This Page provides information about Ballaugh School's PSHE and RSE curriculum.
Please read the letter below that has also been issued to all parents (14/5/2024).
Ballaugh May 2024 RSE Primary letter to parents
PSHE stands for Personal, Social, Health and Economic education
RSE stands for Relationships and Sex (as in gender) Education. The subject of conception, pregnancy and birth may be covered in year 6, if appropriate to maturity levels within the year group.
Why has the RSE curriculum evolved to what it is now?
At Primary School we are laying the foundations for situations that children may experience later in their life. This is based on trusted research.
The full research report is here. RSE The Evidence SEF 2022.
We have taken this short extract from the above document.
At primary level, correct names for body parts including the genitalia should be taught, since children will often have inaccurate, euphemistic terms for the genitals. This knowledge is important for several reasons:
1. Basic factual and scientific accuracy;
2. Safeguarding: it provides children with the language to report abuse (Ofsted 2013);
3. Scaffolded learning: words for anatomy are a foundation upon which children can go onto learn about more complex bodily functions later in school (e.g. puberty; reproduction; STI prevention, etc.);
4. The removal of unnecessary shame and stigma which can affect emotional wellbeing as well as prevent individuals from seeking support (e.g. feeling reluctant to visit GP about a menstrual health or genital-related problem);
5. Empowerment: understanding one’s body can help grow feelings of bodily autonomy, including discussing boundaries and personal pleasure with a partner if/when sexually active.
Children could start to learn these correct / scientific names from Year 1.
In addition, the overwhelming majority (90%) of pupils in Years 5 and 6 at Ballaugh School in 2024 have fed back that they would like to learn and understand any changes that their body will go through before they happen.
What does our curriculum look like?
Along with other Manx schools that operate mixed age classes, we are using a curriculum resource for both PSHE and RSE from a provider called Kapow.
RSE lessons (Safety and the Changing Body section) will only be taught by the class teacher.
Key information from this document is shared further down and is open access to all.
(document below)
If you wish to see the teachers' long term plans from Reception to Year 6 Password Protected Mixed age RSE PSHE LongTerm Plan,
please email the school (BallaughEnquiries@sch.im) for the password which we will happily share. This document is password protected for copyright reasons only, at the request of the publisher.
If the Year 6 teacher feels that planned lessons about "conception / pregnancy and birth" do not suit the maturity level of the class then the parents will be consulted.
To show you the learning objective, success criteria (steps to achieving the objective) and new vocabulary that your child will come across, our teachers have prepared the documents below. Please take time to look at them.
KS1 PSHE and RSE overview cycle A
Yr 3 and 4 PSHE and RSE Cycle A
Yr 5 and 6 PSHE and RSE overview Cycle A
Please complete this short survey so that we can answer any questions that you may have and create a Frequently Asked Questions guide.
https://forms.office.com/e/tmsYLT1Yy6