Our Lady of the Rosary

RSE

At Our Lady of the Rosary School, our vision is to transform the lives of our pupils within a Catholic environment by nurturing the wellbeing of each child, promoting the highest academic achievement and instilling a lifelong love of learning. We aim to fulfil our school strap line ‘Faith, Love, Learning’ by igniting a thirst for knowledge and a desire to achieve through an engaging and creative curriculum that promotes the highest academic achievements and prepares our pupils to be successful in their adult life.

Our Vision…

At Our Lady of the Rosary, we aim for pupils to have the ability and freedom to express themselves. Our RSE curriculum allows our pupils to develop a moral compass, empathy towards others and the ability to draw upon the fundamental principals of the Bible to live out their lives through their faith. We follow the Ten:Ten scheme of work which enables our school community to grow in faith, love, understanding and compassion. Our RSE curriculum is designed to ensure that our pupils have the essential knowledge and skills to equip them for the next stage of their education and for later life.

As a school, we develop the whole child within the love of a Catholic community and through our RSE curriculum express that every child is an Our Lady of the Rosary global citizen.

Intent

 

At Our Lady of the Rosary Primary school our RSE  curriculum promotes the holistic teaching about love and sexual relationships. It is rooted in the Catholic Church’s teaching about what it is to be truly human in Christ, what it means to live well in relationship with others and is presented within a positive framework of Christian virtue. As a Catholic school, we emphasise the importance of healthy relationships as the core learning within an RSE curriculum. It enshrines core pedagogical virtues it is progressive and developmental so that the learning reflects each stage of the development of the person.

 

 ‘Life to the Full’ is a programme that is rooted in the teaching and wisdom of the Catholic Church. It reflects our school's commitment to promoting fundamental British values such as democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. The RSE curriculum is mindful of the diverse needs and experiences of pupils, ensuring that all learners have access to high-quality education that prepares them for life in modern Britain.

 

The curriculum inspires our pupils by teaching them about God’s call to love; about how God’s design for creation, especially the human body, reveals insight into His great plan for human relationships as a sign of heavenly unity. We equip our pupils with the knowledge, skills, and understanding they need to stay healthy and safe, build positive relationships, manage their emotions and mental health, develop their understanding of the wider world, and make informed choices now and in the future.

 

Our RSE curriculum is continuous and developmental. It is planned from beginning to end with one phase of education informing the work of the next so that our pupils are led to a deeper and fuller understanding throughout their learning. As a school we  ensure that our RSE curriculum is sensitive to the different needs of individual pupils and is taught in a way that allows those pupils at different stages of cognitive and emotional development the ability to access the key learning. We ensure that children with special educational needs and disabilities are not at any point withdrawn from RSE because of lack of resources and training or to catch up in other subjects.

 

We are committed to the education of the whole child. The teaching of relationships and human development is reflected in each relevant part of the curriculum. An example of this is where aspects of RSE will be more appropriately explored in science lessons and some more appropriately explored in RE lessons, each should be informed by the other. Each discipline speaks with consistency about the meaning of human love and the virtues that are enshrined in the Church’s teaching on human love.

 

Through the teaching of RSE, we aim to promote emotional wellbeing and resilience. We also recognise the importance of both physical and mental good health and these are taught and promoted through this subject. In addition to this, we want to ensure that by the time our pupils leave Our Lady of the Rosary, they have become confident, independent and reflective individuals, who are prepared with the skills that they need for the next part of their life journey. The RSE curriculum will have equipped them with the knowledge, understanding and emotional resilience to be able to play an active, positive and successful role in today’s diverse society.

At Our Lady of the Rosary, we want our pupils to understand that it is okay to make mistakes, as long we learn from them. We provide our pupils with opportunities for them to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a global citizen. Our pupils are encouraged to develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community.

 

EYFS

EYFS Module One: Created and Loved by God

During module one, the children will explore and understand themselves. Rooted in the teaching that we are created by God out of love and for love, children will develop an understanding of the importance of valuing themselves as the basis for personal relationships; while introducing children to the story of creation, where God created the earth, sea, stars, plants, animals and humans.

 

Module Two – Created to Love Others

During module two, children will explore and understand their relationship with others. They will build on the understanding that we have been created out of love and for love, this Module explores how we take this calling into our family, friendships and relationships, and teaches strategies for developing healthy relationships and keeping safe. Finally helping children to understand why the Bible is so special to Christians.

