Personal Social Health Economic Education
A strong PSHE curriculum and a focus on positive physical, emotional and mental health and well-being is a key element of learning at Ash Grove Academy, starting with our very youngest children in EYFS when meeting their Personal, Social and Emotional Development needs. PSHE is recognised as a key subject area and is a high priority across whole-school initiatives, and our curriculum design has our children’s health, well-being and personal development at its heart.
PSHE education puts in place the key building blocks of healthy, respectful relationships, focusing on family and friendships, both on and offline. This sits alongside the essential understanding of how to be healthy emotionally, physically and mentally. Teaching about mental wellbeing is central to ensuring that pupils are well-prepared for the challenges that lie ahead in their lives. Quality first PSHE teaching equips our children with the knowledge and capability to take care of themselves and to know how to get support if problems arise. The wider aim of this subject is to help foster the personal characteristics and essential life skills that are fundamental to pupils being happy, successful and productive members of society.
Our curriculum has been designed to meet the DfE statutory requirements for Relationship Education and Health Education, and is built around progressive units of work from the PSHE Association's curriculum toolkit. Through our curriculum, we aim to promote positive personal attributes, such as resilience, confidence, honesty and ambition. We believe that it is important children understand what it means to have ‘good character’ and personal and social responsibility, as well as how to recognise these skills and attributes in themselves and others, in order to prepare them for life in modern Britain.
Our PSHE curriculum incorporate the PSHE Association's three key strands:
- LIVING IN THE WIDER WORLD
- RELATIONSHIPS
- HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Online safety is an integral part of our PSHE curriculum and is addressed in specific lesson content taken from the DfE approved Project Evolve resources. Through this work, each class draws up their own age-appropriate Online Safety Charter to remind them how to keep safe online, and this is referred to through subsequent units and whenever relevant. The PSHE Association SEND Planning Framework is used by teachers in the planning cycle and is referred to when setting EHCP pastoral targets for children with SEND if appropriate.
Our aim is to enable all the children at Ash Grove Academy to feel prepared for life after primary school and to become healthy, active, engaged and risk-aware citizens of the future.
The Department for Education has recently updated the statutory guidance for Relationships, Sex and Health Education, emphasising its importance and encouraging schools to adapt their policies accordingly and for these to be in place by September 2026. To ensure that our RHE curriculum reflects the values and needs of our school community, we are launching a consultation process to gather your feedback and suggestions. We value your input and believe it is essential to involve parents/carers in shaping the RHE provision at our school.
The consultation process will consist of the following steps:
1. Consultation Document: We have attached our proposed RHE policy detailing curriculum content, and teaching methods. This document will also be made available to you via our school website.
2. Feedback Submission: We invite you to provide your feedback, suggestions, or questions regarding our proposed RHE policy and curriculum. You can submit your feedback via email to consultation@aet.cheshire.sch.uk' The consultation runs from (24th June until Friday 10th July).
Please find the consultation letter and our draft RHE policy 2026 in the list of documents below.
