PSHE

PSHE at The Chase 

PSHE education is a school curriculum subject in England that helps children and young people stay healthy, safe and prepared for life – and work – in modern Britain (PSHE Association). 

At the Chase, PSHE is taught on a rotational basis over the academic year during which students cover a range of different topics including but not limited to: relationships and families, finance education, health education, drugs and alcohol awareness, Fundamental British Values, emotional wellbeing and mental health, discrimination and diversity.  

As part of our PSHE curriculum at The Chase we cover the compulsory topics in the most recent Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education. 

Topic reviews for every year group can be found below. 

Health and Puberty​

1. Making choices about your health: In this lesson, students explore what influences diet and exercise choices and how to discern between reliable and less reliable health information.​

2. Maintaining physical health: s. In this lesson students learn why health-related decisions might vary from person to person, and about barriers to making healthier choices and strategies for overcoming these.​

3. Puberty and emotional changes: This lesson supports students to understand the emotional changes that occur during puberty and how these changes might affect their relationships. It develops a deeper understanding of the process of puberty.​

4. Menstrual Wellbeing: This lesson promotes understanding of menstrual wellbeing and helps young people to familiarise themselves with and evaluate a variety of menstrual (period) products. ​

Being Safe​

1. First Aid: Students will investigate basic first aid. ​

2. FGM: This lesson explains what Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is, the law in relation to FGM and supports development of protective factors that will support young people to speak up, seek help and report if they or others are at risk, or have experienced FGM.​

3. Travel Safety: Students will investigate the impact of travel and road safety.​

4. Cybercrime: This lesson raises awareness of the risks associated with cybercrime, including the reasons why young people may engage in criminal activity online and its impact on both individuals and the wider community.​

Diversity

1. Identity and Community: This lesson focuses on the similarities and differences between people within a community and how communities can foster feelings of belonging.​

2. Bias and Stereotypes: This lesson explores types of bias and stereotypes and how these thinking patterns can affect behaviour.​

3. Discrimination and the Protected Characteristics: This lesson explores the characteristics that are protected by law, what constitutes discriminatory behaviour, and safe ways to challenge or report discrimination.​

4. Values and constructive disagreement: This lesson explores what values people hold and how people may act on these values in different ways. Students will also explore how to manage disagreement constructively​

Eco

1. KNOW: Climate change & climate literacy; This lesson includes a google quiz to ascertain student literacy re climate crisis, and the opportunity to gather some pupil feedback on what is important to them and what they would like to learn ​

2. UNDERSTAND: The second lesson involves watching the documentary 'Climate Change: The Facts' which explores the science of climate change and potential solutions to this global threat.​

3. DISCUSS: the third lesson gives students dedicated time to discuss the documentary & the climate crisis in a meaningful way – its causes, the effects, and how we tackle it – plus opportunities to acknowledge pupils’ very real concerns. Talking can help students comprehend and voice the complex, challenging, and potentially overwhelming topic of climate breakdown, plus provide the tools to act. Pupils start to consider collective solutions, picking a specific topic and a task to act upon.​

4. ACT: Lesson 4 allows pupils to put their ideas into action; we then return to the initial quiz to review what students have learnt​

Finance

1. Opening a bank account: This lesson explores the basics of owning a bank account. They will explore why they are important, how you set one up and then the advantages and disadvantages of different bank accounts.​

2. How to save money: Students will identify reasons why people need to save money. They will also assess different methods of saving money and will create a saving plan.​

3. Debit and Credit: This lesson explains the difference between a debit and credit card and will compare credit card payment options. Finally, they will demonstrate how to make conscious spending decisions.​

4. Debt: In this lessons students will explain the difference between good and bad debt and will describe how borrowing works and the different forms of borrowing.​

Friendship and Bullying​

1. Friendship and Empathy: This lesson focuses on the role empathy plays in making and maintaining positive friendships, as well as effective strategies that can be used to include others.​

2. Bullying and Bystanders: This lesson focuses on developing an understanding of what bullying is and the impact it can have. Students will consider how individual actions based on empathy, together with wider school support, can reduce the likelihood of bullying happening. ​

