INTENT (Why are we teaching this?)
Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education is a necessary part of all pupils’ learning to help them to stay healthy, safe and prepared for life. Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) enables young people to learn about healthy relationships, their mental well-being and their understanding of their bodies.
At Albourne we believe in providing a nurturing learning environment in which each child is encouraged to develop their full potential, flourish, and celebrate their achievements and successes. As a school, we believe that children are all individuals and therefore, we encourage mutual respect, responsibility, and foster self-esteem in a happy, caring, and safe environment. The teaching and learning of PSHE using the Jigsaw scheme supports and upholds this vision. Behaviour and attitude to learning are underpinned by values that are taught through PSHE lessons, making it integral to the success of the whole school.
IMPLEMENTATION (How is it being taught?)
At Albourne, we follow the Jigsaw scheme of work to deliver our PSHE. Jigsaw is based on mindfulness philosophy and practice and brings together, PSHE Education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development in a comprehensive scheme of learning. It is designed as a whole school approach, with all year groups working on the same theme (Puzzle) at the same time.
Jigsaw holds children at its heart and aims to improve children’s capacity to learn, their resilience, emotional well-being and mental health.
In line with statutory requirements, before the Changing Me jigsaw begins, parents will be given information about how children are taught about their bodies. This provides an opportunity for parents to ask questions and be reassured about how lessons are delivered in an age appropriate way. Please read the information provided below.
This whole school approach provides structure and familiarity to children and supports their learning by reinforcing key themes. Below you can see an outline of the programme and how it develops through the school year:
Jigsaw 3-11 offers a comprehensive Programme for Primary PSHE including statutory Relationships and Health Education, in a spiral, progressive and fully planned scheme of work, giving children relevant learning experiences to help them navigate their world and to develop positive relationships with themselves and others.
Jigsaw consists of six half-term units of work (Puzzles), each containing six lessons (Pieces) covering each academic year.
Term 1: Being Me in My World
Term 2: Celebrating Difference (including anti-bullying)
Term 3: Dreams and Goals
Term 4: Healthy Me
Term 5: Relationships
Term 6: Changing Me (including Sex Education)
Every Piece has two Learning Intentions, one specific to Relationships and Health Education (PSHE) (in purple) and the other designed to develop emotional literacy and social skills (in green).
Puzzles are launched with a whole-school assembly containing an original song, with each year group studying the same unit at the same time (at their own level), building sequentially through the school year, facilitating whole-school learning themes.
The various teaching and learning activities are engaging and mindful of different learning styles and the need for differentiation and the Early Years (EYFS) planning is aligned to the National Early Years Framework (England).
Each lesson is built upon a Charter which underpins the behaviour and respect that is the basis for each lesson (one is provided within Jigsaw, but children and their teacher can write their own to ensure mutual respect and ownership).
The lessons then split into 6 parts, all of which should be included in every session to ensure that the learning follows the optimum progression.
Connect us - This is a game or activity designed to be fun and inclusive and to build and maximise social skills. ‘Connect us’ engenders positive relationships and enhances collaborative learning. It sets the atmosphere at the beginning of each Jigsaw Piece and can be used again at the end should the teacher feel the atmosphere needs to be lifted after some deep work during the lesson.
Calm me - This section of the Piece helps children gain awareness of the activity in their minds, relaxing them and quietening their thoughts and emotions to a place of optimum learning capacity. This will also engender a peaceful atmosphere within the classroom. It is an invaluable life skill which also enhances reflection and spiritual development. This underpins the mindful approach advocated in Jigsaw.
Open my mind - The Reticular Activating System of the brain filters the many stimuli entering the child’s mind at any given time. It is designed only to allow in that which is significant. Therefore, it is important to engage this system with the most important aspects of learning intended for each Piece (lesson). If we do this well, it will enable children to filter out activity around them not significant to this learning intention, thereby improving concentration and learning.
Tell me or show me - This section of the Piece (lesson) is used to introduce new information, concepts and skills, using a range of teaching approaches and activities.
Let me learn - Following Piaget’s learning model, after receiving new information/concepts, children need to manipulate, use, and play with that new information in order for it to make sense to them and for them to ‘accommodate’ it into their existing learning.
Help me reflect -Throughout Jigsaw, children are encouraged to reflect on their learning experiences and their progress. By reflecting, children can process and evaluate what they have learnt, which enables them to consolidate and apply their learning. They are also asked to stop and become aware of their thoughts and feelings in any given moment in Pause Points (brief pauses within the lesson where the children can have a couple of moments to just stop and be to consider whether what they are learning may be particularly meaningful to them).
Closure - Each Piece needs safe closure. This will always include the teacher praising the children for their effort, positive attitude and achievement, as well as giving one or two sentences to summarise the key learning points for the children.
In addition to this, teachers have the freedom to plan with detail and attention to their individual children. Learners can be scaffolded, and any individual needs can be supported where necessary. The summative assessment process offers criteria for children either working at, beyond or towards the age-related expectations. Greater depth children can be challenged to ensure that they are being given the opportunities to enrich their learning further. The “Class Teacher” page at the start of every puzzle allows time for practitioners to consider the upcoming content. These support teachers to feel more confident in their own subject knowledge, which in turn allows them to extend the learning of the children.
IMPACT (What is the effect?)
“The positive results of pupils’ learning can then be seen in the standards they achieve.” Ofsted, 2019
The key elements of this for our schools are
• Knowing and being able to evidence the impact of the PSHE curriculum both on learners individually and in the school as a whole.
• Coherently being able to match and evidence the impact of PSHE with the intent
So how can we achieve this? In order to be confident in the impact of PSHE, senior leaders and/or the PSHE leader will monitor the subject effectively using scrutiny and moderation of outcomes (see the “Teachers” tab on the Jigsaw PSHE Community Area for support and ideas with this). We take the time to carry out discussions with pupils and is the only way of knowing exactly what the children feel is the impact for them of their learning. We also take into account colleagues’ views. This can ensure that impact matches intent across the whole school community.
Assessment is a major contributor in evidencing the impact and this needs to be tracked to ensure that pupils are building on their skills and knowledge over time. It can then show progression and also uniformity between parallel classes ensuring that in-school gaps or anomalies are dealt with especially issues with teacher confidence.
Assessment in Jigsaw is both formative and summative. The two clear learning objectives for each lesson (piece) allow teachers to be mindful of the assessment elements within that session that can formatively help them pitch and plan subsequent lessons, and activities are included in each lesson to give the children the opportunity to self-assess using simple pictorial resources designed in a child-friendly, age appropriate manner. It also allows children of 6 and over the opportunity to identify areas for self-improvement.
To support the teacher in tracking each child, there is a ‘Summative Assessment: tracking pupil progress’ sheet that can be used. This sheet has three attainment descriptors for each Puzzle. The teacher can then use a ‘best-fit’ approach to decide whether the child is working towards, working at or working beyond for that Puzzle, highlighting one green and one purple descriptor. The green descriptors will also flag up children who may need more support with emotional literacy or social skills development and they can be signposted to the setting’s pastoral support systems as appropriate. In Piece (lesson) 6 there are also exemplifications to aid teacher judgement for the working towards/ working at/working beyond attainment descriptors.
As Jigsaw PSHE is a whole-school approach, rather than simply a lesson-a-week Scheme of Work for PSHE, there are numerous layers built in that engender a sense of belonging and community, and that value every individual, for example: praising one attitude or behaviour each week through the Weekly celebration, bringing the whole school together for assemblies and to sing the Jigsaw songs, and celebrating every child’s contribution to the school community through the 'end of Puzzle outcome.