PSHE
PSHE education is a school subject through which pupils develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe and prepare for life and work in modern Britain.
Evidence shows that well-delivered PSHE programmes have an impact on both academic and non-academic outcomes for pupils, particularly the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.’ PSHE Association 2019
PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) is a vital part of the Personal Development curriculum supporting the needs of the students of The Oxford Academy. The Personal Development curriculum at The Oxford Academy includes the PSHE curriculum, careers education, SMSC Social, moral, spiritual and cultural British values.
The house and tutoring systems, extracurricular activities that demonstrate the ethos and values of the academy, Commitment to learning, and commitment to others. The PSHE curriculum aims to equip students with relevant knowledge, practical examples, and valuable guidance that they can apply in their daily lives.
PSHE is designed as a spiralling curriculum. There are key strands that run throughout the curriculum: Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the wider world. Students are introduced to new information or build on information in Year 7 and then year on year the depth of knowledge is increased, and the scenarios/situations to guide students to apply knowledge are created to be age appropriate.
To ensure that we meet the needs of the pupils we use the extended Personal development team to inform the planning of our PSHE curriculum. The extended Personal development team are our Wellbeing Team , the safeguarding team, the Heads of Year/Assistant Heads of Year, our School Nurse and our School Health Nurse (PCT). Lessons may have verbal or written baseline assessments so teachers are aware of need, knowledge and progress.
Modern day life brings many challenges to young people. As educators we want our students to be as best prepared as possible for adult life. The PSHE curriculum covers key elements that are essential to the well being, health and safety of our young people.
Due to the demographic of the school (areas of high economic deprivation, high free school meals and high pupil premium) emphasis is put onto certain sections that we know require a focus. For example, risk taking behaviours, including social media, intimate relationships and social influences like gangs.
As part of mental wellbeing students are encouraged to increase their positive risk taking. This includes house events, having aspiration targets and focussing on what they want their adult life to look like.
Students are supported by the careers programme to envision this and broaden their horizons by encounters with employers such as BMW, work experience, careers fairs and personal guidance. As stated in the PSHE association document, A curriculum for life ‘PSHE education has proven to remove barriers to learning and provide skills to aid success.’
With the community in mind students are taught key things about financial capability. For example, government support for paying bills and how to budget effectively.
Please find the curriculum overview document in the link below.