3. Friendship Challenges: This lesson focuses on when challenges and conflict arise within friendships, giving students the opportunity to explore different forms of communication and rehearse conflict management strategies, in order to reconcile after disagreements. Students will also consider when friendships pose a risk to themselves and explore exit strategies for such situations.​

4. Similarities, differences, and peer influence: The lesson focuses on students’ understanding that people have similarities and differences, and that equality and a culture of inclusion can reduce bullying. They will explore strategies to manage peer influence and develop an understanding of how peers can support others to resist pressure around bullying behaviours.​

Mental Health and Wellbeing​

1. Attitudes to Mental Health: This lesson builds on existing knowledge on the mental health and emotional wellbeing. It addresses misconceptions about, and examines attitudes towards, mental health.​

2. Promoting Emotional Wellbeing: This lesson focuses on how young people can maintain daily wellbeing, through a range of resilience-building strategies.​

3. Digital Resilience: This lesson focuses on ways to develop ‘digital resilience’ to support mental health.​

4. Being Left Out: This lesson looks at how personal qualities, attitudes, skills and achievements are evaluated by others, affects confidence and self-esteem. Students will also evaluate the impact of being left out.​

Fundamental British Values​

1. How is Britain ran?: In this topic students will be introduced to Fundamental British Values and what this actually means. In lesson one they will consider the term “Britishness” before exploring democracy and how Britain’s politics is organised. ​

2. Rule of Law: The second lesson looks at Rule of Law and how our human rights and responsibilities correlate with this.​

3. The Tripartite System: In this lesson students will explore how the country is run through the Tripartite System (Government, Parliament and Courts of Law) before watching some clips of students taking part in a mock trial and considering how this would benefit them.​

4. Debate: Students will take part in a debate on whether the voting age should be lowered to 16.​

Discrimination

1. Stereotypes and Visible Differences: Students will learn about visible differences and the effects that stereotypes in films and on TV, which are often negative, can have on people who look different.​

2. Racism: This lesson ensures students can explain what the term ‘racism’ actually means, and that people often make assumptions about racial differences that aren’t true.​

3. ImWithSam: This lesson looks at raising awareness and challenging perceptions of people with learning difficulties and autism as part of a diverse society, asks pupils to reflect on the impact of ways in which people with learning disabilities and autism are perceived, judged, described and treated, and explores how to question, challenge and change these behaviours.​

Families

1. Marriage and Family Types: This lesson explores the different types of families and the laws surrounding marriage/civil partnerships including forced and arranged marriages. Finally, students will consider family roles in their own families and how these have changed over time.​

2. Parenting: This lesson evaluates parental responsibilities and how these change as a child grows up. ​

3. Responses to Unplanned Pregnancy: Students will consider the possible responses to unplanned pregnancies, including looking at case studies and considering the influences which play into the decisions made in these situations. They will also consider the common arguments around abortion.​

Emotional Wellbeing​

1. Unhealthy Coping Strategies: This lesson focuses on unhealthy coping strategies, specifically self-harm and eating disorders.​

2. Healthy Coping Strategies: This lesson focuses on developing healthy coping strategies.​

3. Change, Loss and Grief: This lesson focuses on strategies of managing change, loss and grief looking at different types of grief and how to access support. ​

Finance

1. Food Origins and Waste: This lesson will explore the process of how we get food to our plates. In doing so we will research where certain foods originate from and how revenue, profit / loss is distributed. Students will also understand what ‘Fair Trade’ is and how we can make a difference by buying these products.​

2. Internet Shopping: Students will look at marketing techniques used by companies and how we can make sure we stay safe when shopping online. ​

3. Online Gaming and Gambling: In this lesson students will explore how online gaming can lead to gambling and evaluate the risks associated with online gaming and gambling.​

Relationships

1. Relationship Values: This lesson allows students to explore their relationship values and enables them to practise managing difficulties in relationships.​

2. Influences on Relationship Expectations: This lesson explores issues relating to people’s expectations on relationships, in particular helping students to develop their understanding of media influence of expectations and the sharing of sexual images, the law, the impact, and the consequences.​

3. Domestic Violence and Abuse: In this lesson students will explain what is meant by domestic abuse and identify different types of abuse and the support available. They will also consider views on domestic abuse which are not their own.​

