What is our aim in teaching PSHE and RHE?
We aim to help children develop the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to look after themselves, build positive relationships, stay safe and make thoughtful choices as they grow.
PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) and RHE (Relationships and Health Education) are an important part of our curriculum. They help children understand themselves and others, develop healthy relationships, recognise risks and know where to turn for help.
Our curriculum also supports the values at the heart of The Fairfield Way: resilience, empathy and respect.
How does our curriculum work?
From September 2026, we are using the Kapow Primary PSHE and RHE curriculum from Reception to Year 6.
We have chosen this curriculum because it provides a carefully planned and progressive programme of learning which meets the revised Department for Education statutory guidance for Relationships and Health Education. It also supports the wider aims of PSHE, including children's personal development, wellbeing, safety and understanding of the wider world.
Learning is carefully sequenced so that important ideas are revisited as children move through school. Children do not simply learn about a topic once and move on. Instead, they return to key ideas at an age-appropriate level, building greater knowledge, understanding and confidence over time.
What are the key principles of our PSHE and RHE curriculum?
Our PSHE and RHE curriculum is based on the following principles:
Children are encouraged to talk, listen, ask questions and reflect. Teachers create a respectful environment where children can discuss important issues without feeling embarrassed or judged.
How does our curriculum help children to know more and remember more over time?
Kapow's curriculum uses a spiral approach. This means that important themes are revisited throughout a child's time at primary school, with the learning becoming more detailed and complex as children get older.
For example, children may first learn about friendships and kindness when they are younger. As they move through school, this develops into a deeper understanding of respectful relationships, boundaries, communication, online relationships and recognising when something is not right.
This approach helps children connect new learning to what they already know and gives them repeated opportunities to practise important knowledge and strategies.
What is taught and when?
PSHE and RHE cover a wide range of learning across children's time at school.
Key areas include:
Children also learn about areas such as economic wellbeing, citizenship and their role in the wider community.
Relationships Education and Health Education are statutory in primary schools. This includes learning about families and friendships, respectful relationships, online safety, mental wellbeing, physical health, puberty and basic first aid.
Some areas of PSHE are non-statutory and allow schools to respond to the needs of their pupils and community. This includes areas such as citizenship and some aspects of sex education.
How is PSHE and RHE taught in Preschool and Foundation Stage?
In Preschool and the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), children develop many of the foundations for PSHE and RHE through relationships, play, stories, discussion and everyday experiences.
Children learn to:
These experiences provide important foundations for the more structured PSHE and RHE curriculum children follow from Reception onwards.
How much PSHE and RHE teaching happens each week?
PSHE and RHE is taught through regular, planned lessons across the school.
Kapow recommends approximately 45 minutes of teaching each week, alongside opportunities to reinforce learning through everyday school life.
Lessons include:
PSHE and RHE is not only taught in a lesson. The knowledge and behaviours children learn are reinforced throughout school life, including through assemblies, relationships with adults and peers, safeguarding work, behaviour expectations and real-life situations.
How do we approach sensitive topics?
Some PSHE and RHE topics are naturally more sensitive than others. We teach these topics carefully, using age-appropriate language and resources.
Teachers follow the school's policy and the Kapow curriculum guidance when teaching sensitive content. Children are encouraged to ask questions, but they are not expected to share personal experiences in front of others.
We also recognise the important role parents and carers play. Schools are required to consult parents when developing and reviewing their RHE provision and to be clear about what is taught, when it is taught and how it is taught.
Parents and carers have specific rights in relation to the non-statutory elements of sex education. Further information about these rights and exactly what is taught at Fairfield can be found in our PSHE and RHE policy.
In Summary
Our PSHE and RHE curriculum helps children to:
