Relationship and Sex Education

Intent – What are we trying to achieve?

At Sacred Heart School, we are inspired by Jesus to be the very best we can be.  We look after one another and show respect and love through our relationships with one another.  Jesus is invited into our hearts.  In the Beatitudes, Jesus invites us to lead a full life with him by explaining what makes people blessed or happy.  This is about understanding how loving our neighbour enables us to be happy too.  Therefore, having a good relationship with ourselves and the other people in our lives makes us grow and flourish and we respect that everyone is a unique and beautiful part of God’s creation.  We are all children of God, called to grow in love for him through the person of Jesus Christ and to spread the Good News through the action of the Holy Spirit.

Implementation – How is our vision translated into practice?

At Sacred Heart School, we follow the Life to the Full programme as published by Ten:Ten Resources.  This is an ambitious, evolving programme of work that offers a fully-integrated and holistic programme in Relationship Education that truly enables children to ‘live life to the full’ (John 10:10).

The programme adopts a spiral curriculum approach so that as a child goes through the programme year-after-year, the learning will develop and grow, with each stage building on the last.

All our programmes are thoughtfully designed and consistently taught well and celebrate Catholic Teaching and principles.

Early Years Foundation Stage: Children will expand their vocabulary by applying names to different family/friend relationships, consider positive/negative behaviour in relationships and learn to look to Jesus as their role model for a good friend.  They will learn to resolve conflict and the importance of asking for forgiveness when necessary.

Key Stage 1: Children are taught to identify the Special People in their lives who they love and can trust, how to cope with various social situations and dilemmas, and the importance of saying sorry and forgiveness within relationships.  We also explore the risks of being online by incorporating our learning on e-safety using Purple Mash resources, the difference between good and bad secrets, and teaching on physical boundaries (incorporating the PANTS resource the NSPCC).  Children also learn about the effects of harmful substances (including alcohol and tobacco), some basic First Aid and what makes a 999 emergency and what they should do if in an emergency situation.

Lower Key Stage 2:  Sessions in Lower Key Stage 2 help children to develop a more complex appreciation of different family structures, through activities and strategies to help them develop healthy relationships with family and friends.  Here, children are also taught strategies for managing thoughts, feelings and actions.  Children will also learn about bullying and abuse as well as learning, in greater depth, about the effects of drugs, alcohol and tobacco and how to make good choices concerning these as they get older.

Upper Key Stage 2:  Sessions in Upper Key Stage 2 aim to equip children with strategies for more complex experiences of relationships and conflict; this includes sessions that help children to identify and understand how to respond to spoken and unspoken pressure, the concept of consent and some practical demonstrations of this, and further teaching on how our thoughts and feelings have an impact on how we act.  Children’s learning also explores the risks of sharing and chatting online at a level more appropriate to Years 5 and 6, and a more complex understanding of different forms of abuse.  Finally, the children will explore their relationship with the wider world.  Here we explore how human beings are relational by nature and are called to love others in the wider community through service, through dialogue and through working for the Common Good.

Impact – What is the impact of our curriculum?

The impact of our Health and Relationship Education curriculum provides our children with a chance to reflect, learn and apply these crucial skills taught within the program and beyond. 

Through our curriculum, we teach our children to:

• Stay safe physically, mentally and online

• Understand how to be healthy

• Build self-esteem, resilience and problem-solving strategies

• Understand how to develop and maintain positive and healthy relationships

• Have respect for themselves and others

The scheme of work also includes opportunities to link to British Values and SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development). 

Click Here to see our Relationship and Sex Education Policy