Looking after you​

1. Sleep: This lesson explores the importance of good quality sleep – particularly when routines, schedules and pressures are likely to change. It will also explain the impact of sleep on emotional wellbeing.​

2. Self Harm: This lesson will explain different cases of self harm, anxiety and depression and their characteristics. They will also explore how we can support people who are suffering from these.​

3. Eating Disorders: This lesson will explain to students what an eating disorder is and analyse the different types of eating disorders. Finally, they will consider how we can support people who suffer from an eating disorder.​

Identity and relationships​

1. Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation: This lesson explores the distinctions between, and key terminology regarding, sexual orientation and gender identity. It provides students with the knowledge, skills and attributes to challenge unhelpful stereotypes and promote inclusive behaviour in school and the wider community.​

2. LGBTQ+ Prejudice and Discrimination: In this lesson students will look at the prejudice and discrimination that LGBTQ+ people face, the different forms in which it might present itself, and how we can challenge this.​

3. Consent: In this lesson students will look at the meaning of consent and the law surrounding this. They will also look at how consent is used in different situations.​

Drugs and Alcohol​

1. Understanding Drugs: This lesson introduces concepts of substance use through a focus on the risks and effects caffeine consumption.​

2. Tobacco – risks and influences: This lesson focuses on specific risks relating to tobacco and nicotine produce use and strategies to manage influences regarding use of these substances.​

3. Alcohol and Risk: This lesson focuses on specific risks relating to alcohol use and challenges some of the perceived social norms about drinking alcohol.​

Staying Safe​

1. Social Media: In this lesson students will analyse the potential negative effects of using social media, including how social media may negatively impact self-esteem and body image.​

2. Fake News: In this lesson we will look at the differences between misinformation and disinformation and students will learn different techniques for identifying fake news. They will also consider the impact of social media platforms (especially TikTok) on the spreading of fake news.​

3. Online Grooming: Students will identify the characteristics of abusive behaviours such as online grooming and exploitation. They will also describe the warning signs and how to report abusive behaviours and access support.​

Health Education​

1. Allergies: This lesson looks at how we can identify if someone is having an allergic reaction and how we can help them. They will also look at how allergic reactions happen and how they can be treated.​

2. Asthma: In this lesson students will learn to identify when an asthma attack requires treatment and how to act accordingly. In addition, the students will gain an understanding of what can cause asthma and will understand when to call for help. The students must understand an asthma attack can be serious, even life threatening.​

3. Bleeding: Students will be able to identify when a casualty has a bleed that requires treatment and how to act accordingly. These actions should include administration of basic first aid skills and caring for a casualty. ​

Intimate relationships​

1. Consent: Students will learn about what consent means, both legally and ethically, and what it looks like in practice.​

2. Sexual Health: This lesson explores commonly sexually transmitted infections and their symptoms. The aim is to help students understand the types and consequences of infection and the importance of prevention and testing, rather than for them to be able to ‘self-diagnose’ based on symptom recognition.​

3. Contraception: This lesson introduces the main types of contraception. We use the term contraception to include condoms, which might be used purely as protection against infections, where preventing contraception is not an issue.​

4. Forced Marriage and Honour Based Violence: This lesson helps students to understand what forced marriage and honour-based violence are and be able to recognise the warning signs that a person might be in danger.​

Respectful relationships ​

1. Families and Relationships: Students will revisit key terms relating to family and marriage before considering the characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships. They will then consider why relationships might start to break down and consider how poor relationships in the home can lead to homelessness in young people.​

2. Managing Relationship and Family Changes: In this lesson students will identify factors leading to family changes and divorce, consider the feelings and practical difficulties involve in divorce and appraise coping strategies to deal with the problems involved. ​

3. Sexual Harassment: The lesson explores how to identify behaviours that could be seen along with the difference between a compliment, banter and harassment. Students will discover where to get support if you have been a victim of sexual harassment. ​

4. Relationship Abuse: This lesson will help students identify signs of different types of abuse. They will also identify likely thoughts and feelings which can affect decision-making and suggest how to overcome barriers to help-seeking. They will also explain how to help others who may be in an abusive relationship. ​

Influences

1. Role Models: In this lesson students will identify what makes someone a positive or negative role model and evaluate the impact of role models on social media on young people.​

