RHE

At St John’s School, Relationships and Health Education is designed to nurture the whole child – supporting their spiritual, moral, emotional and physical development within a Christian ethos and reflecting our Golden Rule of Love One Another. Our intent is to equip children with the knowledge, skills and values they need to form positive, respectful relationships and to make informed, healthy life choices. Through a carefully sequenced and progressive curriculum, pupils build on prior learning, developing confidence in understanding themselves and others, managing emotions and recognising the importance of kindness, empathy, integrity and respect in all relationships. The curriculum focuses on giving pupils the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships, and ensures they can always talk to a trusted adult if there is anything worrying them.

From the EYFS curriculum to the end of Key Stage 2, the children are taught about healthy relationships, the wide variety of family types that exist and what makes us a good friend to others, combined with lessons on how to stay safe online and keep safe from different types of harm. Children are appropriately signposted to people and organisations that they can turn to in times of need and these trusted adults are frequently referred to throughout the curriculum.

Whilst sex education in our school means that we give children information and facts about puberty and reproduction, we do this with an awareness of the moral code and values which underpin all our work in school. We also do this in partnership with parents and carers and will communicate with them when these topics are going to be taught.

Within Years 5 and 6, sex education is taught sensitively and appropriately in a safe and loving environment. The curriculum focusses on equipping pupils with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their own health and ensures they receive factual information about the changes they will experience emotionally and physically during puberty. Sex education does not go above and beyond the focus of reproduction and how the baby develops and is born.

Rooted in the teachings of Jesus, our approach in teaching RHE fosters a safe and supportive environment where children learn to love themselves and others, to trust in God and one another, and to grow into compassionate, resilient individuals prepared to contribute positively to their communities and the wider world.