Welcome to the PSHE Department
"Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.’’1 Corinthians 13:4-7 |
Christian Vision and Values in PSHE
The PSHE Department is committed to embedding Christian values throughout the curriculum. This commitment is rooted in the scripture above through giving students the knowledge, strategies and resilience to treat themselves, their environment and others around them with love, patience and kindness. We encourage students to recognise and understand the impact of their words and actions. Our Christian values are essential for creating the safe and positive communities we wish for our students both now and in the future.
All the school’s Christian values are reflected in PSHE.
PSHE Curriculum Intent
Our students are growing up in a rapidly changing world, full of opportunities but with many risks and anxieties and few guarantees. The aim of PSHE education is preparation for life and work in this changing world, helping to keep our students safe, healthy, and boosting their life chances. There is strong evidence that, when delivered by trained teachers in line with best practice, PSHE education supports students to protect themselves and others both online and offline, improves their physical and emotional health, and develops character, resilience, academic attainment, and employment prospects, with the greatest benefits experienced by the most disadvantaged students.
While some risk-taking behaviours, such as substance misuse, appear to be in decline, other – often linked – issues are emerging, particularly in relation to our students’ mental health, relationships, and safety, both offline and, increasingly, online. PSHE education addresses our students’ personal safety and their mental health while preparing them for life and work in a changing world.
We aim to build on the knowledge and understanding gained at Primary school. We cover core knowledge relating to issues such as online and offline safety, relationships, health, finance and careers, taught in a way which is appropriate to the age and maturity of our students. The subject is tied together by the development of the key skills and attributes which our students need to thrive both in their childhood and throughout their adult lives. These key skills and attributes – such as self-management, empathy, critical thinking, communication, resilience, teamwork, and negotiation – are crucial to our students’ life chances.
PSHE Curriculum Implementation
Statutory Guidance
Most of PSHE education became statutory for all schools from September 2020. This includes Relationships Education at key stages 1 and 2, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) at key stages 3 and 4, and Health Education in both primary and secondary phases. The statutory Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education are included within our whole- school PSHE Programme. At Balshaw’s we also include Economic Well-being as we know that the ability to budget, understand the emotional and physical impacts of financial capability and know where to access help and support with finances are vital skills for our students.
The full Statutory Guidance can be found here
New Statutory Guidance for PSHE will come into force from September 2026. We are currently updating our PSHE curriculum provision in line with the new guidance.
A link to the new Statutory Guidance can be found here.
PSHE is taught by form tutors. The rationale and intent of our PSHE teaching can be found in our PSHE policy here. An overview of our PSHE curriculum is shown above.
Please note that this is a working document and may be subject to change depending on local, national or international events and priorities. We also run PSHE and Citizenship activities throughout the year to enhance PSHE education, explore topics from different viewpoints and teach life skills that we feel should be explored more fully. Details of these will be given to parents, carers, and students as they occur throughout the year.
We encourage students to discuss PSHE topics with their parents/carers. If parents/carers have any queries or concerns regarding any PSHE content please do not hesitate to contact your child's form tutor or our PSHE subject lead Miss Warburton
PSHE Department Staff
Miss C J Warburton Curriculum Leader
Form Tutors
Extra-Curricular and Additional Curricular Opportunities
We augment our PSHE teaching by providing additional content delivered by external providers throughout the year. This can vary depending on availability and local and national priorities.
This includes:
- Connect and Respect programme
- First Aid and CPR training
- Firework and Water Safety delivered by Lancashire Fire and Rescue service
- Paladin National Stalking Advocacy Service
- Streetwise Road Safety
- Theatre for schools Invictus, Unacceptable and Choices and Consequences