2. Anti-Social Behaviour and Peer Pressure: This lesson will look at the meaning of anti-social behaviour and how this impacts a community. Then, students will look at the impact of peer pressure and the major consequences of this with a focus on alcohol.​

3. Pornography: In this lesson, students will look at the impact of pornography and its impact on understanding consent.​

4. Vaping: This lesson explores the consequences of vaping and the influences that might impact young people’s behaviour relating to vaping.​

Online and Risk​

1. Assessing Risk and Managing Influences: This lesson will reflect on how we use social media and highlight the risks and influences relating to social media.​

2. Online Relationships: To describe the different ways that online relationships can be conducted including the risk of online relationships including catfishing and dating sites.​

3. Sexting: Students will evaluate how to manage risks of sending, sharing or passing on sexual images and how to secure personal information online ​

4. Knife Crime: In this lesson, students will identify the consequences of knife crime and why young people become involved. They will also look at methods of preventing knife crime and why there are a variety of outcomes from these.​

First Aid​

1. Head Injuries: Students will gain a basic understanding of anatomy and function of the brain and skull. They will learn that head injuries can be minor or severe and how to recognise common signs of a head injury. ​

2. Choking: In this lesson students will learn how to identify when a casualty is choking and be able to act accordingly. These actions should include looking after a casualty and reassuring them, seeking medical help if required and administration of basic first aid skills. ​

3. Basic Life Support: In this lesson students will learn how to identify when a casualty may require an assessment and possible life support. They will look at the purpose of a primary survey, the recovery position and CPR.​

4. Bone, Muscle and Joint Injuries: In this lesson students will be able to identify when a casualty may require an assessment and first aid treatment after sustaining an injury to the musculoskeletal system. ​

Wellbeing and Mental Health​

1. New Challenges: This lesson examines challenges facing young people as they transition into KS4 and how to promote positive mental health to manage change, now and in the future.​

2. Reframing Negative Thinking: This lesson focuses on resilience and reframing setbacks.​

3. Recognising Mental Ill-Health: This lesson focuses on mental health issues that can affect young people, examining mental ill-health warning signs and the range of sources of support available.​

4. Promoting Emotional Wellbeing: This lesson focuses on ways to promote mental health and wellbeing.​

Gangs and Organised Crime​

1. Involvement in Gangs: This lesson will explore the distinction between healthy relationships and those that exhibit unhealthy characteristics associated with gang membership. It will also explore factors which contribute to some people choosing to join a gang.​

2. Risks and Consequences: This lesson explores the risks and consequences of gang-related behaviours. It also considers the pressures and manipulation techniques used on young people to join a gang and how they can resist these.​

3. Getting Out: This lesson explores exit strategies and support systems who have concerns about gang activity.​

4. County Lines: This lesson explains what County Lines is and how we can protect ourselves and others.​

Drugs and Alcohol​

1. Exploring Attitudes: This lesson will give the teacher a clear picture of students’ current understanding of drugs, explores attitudes towards their use and clarifies perceptions regarding the prevalence of drug use.​

2. Drugs and the Law: This lesson teaches students about the law in relation to drugs, the legal consequences of possessing or supplying drugs and how police officers enforce these laws in practice.​

3. Drugs and their Effects: This lesson explores the effects of different patterns of alcohol use, in addition to the health risks associated with alcohol and cannabis use.​

4. Managing Influence: This lesson develops skills and strategies to manage pressure and influence in relation to substances.​

Sex Education and Radicalisation​

1. Extremism and Radicalisation: This lesson investigates the reasons for extremism and why/how individuals become radicalised.​

2. County Lines: This lesson looks at the existence of County Lines in a local area and why young people are so vulnerable to gangs through this method.​

3. Different Types of Relationships and Sexualities: Students will look at myths and misconceptions about relationships, to promote positive relationships. We will cover misconceptions and social norms about sex gender, abstinence and celibacy. They will also look at different types of sexual identities with a case study of a transgender person and explore how we can ensure society is a safe place for all.​

4. Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE): We will look at the signs and indicators of Child Sexual exploitation and where to get support if they are worried about friends or themselves. ​

5. Relationships, Consent and Rape: We will look at the age of consent and what the law says. How manipulation, coercion and capacity have an impact on consent and the existence of victim blaming. Students will look at the case study of Harvey Weinstein in this lesson.​

