Relationships & Health Education

Mental health and emotional well-being is a key part of children’s education and we recognise that it contributes to their educational and life outcomes.  Through the teaching of Relationships & Health Education (RHE), pupils are given the information they need to help develop healthy, nurturing relationships with other children and adults.  It aims to enable children to know what a healthy relationship looks like, how to build and maintain happy, healthy relationships with others and to recognise the importance of a range of relationships with friends, family, in school and in the wider community in which they live.

Relationships and Health Education is delivered as part of our Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) curriculum, which has planned weekly lessons across the school as well as throughout the school day as different situations or issues arise.  RHE is also taught through Science (naming parts of the body, life cycles), Computing (online safety) and PE (physical and mental health).

In accordance with Government statutory guidance, Sex Education (RSE) is not compulsory in infant schools.  We do cover “Being Safe” as an aspect of the statutory Relationships Education curriculum, which includes learning related to privacy and safeguarding.  We teach pupils to recognise unhealthy behaviours, how to keep safe, identify potential dangers in their on and off line lives and how to report any concerns, worries or abuse and where to access help when needed.  We use PANTS to teach children about keeping safe – PANTS is an acronym devised to teach children the underwear rule: privates are private; always remember your body belongs to you; no means no; talk about secrets that upset you and speak up, someone can help.

Click on this link to view the NSPCC’s PANTS (the Underwear Rule) parental guidance: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/pants-underwear-rule/

Please also see The Department for Education’s guide for parents: Understanding-Relationships-and-Health-Education-in-your-childs-primary-school-a-guide-for-parents (PDF, 362.52 kB)

The Progression of Skills for RHE can be found here: RHE Progression of Skills (PDF, 235.27 kB)