We believe that good quality PSHE education enables children to become healthier, more independent and more responsible members of society.Our PSHE curriculum is designed to ensure we achieve the school aims of:

• To develop young people who are confident, independent learners with high self-esteem and high aspirations who have experienced success and enjoyment at school.

• To provide the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences to allow children to feel part of wider society and to prepare them to make positive contributions as citizens of Modern Britain.

• To develop the knowledge, skills, strategies and resilience to enable our children to stay happy, active, healthy and safe.

We encourage our pupils to play a positive role in contributing to the life of the school and the wider community. In doing so, we help to develop their sense of self-worth. We teach them how society is organised and governed. We ensure that the children experience the process of democracy through participation in the School Council elections and decisions or by being part of the actual council. We teach children about their rights and about their responsibilities.They learn to appreciate what it means to be a positive member of a diverse and multi-cultural society. Indeed, the teaching of PSHE helps in many ways to meet the objectives set out in the Children’s Act 2004 (Every Child Matters) – ‘that to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, and achieve economic well-being’.

At Castlecroft we strive to develop the children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development and this policy is linked to the School’s SMSC Policy. As part of our PSHE lessons we also deliver key elements of Citizenship such as those contained within the PSHE Association programme of study. We feel that this gives our children the bestopportunity to learn and experience themes that will help them with their lives now and in the future.