RHE at St Paul’s

This is a statutory subject. At St Paul’s, we want our pupils to enjoy this subject, showing inquisitiveness and exploring their feelings and relationships in a secure environment. It is our intention that our pupils all leave us with the fundamental building blocks in place for keeping themselves safe and building healthy relationships so that they can go on to live full, happy lives beyond their time at St Pauls.

We want all of our pupils to develop the character traits necessary to be successful and responsible. From the moment that they start at St Paul’s, children are taught to treat others with kindness, consideration and respect, as well as about the importance of honesty and truthfulness. Through the Catholic nature of our school, children also learn about aspects of Catholic Social Teaching and RE lessons tie closely to RHE lessons.

We recognise the importance of good physical and mental health and strive to help children to know the benefits and importance of looking after both. We want children to understand that mental health and wellbeing are an important part of daily life, just as is physical health. We aim to foster an environment in which mental health is talked about openly, without stigma. Children are taught about the ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’ to help them to begin to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing.

An important part of teaching children about these things, is that they recognise when something is not right. We want children to know when and how they should ask for help if they are experiencing any difficulties.

We use a scheme for the teaching of RHE, Ten:Ten, which uses a spiral approach to learning, the programme includes teaching about personal health, physical and emotional well-being, strong emotions, personal relationships. In addition to this, children in KS2 learn about first aid through the use of resources from St John’s Ambulance.

Aspects of Catholic Social Teaching are addressed, especially the dignity of the human person and gaining an understanding of Solidarity, Rights and Responsibilities and the call to family and community.

The entire teaching is underpinned with a Christian faith understanding that our deepest identity is as a child of God – created, chosen and loved by God. The programme is fully inclusive of all pupils and their families.