PSHE / RSHE
Ryhope Infant School Academy is a thriving learning community where all learners are valued as individuals. They are encouraged, challenged and supported to be the best they can possibly be.We want our children to ‘live to learn’ and ‘learn to live’.
We are passionate in our pursuit of excellence in all aspects of school life and aim to support all young people to stay safe and prepare for life in modern Britain.
We nurture and inspire children to develop confidence and resilience in an environment where children are offered valuable opportunities to flourish in all areas.
Our school vision and ethos is strongly supported through, and embedded in, the delivery of our PSHE whole-school approach to the curriculum. At our school we are committed to ensuring that the emotional and social needs of all our children are met within our school environment, and we support the development of children’s health and wellbeing, self-esteem and confidence. We offer extra support in the ways of nurture groups for those children in need.
As part of providing a broad and balanced PSHE curriculum, we are able to nurture and support the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development in young children and promote the fundamental British values in young lives.
We support children to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy and independent lives, and become responsible citizens. We recognise that our school ethos is crucial to this learning and should be at the heart of school life.
RSHE
The focus of RSHE (Relationship Sex and Health Education) in Ryhope Infant School Academy is to teach the fundamental building blocks and characteristics of positive relationships, with particular reference to friendships, family relationships and relationships with other children and with adults.
At Ryhope Infant School Academy we begin by teaching the children about what a relationship is, what friendship is, what family means and who the people are who can support them. As soon as our children join us in Nursery, they are taught how to take turns, how to treat each other with kindness, consideration and respect, the importance of honesty and truthfulness, permission seeking and giving and the concept of personal privacy.
Respect for others is taught in an age appropriate way, in terms of understanding one’s own and others’ boundaries in play, in negotiations about space, toys, books and other resources.
Teachers talk to the children about features of healthy friendships, family relationships and other relationships which young children are likely to encounter.
We teach about families sensitively and based on the knowledge of the children and their circumstances and that families of many forms provide a nurturing environment for children. We teach children to understand that families either in school or the wider world, sometimes look different from their family, but that they respect those difference and know that other children’s families are also characterised by love and care. Families can include single parents, LGBTQ+ parents, grandparents, adoptive parents, foster parents and carers.
Through RSHE we teach our pupils the knowledge they need to recognise and report abuse, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse. This is done in an age appropriate way and is focused on boundaries and privacy, ensuring they understand that they have the rights over their own bodies. This includes understanding boundaries with peers and also in families and with others in all contexts including online. Pupils know who safe people are in school and know that they can share any worries with these people.
Pupils are taught the importance of online safety and are taught to understand that the same principles apply to online relationships as to face-to-face relationships, including the importance of respect for others online including when we are anonymous.
Pupils are taught the rules and principles for keeping safe online, how to recognise risks, harmful content and contact and how to report them.
