Personal Development 

At Hallgate Primary School, we choose to deliver personal development using Jigsaw, the mindful approach to PSHE. This provides us with a comprehensive, carefully thought-through scheme of work which brings consistency and progression to our children’s learning in this vital curriculum area. Alongside this, as a school we have created a progression of skills document, carefully outlining the objectives that will be taught in each year group building towards clear end points. This ensures our children will be given the required skills and knowledge they need to progress. The progressive objectives will also enable teachers to identify and plug gaps in pupils’ knowledge and skills. 

Our personal development curriculum is taught around 6 key concepts which are revisited and developed as pupils progress through school. 

• Being me in your world (Who am I? Understanding your own identity and how I fit well in the class, school and global community)

• Celebrating differences (understanding diversity, respect, anti-bullying including cyber and homophobic bullying)

• Dreams and goals (achievement, goal-setting, aspirations, who do I want to become and what would I like to do for work?)

• Healthy me (body and mind, drugs and alcohol education, self-esteem, confidence, healthy lifestyles, sleep, nutrition, rest and exercise)

• Relationships (friends, family and other relationships, conflict resolution and communication skills, bereavement and loss)

• Changing me (change, transition, relationships, health and Sex Education)

During each lesson, children will contribute to a class floor book in order to record their learning from that lesson. Producing work in a shared floor book ensures that children have the opportunity to reflect back on the learning that has taken place and provides the opportunity to showcase work that they are proud of throughout the unit, without detracting from the main focus of the lesson.  

In addition to the discrete personal development lesson, all pupils in KS1 and KS2 come together for an assembly to introduce the learning at the start of each unit. 

Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)

Health and Relationship Education is statutory in all primary schools, and it is recommended that all primary schools have a Sex Education programme that is tailored to the age of the pupils. 

The Health and Relationship curriculum content is woven throughout the entire programme of Jigsaw, with a specific focus within the ‘Healthy Me’ and ‘Relationships’ puzzles.

In EYFS and KS1, the focus is on life cycles, valuing our own bodies and learning some vocabulary for the external body parts, that we might use if we needed to talk to an adult such as a nurse or a doctor.

In Key Stage 2, there is a focus on the Health Education element of puberty (including menstruation) and the changes that happen inside and outside the body. This is taught in a way that helps pupils feel prepared for the main changes that happen before puberty starts, and to encourage them to talk to an adult at home or at school if they have any questions.