Benchill Primary PSHE Curriculum

PSHE Curriculum Rationale

Intent

At Benchill Primary, we use the Benchill Curriculum based on the Manchester Healthy Schools’ iMatter curriculum. This curriculum is designed to meet the needs of Manchester children, offering a well-researched, flexible approach to learning. With fewer lessons per unit, we can dive deeper into topics, reinforce key concepts, and adapt lessons to suit our students' needs. This helps ensure that children understand and retain important information throughout the year.

Implementation

Our curriculum is structured throughout the school year to best support our students:

• Autumn 1: Mental and Emotional Health

  • Helps children settle into the new school year, establish routines, and adjust after the summer break.

• Autumn 2: Keeping Safe

  • Taught around bonfire night, Christmas, and New Year, focusing on managing risks associated with these events.

• Spring 1: Healthy Lifestyles

  • Introduced as the weather improves, encouraging physical activities and leading into our Healthy Schools week.

• Spring 2: Living in the Wider World

  • Follows Geography and Science lessons, expanding children’s understanding of global issues and environmental conservation.

• Summer 1: Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)

  • Scheduled when children are more mature and comfortable with their teachers and peers, allowing for thoughtful discussions.

• Summer 2: Reinforcement

  • Cover any lessons that need repeating based on assessments, ensuring students fully understand key concepts.

This schedule aligns with the school year, ensuring each topic is taught at the most appropriate and relevant time.

Impact

The Benchill Curriculum aims to provide children with the knowledge and skills to make safe, informed decisions. Here’s how it benefits our students:

• Mental and Emotional Health: Helps children re-establish routines and prepare for the school year.

• Keeping Safe: Equips children with skills to identify and manage risks, especially during seasonal events.

• Healthy Lifestyles: Promotes physical wellbeing and prepares children for Healthy Schools week.

• Living in the Wider World: Broadens children’s perspectives on global issues, enhancing their understanding of environmental conservation.

• RSE: Provides a secure environment for discussing important topics, supporting children’s developmental readiness.

This approach ensures that our students receive a well-rounded education, supporting their personal, social, health, and economic development, and preparing them for future challenges.

How can I support my child’s PSHE Education?

These subjects are not just learnt within the classroom, good PSHE Education is a partnership between your child’s home and school and there are lots of things you can do as a parent/carer to support your child’s journey.

Allowing your child to talk about PSHE topics at home can be a really good way for them to explore and contextualise some of the content. If you have time, research some of the areas you know are coming up in your child’s PSHE programme, and anticipate any questions.

If you can’t answer a question (as parents you can’t be expected to know everything from first aid, to online safety), you can listen to your child and explore these areas further together.