RSE

The government have published statutory guidance for the RSHE curriculum which must be in place by September 2026. Their reasons for doing so are outlined in the introduction to the guidance…

Effective teaching will support prevention of harms by helping young people understand and identify when things are not right.

Curriculum Intent

At Ropery Walk, we view relationship education as being essential to our curriculum. Our ability to navigate relationships successfully is fundamental to a successful and happy life.

Driven by our core values of respect, inclusion, courage, honesty, empathy, and safety, our curriculum empowers pupils to build healthy relationships, challenge inequality, and stay safe in an increasingly complex world.

 We aim to nurture healthy, respectful, and safe children who possess the emotional intelligence to navigate the modern world. If children are to develop healthy relationships throughout their lives, we need to teach the foundational principles of positive relationships, focusing on family dynamics, lifelong friendships, boundaries, and mutual respect.

We will develop in pupils the courage and honesty to identify unhealthy, controlling, or coercive behaviours within family structures or friendships, and will equip pupils with the vocabulary and assertiveness required to recognise unsafe situations, resist peer pressure, and confidently ask for help.

We will ensure that we provide factual, age-appropriate instruction on puberty, human growth, and personal hygiene, reducing stigma through correct anatomical vocabulary. We will deliver fully inclusive, age-appropriate sex education in Year 6, focusing on the emotional and physical aspects of human conception, reproduction, and birth.

We will nurture empathy and inclusion by celebrating diverse family units, dismantling harmful gender stereotypes, and reinforcing that every individual deserves dignity and a life free from fear.

To keep pace with today’s technology, we will proactively address online safety, including managing personal data, privacy settings, and identifying online harms like scams or age-inappropriate media.

In lessons, we will build resilience by teaching pupils how to recognise, articulate, and regulate complex emotions, including strategies for handling change, loss, or isolation.

We have embedded RSE into our PSHE curriculum. The content is covered under the following headings:

– families and people who care for me

– caring friendships

– respectful, kind relationships

– online safety and awareness

– being safe

There is greater emphasis in the updated curriculum on online safety and wellbeing, personal safety, recognising different types of abuse, coping with loss and bereavement, developing a range of relationship skills and the use of correct names for genitals from an early age.

Sex education is not compulsory in the primary phase, although the guidance recommends that some sex education take place in Y5 and Y6 to link in with science teaching about conception and birth and to ensure that children understand that sexual intercourse is one part of a caring, committed relationship that leads to conception and pregnancy. After consultation with parents, we have decided to teach the aspects of sex education recommended by the government in Y6

Parents have the right to withdraw their child from sex education (ie, sexual intercourse, pregnancy and contraception) but not from scientific, relationship or health education (for example the teaching of conception and birth in science, learning about physical, emotional and sexual abuse or lessons on menstruation in Y4).

Framework Alignment: Taught systematically through the PSHE Association Programme of Study, which dynamically revisits the core themes of Relationships, Living in the Wider World, and Health and Wellbeing.

Spiral Curriculum: Delivered via a structured, age-appropriate scheme of work (e.g., PSHE Association framework) that systematically revisits and deepens core themes from EYFS to Year 6.

Dedicated Curricular Time: Taught through distinct, weekly PSHE/RSE lessons, supplemented by cross-curricular links in National Curriculum Science, computing, and PE.

Safe Learning Environment: Cultivating a classroom atmosphere built on clear ground rules, distancing techniques (using scenarios or storybooks), and anonymous question boxes to protect pupil privacy.

Inclusive Safeguarding: Ensuring all materials are highly inclusive, reflective of diverse family structures, and fully accessible to pupils with SEND.

Parental Partnership: Maintaining complete transparency by consulting parents on curriculum mapping and hosting physical or digital reviews of all resource materials.

Staff Empowerment: Equipping teachers with regular CPD and specialized training toolkits to navigate sensitive discussions impartially and confidently.

Value Reinforcement: School values are actively integrated: pupils practice the courage to say no, the empathy to support distressed peers, and the honesty to name anatomical parts correctly using medical terminology.

Articulate Pupils: Pupils use correct, respectful language to describe their bodies, state their personal boundaries, and report concerns without shame.

Critical Thinkers: Pupils identify unhealthy behaviours—both in the playground and in digital spaces—and demonstrate actionable strategies to mitigate risk.

Emotional Resilience: Children possess the vocabulary to discuss their mental health, understand that low mood or anxiety can happen, and know exactly how to access school support networks.

Measurable Outcomes: Subject leaders assess long-term data retention and behavioural progression through structured pupil voice interviews, book looks, and end-of-unit reflection journals.

Statutory Compliance: The school successfully meets all statutory requirements for primary Relationships and Health Education, fostering an inclusive school environment.

There is also greater emphasis on openness with parents and making sure that you have a clear picture of what our curriculum looks like, how and when it will be taught. Our parental consultation showed that 92% of parents who responded were supportive of our RSE programme, with 71% of these being very supportive. Most felt that after receiving updated information on the curriculum they felt they had a good understanding of it and 100% thought the information was clear. 93% were happy with the current system of notifying parents about sensitive topics on ClassDojo prior to these being taught, so we will continue with this. It was great to see that 93% of parents who responded felt fairly confident in discussing Health and RSE with their children, but also helpful to discover that parents valued the termly newsletters and curriculum overviews to provide information on what we teach, so these will also continue. 93% of parents expressed an interest in attending parent workshops or information sessions, so this is something we will look into providing in the future.

We thank you for your engagement and your support.