Relationships & Health Education (RHE) and Personal & Social Education (PSE)

Our approach

With Christ at the centre, we strive for excellence, act with respect and serve our community.

At St Philomena’s, PSE and RHE are central to our pupils’ personal development. Rooted in our Catholic ethos, our curriculum recognises the dignity and worth of every child and equips pupils with the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to be healthy, safe, respectful and responsible members of their communities.

We want pupils to develop secure knowledge about relationships, physical and mental health, personal safety and wellbeing, alongside the confidence to make responsible choices, recognise when something is wrong and know when and how to seek help.

Our curriculum

'Ten: Ten - Life Life to the Full' is the core of our RHE curriculum. It provides a progressive Catholic framework through which pupils learn about relationships, health, wellbeing, safety, growing and changing, human dignity and responsibility.

We deliberately supplement Ten:Ten with carefully selected wider units because we want pupils to receive a broad personal development curriculum which responds to the needs of our pupils and prepares them for life beyond school.

Our wider provision includes:

Mental health and wellbeing – developing emotional literacy, resilience, positive thinking and strategies for managing feelings.
Personal safety – recognising risk, understanding boundaries, resisting pressure, making safe choices, knowing basic first aid and knowing when and how to seek help.
Citizenship and fundamental British values – understanding communities, diversity, democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
Global responsibility – developing an understanding of the wider world, fairness, responsibility, stewardship and how our choices can affect other people and the environment.
Forest Education – providing practical opportunities for pupils to develop independence, resilience, teamwork, problem-solving, responsible risk management and respect for the natural environment while progressively developing practical outdoor skills.

These elements have been selected purposefully. Together with Ten:Ten, they ensure that pupils receive both the statutory RHE entitlement and the wider knowledge and experiences needed to support their personal development.

Learning is carefully sequenced from EYFS to Year 6. Younger pupils establish secure foundations in relationships, emotions, health, safety, boundaries and seeking help. These concepts are revisited and developed as pupils mature, enabling them to engage with increasingly complex learning about relationships, responsibility, risk, physical and emotional wellbeing, growing and changing.

Beyond the RHE lesson

Personal development is not confined to a single lesson on the timetable.

Key knowledge, values and behaviours are reinforced through assemblies, Religious Education, Prayer and Liturgy, Computing and online safety, Science, Forest Education, safeguarding education, visitors and workshops, pupil leadership, enrichment opportunities and the wider life of the school.

This enables pupils to revisit important concepts in different contexts and make meaningful connections between what they learn in lessons and how they live, behave and contribute to their school and wider community.

Our curriculum also makes a significant contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC). Through the taught curriculum and wider school experience, pupils develop respect for others, an understanding of different beliefs and cultures, a sense of responsibility, an appreciation of right and wrong and opportunities to participate positively in their community.

What we want pupils to achieve

By the end of Key Stage 2, we want pupils to have secure, age-appropriate knowledge of healthy and respectful relationships, physical and mental wellbeing, personal safety, online safety, growing and changing and seeking help.

We want pupils to be able to apply this knowledge: to make safe and responsible choices, communicate respectfully, recognise risk, show compassion and respect for others, contribute positively to their communities and approach the next stage of their education with increasing confidence and independence.

Our RHE Policy, Curriculum Overview and year-group curriculum plans provide further information about statutory coverage, curriculum sequencing and progression from EYFS to Year 6.

Working in Partnership with Parents and Carers

Following the introduction of the revised statutory guidance in September 2026, we have consulted on and reviewed our RHE policy, curriculum content and progression to ensure that our provision reflects current statutory expectations and remains age-appropriate, carefully sequenced and consistent with our Catholic ethos.

We recognise parents and carers as the primary educators of their children and believe that open communication about RHE is particularly important. We want families to understand what is taught, why it is taught at each stage and how learning develops as pupils move through the school.

Parents and carers are encouraged to continue age appropriate conversations at home and can access information and resources linked to our core Ten:Ten programme through the Parent Portal.

Ten:Ten Parent Portal

Username: st-phils-br5
Password: bubble-543

Parent Portal: https://www.tentenresources.co.uk/parent-portal/