RSHE (Relationship, Sex and Health Education)

Relationship and Sex Education is part of the mission of Catholic schools to educate the whole person.  It should be carried out as part of the holistic education which seeks to form as well as inform young people in preparation for adult life.  (Catholic Education Service)

At Sacred Heart our aim is that the love of Christ is evident in all that we do and say. Underpinning our teaching of PSHE/RHE is our faith in and love for Christ. We will consider what the Bible says and how Christ would react to people and situations. We hope to cultivate character and positive attitudes in our children through social action (our Pupil Parliament), our school values, the Gospel values and by developing our children’s understanding of the British values of Democracy, Individual Liberty, Respect and Tolerance and Rule of Law.

The aim of PSHE/RSE is for our children to develop a healthy sense of identity and self-worth, and also to understand their responsibility and thrive as an individual and a member of the wider, multicultural community. We want our children to know how to keep themselves healthy, in terms of their relationships (and how to recognise when a relationship is not healthy), whilst on-line and in the world around them; making informed and well-thought choices. We want them to learn how to manage their feelings and behaviours. Our children should learn how to talk about their bodies, their health and their emotions. We want our children to live a happy, responsible and well-balanced life. We want to teach our children about good mental wellbeing, the factors that contribute to it and how to maintain it. Through PSHE/RSE we want to teach our children the knowledge they need to recognise and report abuse. We will do this through focusing on boundaries and explore issues surrounding privacy and consent, secrets or surprises. Ultimately, we want our children to be able to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing.

At Sacred Heart, we now deliver our Relationship and Education Curriculum through Ten:Ten's programme in Relationship Education for Catholic primary schools, Life to the Full.  Ten:Ten Resources are used widely across many Catholic schools in England and The Catholic Education Service have approved Ten:Ten curriculum content and standard of resources to ensure schools undertake their statutory duty.

Ten:Ten have based the structure of Life to the Full on ‘A Model Catholic RSE Curriculum’ by the Catholic Education Service, which was highlighted as a work of good practice by the Department of Education. Therefore, Life to the Full has a good foundation for a programme that will be fit for purpose over the coming years.

CLICK HERE to access information about the RSE consultation progress that took place in Autumn term 2020. 

Online Parent Portal

Parents are invited to review the programme's content by accessing the Online Parent Portal:

This resource is be available to view for parents/carers via an online parent portal: https://www.tentenresources.co.uk/online-parent-portal-primary/  

You will need the following login credentials for our school in order to explore these resources. 

Can I withdraw my child from Relationship and Sex Education?

Relationship Education will be a statutory part of the school's curriculum and all pupils will be expected to take part and engage in the curriculum content delivered at Sacred Heart. 

However, some elements of our curriculum is not statutory.  These elements are outlined in our RSE policy in the section: Key Decisions.  Parents will always be informed that these sessions are upcoming and parents who would prefer to teach these sessions themselves are able to withdraw their child from the session.  Please inform the school by contacting bursar@sacredheart-church.lancs.sch.uk if you wish for your child to withdrawn for those particular sessions of the programme or contact your child's class teacher. 

You can find out more information in the parent guide in the RSE Resource Bank above.

Can you provide information regarding the Founder of Ten:Ten?

A family-run organisation, Ten Ten is based in North London and works throughout the UK. Founded by siblings Clare and Martin O'Brien, Ten Ten works with approximately 30 freelance creative contributors every year to produce a wide variety of work, led by a small office team.  You can find out more information regarding Ten:Ten by visiting their website: https://www.tentenresources.co.uk/ 

Furthermore, Ten Ten has entered into a partnership with the Catholic Education Service and the Department for Education to provide training for teachers in Catholic schools on the subject of the new statutory curriculum.

How does the Programme deal with sensitive issues around family and relationships?

The following notes should help you to understand and articulate the position that the programme takes on this subject:

• Life to the Full is inclusive of all children, families and teaching staff;
• From the very start, the programme acknowledges that families are made up differently (including single-parent families, blended families, step-parents, carers, etc) and it celebrates the family unit in whatever form it takes;
• The school will build on this teaching, depending on the cohort, to ensure that every child is assured, and their family background is affirmed;
• In Upper Key Stage Two, the presenters on film say that some children have ‘two mums and two dads’ as part of a list of different family set-ups – this is the only explicit reference to same-sex relationships in the programme;
• The programme does not explicitly refer to transgenderism;
• The programme emphasises very strongly the dignity of every person as being created and loved by God - it examines difference and bullying;
• The only reference to sexual intimacy is in the optional UKS2 session ‘Making Babies: Part 2’, as discussed in the section of this document, ‘Key Decisions’. In this session, sexual intimacy is discussed within the context of a heterosexual marriage, and the Catholic-Christian point of view is clearly stated.

The teaching is in line with the statutory guidance from the Department of Education.

By the end of Primary School, our children should have received teaching on the topics of:

The PSHE/RHE curriculum is explored through three core themes:

1. Health and Wellbeing

• What is meant by a healthy lifestyle
• How to maintain physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing
• How to manage risks to physical and emotional health and wellbeing
• Ways of keeping physically and emotionally safe
• About managing change, including puberty, transition and loss
• How to make informed choices about health and wellbeing and to recognise sources of help with this
• How to respond in an emergency
• To identify different influences on health and wellbeing.

2. Relationships

• How to develop and maintain a variety of healthy relationships, within a range of social/cultural contexts
• How to recognise and manage emotions within a range of relationships
• How to recognise risky or negative relationships including all forms of bullying and abuse
• How to respond to risky or negative relationships and ask for help
• How to respect equality and diversity in relationships.

3. Living in the wider world – economic wellbeing and being a responsible citizen)

• About respect for self and others and the importance of responsible behaviours and actions
• About rights and responsibilities as members of families, other groups and ultimately citizens
• About different groups and communities
• To respect diversity and equality and how to be a productive member of a diverse community
• About the importance of respecting and protecting the environment
• About where money comes from, keeping it safe and the importance of managing it effectively
• The part that money plays in peoples’ lives
• A basic understanding of enterprise

Janet and Ian from Guide Dogs for the Blind came into school to talk to us about the job guide dogs do to help people