Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education, Citizenship & RS

The purpose of PSHE education is to support students to be healthy, safe and prepared for modern life.  It incorporates health education, relationships and sex education, economic wellbeing and careers, and is comprehensively covered by learning opportunities across three core themes:

• Health and Wellbeing
• Relationships
• Living in the Wider World

At Blackfen School for Girls, students in all key stages have access to quality PSHE education, addressing both current experiences and preparation for their future, to develop students’ knowledge, skills and attributes needed to manage their lives, to stay safe and healthy and to make the most of their lives and work, whilst also supporting students to work to achieve their academic potential.  Therefore, PSHE learning is designed on a spiral curriculum, by revisiting, reinforcing and extending prior learning, year-on-year.  The programme of study at Blackfen provides students with opportunities to reflect on their own learning and its implications for their lives, with the aim to increase their motivation for success and desire to strive for improvement, whilst continuing to be aware of their own progress and the value of learning. 

 

What do we study? 

Key Stage 3: Years 7-9 – Social, Personal and Cultural Studies (SPCS)

In Key Stage 3, PSHE education is incorporated into Social, Personal and Cultural Studies (SPCS), a subject unique to Blackfen which combines the Key Stage 3 PSHE education curriculum with the traditional Key Stage 3 curricula of Religious Studies and Citizenship.  Throughout Key Stage 3, the three subjects are interwoven and taught simultaneously, creating for students a holistic approach to learning about themselves and the world around them.  Additionally, PSHE education is covered across the wider curriculum, within Form Time, through a comprehensive programme designed to meet the needs of the students in each Tutor Group, and through assemblies and engagement with outside organisations and speakers.  At Key Stage 3, students build on the knowledge and understanding, skills, attributes and values they have acquired and developed during the primary phase.  PSHE education acknowledges and addresses the changes that young people experience, beginning with transition to secondary school, the challenges of adolescence and their increasing independence.  It teaches the knowledge and skills which will equip them for the opportunities and challenges of life.  Students learn to manage diverse relationships, their online lives, and the increasing influence of peers and the media.

The purpose of SPCS as a subject is to support students as they develop and grow into mature, responsible members of our world; to give them a place to learn about and explore ideas different to their own, encouraging them to ask questions about the world around them, and to seek reliable information in a safe environment.  Through SPCS, students should understand that we are all human, with a voice to be used for positive change, and that we all have a part to play in our global society.  Students are encouraged to think about their lives – their influences, their beliefs and their values – and to consider not only how they are living now, but also how they want to live in the future, seeking to make positive contributions, living healthy lives and developing strategies to deal with the inevitability of life’s ups and downs.  We consider the concepts of perception and perspective, with students exploring and reflecting on reasons why perspectives may differ, to gain some understanding of other worldviews and how these shape the lives of other people.  Finally, through SPCS, students learn about and understand themselves better, celebrating their individuality and becoming equipped with the skills to build a more tolerant, compassionate and cohesive society for the future.

Assessment in Key Stage 3 is in line with the whole school assessment policy.  Students are assessed both formally and informally through a variety of tasks – Q&A tasks, GCSE style questions (from RS and Citizenship), posters, group work and presentations, essay answers, etc. – with each assessment focussing on developing key skills, many of which are transferrable, to be used both in other subjects and outside formalised learning.  Additionally, students in Years 7-9 have a formal ‘exam’ sat once a year, as part of the school assessment programme. 

 

Year 7

 

Year 8

In Year 8, students also have a day off timetable for Careers, with links with Theme 3: Living in the Wider World and the Gatsby Benchmarks.

 

 

Year 9

As this is a new curriculum, we are working on rolling out the curriculum across three years. 2023/2024, all Key Stage 3 students were taught a modified version of the Year 1 (Year 7) curriculum.  For 2024/2025, Year 7 students will be taught the curriculum outlined above, whilst Years 8 and 9 will be taught a curriculum covering aspects of the Year 8 and Year 9 curriculum outlined above.  Topics marked with a * will be introduced in 2025/2026 as part of the final year roll out of the Key Stage 3 SPCS curriculum.

 

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