As of September 2021 it became statutory for all primary schools to delivery both relationship education, as  well as health education, which we refer to as RHE. This is closely linked to the work that we do on Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE). Due to the close nature of these subjects we have combined them to create RHE/PSHE with RHE being statutory, and the PSHE being discretionary in schools. 

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Here at West Wittering we have a hand picked, bespoke RHE curriculum directly linked to the needs of our children and our cohorts. We do not use an 'off the shelf' scheme for everything, as we believe that we are all God's children, and as such are unique and as such need different things from RHE that our local context is very different to that of a school further afield. For example, being a beach school, we believe that it is essential for our children to learn about beach and water safety as part of their RHE curriculum, as these present as serious threats to our children. However, after Covid first hit us, we identified increased growing concerns over self-esteem and wellbeing, as well as relationships. We then adopted  a PSHE scheme called Laughology, to have a systematic and structured PSHE scheme to boost the wellbeing and self-belief of our children as learners, and to help them better understand relationships and how to foster positive ones.  

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All children in the school benefit from one hour of RHE/PSHE teaching a week. There are 6 core units covered each year, 4 being Laughology PSHE units and the other 2 are our bespoke RHE units. 

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How did we create our RHE Curriculum?

• Staff consulted at an early stage to identify what content was needed for our children

• Senior Leaders then began mapping the curriculum

• Staff consulted about where it was felt each unit needed to be taught across the school

• Results of mapping and consultation shared at Governors consultation where content was approved

• Draft policy written up

• Final curriculum map and policy sent to parents for consultation

• Online parent Zoom consultation to discuss policy and curriculum map

• Governors approve policy and final curriculum and it is signed off

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RHE is a compulsory topic covering all the children need to know about growing up, building relationships, staying safe, taking risks, safeguarding and general living a safe lifestyle type content. There are some elements that are part of our Sex Education unit, these are optional and it is only the small part that fits into this category that parents have the right to withdraw their child from (see policy for more information). 

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