PSHE & RSE and Careers

At Highgate Hill House School, we teach Personal, Social, Health Education as a whole-school approach to underpin children’s development as people and because we believe that this also supports their learning capacity.

The Jigsaw Programme offers us a comprehensive, carefully thought-through Scheme of Work which brings consistency and progression to our children’s learning in this vital curriculum area.

Jigsaw covers all areas of PSHE for the primary phase including statutory Relationships and Health Education. The table below gives the learning theme of each of the six Puzzles (units) and these are taught across the school; the learning deepens and broadens every year.

At Highgate Hill House School we allocate 90 mins to PSHE each week in order to teach the PSHE knowledge and skills in a developmental and age-appropriate way.

This also supports the “Personal Development” and “Behaviour and Attitude” aspects evaluated under the Ofsted Inspection Framework, as well as significantly contributing to the school’s Safeguarding and Equality Duties, the Government’s British Values agenda and the SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural) development opportunities provided for our children.

Class teachers deliver the weekly lessons to their own classes.

RSE, as part of the PSHE education curriculum, is vital to the development of the young people in our school. The planned programmes are designed to help them deal with the difficult moral, social, and health-related issues that arise in their lives and in society. They also help learners to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to live confident, healthy, independent lives as individuals, parents, workers, and members of society. Effective RSE is a key component in our approach to safeguarding our learners through the curriculum. The secondary age group is considered vulnerable with respect to the specific safeguarding issues of child exploitation (CCE and CSE) and child on child abuse, including teenage domestic violence.

Effective RSE can make a significant contribution to the development of the personal skills needed by learners if they are to establish and maintain relationships. It also enables young people to make responsible and informed decisions about their health and wellbeing.

Specifically, our RSE curriculum:

• Provides a framework in which sensitive discussions can take place.
• Prepares learners for puberty and gives them an understanding of sexual development and the importance of health and hygiene.
• Helps young people develop feelings of self-respect, confidence, and empathy.
• Creates a positive culture around issues of sexuality and relationships.
• Teaches and confirms the correct vocabulary for young people to describe themselves and their bodies.

Parents have the right to request children are removed from lessons teaching certain elements of RSE. Information on this can be downloaded here.

At Highgate Hill House School, careers education, information, advice and guidance are priorities for ensuring learners move forward with the right tools and attitude to help prepare them for their future. Our varied and inclusive curriculum supports learners to consider their options, realise their potential, be able to identify their skills, and transfer them to further education and/or the job market.

We ensure that learners are motivated and excited for the world of work. We strive for high levels of expectation around self-confidence, emotional confidence and aspirations that are underpinned by our inclusive, tailored and robust PSHE curriculum.

We prepare learners, and liaise with parents and carers, for their preferred Post 16 pathway, whether that is to continue with further education, training or employment. We work closely with Careers South West (CSW) to support this.  We are fully committed to our statutory and moral obligation to provide a structured, varied and personalised careers education to all Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 learners.

Our Year 11 learners have a range of opportunities for their Post 16 options, which include moving on to several local colleges or taking an apprenticeship or supported internships.

Our careers curriculum is planned as per the guidance provided by the Gatsby Benchmark and DfE Guidance. Our objectives are:

• To deliver well planned, structured and accessible careers lessons to all students in Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.
• To ensure learners can identify and be proud of their individual skills.
• To ensure that all students understand the range of career routes open to them and have experience of the workplace.
• To help learners develop competencies to be able to transfer their knowledge and skills, setting personal goals and how to achieve them.
• To help learners be resilient and adaptable within changing labour markets.
• To work with parents and follow a structured timeline of events for Post 16 transition to ensure that all leavers have a planned progression route.

We are committed to ensuring that wherever possible all learners are in education, employment or training post 16 and avoid becoming NEET.