Context

All schools must provide a curriculum that is broadly based, balanced and meets the needs of all pupils. Under section 78 of the Education Act 2002 and the Academies Act 2010, a PSHE curriculum:

• Promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society, and
• Prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

PSHE

At Notton House Academy, we teach Personal, Social, Health Education as a whole-school approach to underpin students’ development as people and because we believe that this also supports their learning capacity.

Jigsaw, the mindful approach to PSHE, provides a programme which offers us a comprehensive, carefully thought-through Scheme of Work bringing consistency and progression to our students’ learning in this vital curriculum area.

The overview of the programme can be viewed here on the school website, below.

This also supports the “Personal Development” and “Behaviour and Attitude” aspects required 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 young people.

Notton House Academy believes that social and interpersonal skills are vital, and that emotional literacy and positive mental health are key to young people thriving in school and in life. They need to be discerning and mindful to negotiate the many influences on them and to have a sense of agency, knowing they have a voice and can make a positive difference. So, woven throughout the Jigsaw PSHE programmes is a strong focus on developing these personal attributes in a structured, age-appropriate and developmental way. Mindfulness philosophy underpins the programme and mindfulness practice is built into every lesson, aiming to support self-regulation, self-awareness and stress management.

Statutory RSE and Health Education

“The Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019, made under sections 34 and 35 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017, make Relationships and Sex Education compulsory for all pupils receiving secondary education. They also make Health Education compulsory in all schools except independent schools.

Here, at Notton House Academy, we value PSHE as a way to support students’ development as human beings, to enable them to understand and respect who they are, to empower them with a voice and to equip them for life and learning.

We include the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education within our whole-school PSHE Programme.

To ensure progression and a spiral curriculum, we use Jigsaw, the mindful approach to PSHE, as our chosen teaching and learning programme and tailor it to our students’ needs. The mapping document, ‘Jigsaw 11-16 and statutory RSE and Health Education’, shows exactly how Jigsaw and, therefore, our school, meets the statutory RSE and Health Education requirements.

What do we teach when and who teaches it?

Whole-school approach

The Jigsaw Programme covers all areas of PSHE for the secondary phase including statutory RSE 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 Notton House Academy we allocate 40 minutes to our Jigsaw PSHE each week in order to teach the PSHE knowledge and skills in a developmental and age-appropriate way.

In addition, pupils also receive a 40-minute lesson with their tutor which focuses on key safeguarding themes and recognises key national and global awareness days/events.

These explicit lessons are reinforced and enhanced in many ways:

• assemblies
• praise and reward system,
• through relationships student to student, adult to student and adult to adult across the school.
• We aim to ‘live’ what is learnt and apply it to everyday situations in the school community.
• Class tutors/ a dedicated PSHE Team deliver the weekly lessons.