understand how they can be used into their day-to-day lives.
Learning Powers - To help the children understand and strive to have a healthy growth mental mindset, each class follow the same incentive to help them thrive in many areas. We have the Resilient Tortoise, Busy Bee, Curious Cat, Wise Owl, Creative Unicorn and we have the loveable Positive Panda in the relaxation/intervention hub ready for a hug when ever the children feel they need a little boost to tackle the next challenge or emotion.
https://www.elsa-support.co.uk/category/free-resources/
https://www.summerboardingcourses.co.uk/blog/100-fun-activities-health-and-wellbeing-activities/