 

Module Three – Created to Live in Community

During module three, children will explore and understand their relationship with the wider world. Here we explore how human beings are relational by nature and are called to love others in the wider community through service, through dialogue and through working for the Common Good. Then introducing, in a very simple way, the concept of the Trinity, where God is three-in-one and each part loves the others and loves us.

 

Key Stage 1

Module One – Created and Loved by God

During module one, children will develop an understanding of the importance of valuing themselves as the basis for personal relationships. They will be encouraged to understand that they are created by God out of love and for love and that we should celebrate similarities and differences between people, including our God-given bodies and the things they enable us to do.  Children will develop an understanding and begin to articulate their own changing feelings and how other people’s feelings might differ from theirs. Children will learn how they can manage their feelings and about the consequences of their actions. Through the specifics of the human life cycle, children will learn to celebrate how they have already changed and grown.

 

Module Two – Created to Love Others

During module two, children will explore their relationship with others whilst teaching them strategies for developing healthy relationships and keeping safe. They will learn to identify the Special People in their lives who they love and who can trust. Children will begin to learn how to cope with various social situations and dilemmas, and the importance of saying sorry and forgiveness within relationships. Children will explore the difference between good and bad secrets and the implications that they have.

 

Module Three – Created to Live in Community

During module three, children will explore their relationship with the wider world and how human beings are relational by nature and are called to love others in the wider community through service, through dialogue and through working for the Common Good. Through stories, children will begin to learn that God made us to be in loving relationships with one another. They learn about the different local and global communities that they are part of, and what rights and responsibilities come with belonging to these communities.

 

Lower Key Stage 2

Module One – Created and Loved by God

During module one, children will explore the understanding of being an individual reinforced by the teachings that we are made in the image and likeness of God.  This helps children to develop an understanding of the importance of valuing themselves as the basis for personal relationships. Through story and discussion, children will learn that they are designed for a purpose and how they should live in light of this. Children will learn to celebrate similarities and differences, and to appreciate and look after their bodies as gifts from God. They will learn about specific physical and emotional changes during puberty, and that growing from boys and girls to men and women is part of God’s loving plan for creation.

 

Module Two – Created to Love Others

During module two, children will explore their relationship with others. Building on the understanding that we have been created out of love and for love, they will explore how we take this calling into our family, friendships and relationships, and learn strategies for developing healthy relationships and keeping themselves safe. It will be demonstrated to the children that God loves us, and nothing we can do will stop Him from loving us. Children will also learn about different types of sin, and the importance of forgiveness in relationships. They will develop a more complex appreciation of different family structures, develop healthy relationships with family and friends and learn some strategies to use when relationships become difficult. Children will be taught how to recognise discrimination and bullying, both physical and emotional and they will learn strategies to develop resilience and resist pressure.

 

 

 

Module Three – Created to Live in Community

During module three, children will explore their relationship with the wider world and how human beings are relational by nature and are called to love others in the wider community through service, through dialogue and through working for the Common Good. In greater detail, children will hear and discuss an allegorical story for the three part community of love, the Trinity. Children will learn that as they are made in God’s image, they too are created to live in community. Through some of the principles of Catholic Social Teaching from Together For The Common Good, children will learn which will help them to live in communities in the way God intends.

 

Upper Key Stage 2

Module One – Created and Loved by God

During module one, children will revisit and further explore the understanding of being an individual reinforced by the teachings that we are made in the image and likeness of God.  This helps children to develop an understanding of the importance of valuing themselves as the basis for personal relationships. Over five story sessions, children will consider experiences of change, growth and development, and the trust that they can have in the person of Jesus through times of trial and tribulations. Children will learn to celebrate differences between people as enriching to a community and know that their self-confidence should arise from being loved by God. They will learn about the physical changes that boys and girls go through during puberty and how they should respect and take care of their bodies as gifts from God. Children learn about pressures that they may experience from themselves, others and the media. They will develop ideas on how to build resilience through thankfulness, use simplified Cognitive Behavioural Techniques to manage their thoughts, feelings and actions and cope with new or difficult feelings such as romance and rage. Children will learn about God’s design for creating new life through a more nuanced understanding of menstruation, fertility, conception, foetal development in the womb and childbirth.

 

Module Two – Created to Love Others

During module two, children will further explore their relationships with others. Building on the understanding that they have been created out of love and for love, children will learn how we take this calling into our family, friendships and relationships, and strategies for developing healthy relationships and keeping safe. We aim to equip children with strategies for more complex experiences of relationships and conflict including helping them to identify and understand how to respond to spoken and unspoken pressure, the concept of consent and some practical demonstrations of this, and how our thoughts and feelings have an impact on how we act. Children will become better equipped to make safe and sensible decisions about what online content they should/shouldn’t share, cyberbullying and how to report and get help if they encounter inappropriate messages or material. Children will know how to spot each type of abuse: sexual, physical, emotional and neglect and who they can go to for help.