Staying Safe and Healthy​

1. Sleep: This lesson seeks to help young people to expand their understanding of the impact of sleep quality in an age-appropriate context. It aims to address common sleep-related problems through information on getting sufficient, good quality sleep.​

2. Body Modifications: This lesson focuses on making informed decisions regarding cosmetic procedures and the use of sunbeds.​

3. Substance Use and Assessing Risk: This lesson considers the effects of alcohol and other drug choices on personal safety.​

4. Substance Use and Managing Influence: This lesson considers how different sources of influences affect decision-making: strategies to manage peer influence; and ways to act as a positive influence on peers.​

5. Help Seeking and Sources of Support: This lesson explores the journey of a drug to understand the wider consequences of drug use, strategies for seeking help regarding substance use and addresses any potential barriers to doing so.​

Core RPE (Ethical Theory)​

1. Introduction to Moral philosophy. This lesson introduces students to the idea of Absolutism and Relativism where students discuss the merits of each theory.​

2. Utilitarianism. Students look at the ethical theory of Utilitarianism, using the Trolley dilemma as a tool to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the theory.​

3. Kantian Ethics. Students look at the ethical dilemma of whether it is ever right to lie. Students explore and evaluate Immanuel Kant's theory of duty.​

4. Natural Law. Using the ethical topic of abortion, students explore whether doing what is natural is the right thing to do. Students examine Thomas Aquinas' theory of Natural law and whether abortion can ever be justified.​

5. Students examine all of the ethical theories they have studied and debate which is the most successful.​

Core RPE (Business Ethics)​

1. Corporate social responsibility. Students examine what is business ethics and whether businesses should be responsible for their ethical behaviour.​

2. Whistleblowing. Students examine what is Whistleblowing and look at examples such as Edward Snowdon to highlight the positives and negatives of whistleblowing.​

3. Globalisation: Students examine the effects of Globalisation, looking at the case study of Rana Plaza. Students assess the levels of responsibility global businesses have towards their stakeholders.​

4. Capitalism and Consumerism: Students assess whether Capitalism and Consumerism are good for humans by applying the ethical theories of Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill to case studies.​

5. Good ethics is good business: Students examine whether good ethics is always good business, drawing upon the various case studies and theories they have examined in previous lessons. ​

 

Health Education​

1. Vaccinations: In this lesson students will consider different views relating to vaccinations including the opinions of anti-vaxxers.​

2. Donors: In this lesson students will learn about the different types of donations including blood, stem cell and organ donation. They will consider the importance of being a donor but also the ethical arguments surrounding donors.​

3. Breast and Testicular Cancer Awareness: Students will be introduced to the signs and symptoms of breast and testicular cancer and will learn about the importance of raising awareness on self-examination for both breast and testicular cancer.​

Relationships and Sexual Health​

1. Family Conflict: This lesson develops conflict management strategies to improve relationships within families. These skills can be used more widely to reinforce expectations about the right to positive, healthy relationships.​

2. Long Term Commitments: This lesson focuses on committed relationships, marriage, and families, and considers the nature of commitment.​

3. Sexual Health and Fertility: This lesson recaps learning on sexual health from year 9 and introduces new learning about fertility and pregnancy choices. ​

RE Topic 1​

Philosophy​

1. Philosophy; What is the purpose of human life? Students examine different opinions and philosophical theories about the purpose of life, assessing whether there is more to reality than just this life.​

2. Can you encounter God? Students will explore different ways people say they have experienced God, Students will assess the impact having a spiritual/religious experience can have on an individual.​

3. What is the soul? Students examine both the religious and scientific ideas of the soul, looking at evidence to support this as well as analysing its validity.​

RE Topic 2​

Ethics: Crime​

1. Free will & determinism. Students discuss whether they are free or whether their lives are determined. Students apply these ideas to case studies and examine whether free will is just an illusion.​

2. Crime: Gypsy Rose case study. Students examine whether Gypsy Rose was morally responsible for the murder of her mother, linking the views of hard determinism to the case study.​

3. Crime: Jamie Bulger case. Students examine whether you are born with a moral understanding of what is right/wrong. They will evaluate how much the roles of nature and nurture played in this murder case. ​