RHE

Relationship and Health Education

From September 2020, all primary age children will be taught Relationships and Health Education (RHE).

Relationships and Health Education is lifelong learning about physical, moral and emotional development. It is designed to equip children with knowledge to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships as well as preparing them for a successful adult life.

At St James’ our mission is to support the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of all of our pupils, rooted in the wisdom and teaching of the Church.

St James’ Relationship Education programme will:

  • Acknowledge, respect and value the moral teachings of the Catholic Church.

  • Provide information which is relevant and appropriate to the age and maturity of the pupils.

  • Develop resilience, to know how and when to ask for help, and to know where to access support.

  • Develop personal attributes including kindness, integrity, generosity and honesty.

  • Provide children and young people with a positive understanding of what constitutes positive relationships, with particular reference to friendships, family relationships and relationships with other children and with adults.

  • Address on line safety and appropriate behaviour that is relevant to pupils’ lives.

  • Ensure children know how to report concerns and seek advice when they suspect or know something is wrong.

  • Promote good health and understanding of physical development, respecting and reverencing the wonder of the body.

Life to The Full Programme

At St James’, we have chosen to use the programme: Life to the Full by Ten Ten Resources to support the teaching of Relationship Education within the school.

Life to the Full is a comprehensive and fully resourced programme which embraces and fulfils the new statutory curriculum within a Catholic Context. It is based on ‘A Model Catholic RSE [Relationships and Sex Education] Curriculum’ created by the Catholic Education Service and was highlighted as a work of good practice by the Department of Education.

The programme adopts a spiral curriculum approach so that as our children go through the programme year-after-year. Their learning will develop and grow at an age appropriate stage, with each stage building on from the last. The entire teaching is underpinned with a religious understanding that that our deepest identity is as a child of God– created, chosen and loved by God. Life to the Full contains creative resources to engage, inform and inspire our children. This includes interactive video content, story-based activities, a range of teaching tools, original worship music and an accompanying programme of classroom prayers. Life to the Full, follows a four-stage structure which is repeated across four different learning stages:

  • Early Years Foundation Stage

  • Key Stage One (Years 1 and 2)

  • Lower Key Stage (Years 3 and 4) 

  • Upper Key Stage Two (Years 5 and 6)

Within each learning stage, there are three Modules which are based on the Model Catholic RSE Curriculum:

  • Created and Loved by God 

  • Created to Love Others 

  • Created to Live in Community

Each Module is then broken down into Units of Work.

The Role of the Parent

We see parents as the first educators of their children. Ten Ten Resources understands the foundational role that parents have in educating and nurturing their children on relationship and health matters. Within the programme, there is an Online Parental Portal to keep parents informed about what is being taught in school. This will also give them the opportunity to engage with their children in discussion, activity and prayer.

Please refer to the Relationship Policy and Health Policy for further information.

The Ten Ten Resources