 

Module Three – Created to Live in Community

During module three, children revisit and further explore the individual’s relationship with the wider world. Here we explore how human beings are relational by nature and are called to love others in the wider community through service, through dialogue and through working for the Common Good. In greater detail, children will look at the world of Trinity House where they will hear and discuss an allegorical story for the three part community of love, the Trinity with the endpoint of discussing the Trinity as it might be communicated in a church setting. Children will learn that the Trinity demonstrates the perfect loving community, and that we are called to emulate this self-giving and self-sacrificing love in our communities.

 

Implementation

 

At Our Lady of the Rosary, RSE is taught explicitly through dedicated lessons, but it is also integrated into other subjects and woven into the school's ethos and Gospel Values. At Our Lady of the Rosary we follow the Life to the Full Programme from Ten:Ten. As pupils progress through the school, they will revisit and further explore the concepts of each module to consolidate their understanding. They learn through a range of scriptures, stories and video clips, drawing upon their personal experiences and reflecting on their choices and actions.

 

We recognise the importance of strong relationships and open communication, creating a safe and supportive environment where pupils feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues.

Teachers use questioning to assess pupil’s understanding of what is being taught and use learning opportunities to challenge their moral and spiritual thinking. An evaluative approach to assessment is adopted by teachers to inform them of individual progress.

Approved by the Diocese, the programme sets out ten principles for Catholic Relationships Education:

  1. Our bodies are good
  2. Through loving relationships we become close to the image and likeness of God
  3. Catholic Relationships Sex and Health Education (RSHE) is about the whole person
  4. Catholic RSHE should be taught in partnership with parents
  5. Our deepest identity is as a child of God
  6. Story can change hearts and minds
  7. Catholic RSHE is an education in virtue
  8. Catholic RSHE is an education in conscience
  9. Relationship education is about striving for the common good
  10. Prayer, Scripture and the Sacraments underpin the teaching

 

The Life to the Full Plus programme includes:

  • Ø Over 80 lesson plans for EYFS to Year 6
  • Ø High-quality videos created by Ten: Ten specifically for UK-based Catholic primary schools
  • Ø Parent Online Parent Portal for links to home This is supplemented with values-led education and British values education. It is also taught a cross curricular, integrated approach, for example in R.E. and Science.
  • Ø Celebration of the Word support the delivery of PSHE through planned themes and are used to focus on specific themes.

 

Impact

Our children and staff value well-being, mental health and good citizenship. Through our curriculum, we believe that we prepare children for the next stage in their education as well as preparing them, during this vital stage of their life, for the adult world. The Ten:Ten programme is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression.

The impact of our RSE curriculum will be:

  • Ø Pupils will live out the Gospel values and virtues such as love, peace, courage, honesty, forgiveness and justice.
  • Ø Pupils will develop positive and healthy relationships with peers both now and in the future.
  • Ø Pupils will understand the physical aspects involved in RSE at an age appropriate level.
  • Ø Pupils will have respect for themselves and others.
  • Ø Pupils will demonstrate an understanding of Protected Characteristics and apply the British Values of democracy, tolerance, mutual respect, rule of law and individual liberty.
  • Ø Pupils will demonstrate a healthy outlook towards school – attendance will be in line with national and behaviour will be good.
  • Ø Pupils will achieve age related expectations across the wider curriculum.
  • Ø The impact of learning in RSE will be measured through a range of approaches including pupil voice, feedback from staff and examples of pupil’s learning.
  • Ø We expect to see our pupils demonstrate positive behaviours and attitudes, and to be able to make successful transitions between year groups, key stages and on into secondary school and beyond.

 

At Our Lady of the Rosary, the impact of our RSE curriculum is profound and far-reaching, evident in the positive outcomes for pupils in terms of their personal development, well-being, and academic achievement.

We strive to mould our pupils into kind, caring and thoughtful individuals who recognise difference and embrace individuality. We believe that we are made in the image and likeness of God and through our spiritual and moral teachings of our faith we endeavour to develop our pupils into valuable members of the community and society.

We believe that our pupils will be inspired about God’s call to love; about how God’s design for creation, especially the human body, reveals insight into His great plan for human relationships as a sign of heavenly unity.

We have high aspirations for all pupils, which will see them through to further study, work and be successful in their adult life.

RSE Policy