Relationships, Sex and Health Education at St Michael's

Background 

From September 2026, the Department of Education requires all schools to teach the updated Relationships and Health Education curriculum.

You can read about these changes in this DfE guide for parents here: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2025/07/new-rshe-guidance-what-parents-need-to-know/

 Current government updates for PSHE and Relationship education include:

•  Added focus on emotional regulation and for children to learn strategies to manage these emotions. This also includes discussion and strategies for emotions such as grief, loss and bereavement.
• Children are required to learn about their own Personal Safety including being near roads, rail and water. Additional Personal Safety also includes fire and travel safety.
• Children must learn the correct anatomical terms for body parts, including genitalia, for safeguarding purposes.
• A stronger emphasis on addressing and tackling misogyny and stereotyping.
• Further emphasis on children learning about their Mental Health from a young age 
• Introduction to Careers and how pupil learning relates to different fields of work

We also know that RSE has a protective factor when it comes to safeguarding children. The best way to safeguard children is to ensure that they receive information on naming parts of their body, knowing the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touch, and having the skills and confidence to find and talk to a trusted adult to report any abuse.

Research now shows that children with better health (including mental health) and wellbeing are likely to achieve better academically. By learning about positive relationships, respect for themselves and others, and behaving appropriately and safely online, they are better able to enjoy their friendships and therefore have better focus at school.  We recognise that parents play a vital part in their child’s RSE, and we encourage you to discuss these themes with your child at home as well.

At St Michael's Church of England First School, we will use the PSHE Association to teach our PSHE provision across the school. The PSHE Association provides a detailed and comprehensive curriculum for PSHE education that is divided into key themes that are revisited across year groups. These themes cover a range of topics and curriculum areas; including mental health, relationships, safety and risk, careers, health and wellbeing and similarities and differences. This is essential knowledge from RSE which are important articles in United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This model will be used across all year groups to ensure progression in knowledge, attitudes and values, and skills. This will include the key skills of social and emotional learning, known to improve the outcomes for our children. The tasks and the method for the children to record will vary based on activity, topic and year group. Parent Packs are available for parents to review materials taught across the year. 

We have worked hard to make sure that our new curriculum with the PSHE Association reflects:

• Our values of equality, inclusion and respect for all children and communities;

• Our children’s age and maturity levels, as well as their cultural and religious backgrounds;

• Every child’s learning needs; and

• What children need to know to be healthy and safe in school, in their personal relationships and in the wider world

Inclusion of the myHappymind programme

myHappymind is a mental health and wellbeing programme to support children in learning habits to support their own mental health. myHappymind covers a significant amount of the PSHE and Early Years guidelines. This programme runs alongside St Michael's PSHE thematic curriculum. This approach allows teachers to deepen children's understanding and learning about the world, themselves and others. It also provides cross-curricular opportunities which extends across key stages.

Parent and Carer Consultation

At St Michael's CofE First School, we are committed to working in partnership with you and are holding an additional consultation period, as we have revised our curriculum in line with the new statutory updates. As part of this, we would like you to take a look at the long-term plan. The long term plan is available for you to download below.  We would then like to invite you to complete the consultation document on the school website; we would really appreciate your comments and feedback.  Click on the link below to access the survey:

PSHE Parent Consultation Survey

  We are proud to be part of the My Happy Mind family!

  As a whole school programme grounded in Science and dedicated to building positive mental wellbeing, my Happymind helps children understand how their brains work and creates a culture that helps to build children's resilience, confidence, and self-esteem. my Happymind also teaches the children to self-regulate and manage their emotions in stressful times, allowing them to be their very best selves!

Learn more here: https://myhappymind.org/

 As a school, we focus on 5 key modules within the myHappymind programme:

 Programme Modules

Meet the Brain: Understanding how your brain works and how to ensure we look after it so that we can manage our emotions and be our best. Growth mindset is part of this too

Celebrate: Understanding your unique Character Strengths and learning to celebrate them. This is a fantastic module for building self -esteem.

Appreciate: Understanding why gratitude matters and how you can develop gratitude as a habit. Gratitude is key to well-being and resilience and we're all about making it a lifelong strategy. 

 Relate: Understanding why positive relationships matter and how to build them. We're focused on the building blocks of good relationships and friendships.

 Engage: Understanding how to set meaningful goals that matter and how to stay resilient in times of challenge. This module is all about building self-esteem and resilience too.

 myHappymind Parent App

  As a school, parents can also log into the myHappyminds parent app at home. Please ask you child's class teacher for code that you will need.

Please see the introduction video below:

https://myhappymind.lpages.co/myhappymind-parent-app-introduction/