PSHE
Why Study PSHE?
Our PSHE curriculum is designed to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to navigate modern life. It is built around four central areas: Health and Wellbeing, Relationships, Living in the Wider World, and Citizenship. Each strand ensures that learners have access to comprehensive and current information, while also knowing where to find support both within school and through external resources. The program is tailored to the evolving needs of each year group, allowing it to remain relevant and responsive. Flexibility is a key feature, enabling the school to address local and contemporary issues as they arise. To enrich the learning experience, outside speakers and specialist agencies such as Freeda, You Matter and Brook are invited to deliver sessions where their expertise adds depth and authenticity. Alongside subject knowledge, the curriculum emphasises the development of vital life skills. Students are encouraged to communicate clearly and confidently, to show empathy by understanding and respecting different perspectives, and to apply problem‑solving strategies to challenges connected to the topics studied. Group work is also central, fostering cooperation and collaboration to achieve shared goals. Together, these elements empower students to manage personal, social, and civic responsibilities, preparing them to contribute positively to their communities and the wider world.
Year 7
Year 7 begins with the autumn term support for transitioning into secondary school, focusing on rules, expectations, friendships, and conflict management. Workshops by Freeda, You Matter and school staff promote respectful communication and resilience. In spring, students explore bullying, its impact, and the role of bystanders. Facilitators lead sessions on respect, boundaries, and prevention, while students contribute to the school’s anti‑bullying policy, fostering empathy and responsibility. Summer emphasises digital resilience and online safety, teaching reliable information use, age ratings, and safe internet strategies. Supported by the State’s Greffe, students also study local politics, citizenship, and voting, as well as building digital literacy.
Year 8
The Year 8 curriculum emphasises wellbeing, respect and community. In the autumn term, they explore mental health, learning to identify anxiety and depression, while practising coping strategies like mindfulness, exercise, and community involvement. External workshops provide safe spaces and resilience-building tools, supporting adolescents through change with confidence. Spring focuses on diversity, equality, and respect, examining prejudice, discrimination, and protected characteristics under the law. Workshops highlight domestic abuse awareness and healthy relationships, fostering empathy and fairness. In the final term, we look at community engagement, with local leaders enriching knowledge of heritage, ecology, and politics. Students also address anti-social behaviour, preparing for independence as responsible, active citizens.
Year 9
Year 9’s curriculum builds on vital life skills across three terms. To begin, students examine vaping, its risks, peer pressure, and legal issues, alongside relationships and sexual health, covering consent, sexting, and myths, supported by expert-led workshops. Spring focuses on media influence, exploring evolving beauty standards, social media pressures, and fast fashion’s environmental impact, with projects promoting positive role models and ethical consumer choices. Summer develops political literacy through study of local and national government, voting and party issues, while financial education teaches budgeting, income and expenditure. Together, these lessons empower students to make informed, responsible and healthy decisions.
Year 10
Year 10’s curriculum builds essential life skills across three terms. In autumn, students study alcohol education, examining peer pressure, health effects, laws, and safe strategies, followed by global awareness of political systems, the UN, and women’s rights. Spring focuses on healthy relationships, with workshops on consent, boundaries, contraception, and the impact of pornography, while the Trident work experience programme develops employability and confidence. Summer explores gender equity through workshops challenging stereotypes and promoting inclusivity, paired with financial literacy lessons on the economy, debt management, and responsible spending. Feedback and reflection throughout ensure students feel supported in their growth toward adulthood.
Year 11
Year 11 students develop independence and safety awareness through lessons on drugs and alcohol. They study local, national and global substance misuse trends, legal consequences, addiction, and risks such as spiking, while learning strategies to protect themselves and others. Alcohol education reinforces responsible decision-making in social settings, with feedback and support services ensuring wellbeing. In spring, focus shifts to exam preparation, stress management, and wellbeing workshops addressing relationships, conflict, contraception, and sexual health. Financial literacy is emphasised through saving, borrowing, budgeting, and understanding taxation and social security, equipping students with practical skills for adulthood and the world of work.