PSHE at The Polygon School

Intent

Our objective at Key Stages 3 and 4 is to fully adhere to the statutory 2020 PSHE curriculum, while preparing for the implementation of the revised framework by September 2026. More importantly, we tailor our provision to meet the specific and often complex needs of our students.

In Year 7, students begin with a structured introduction to foundational PSHE skills, such as:

• Respect for others and themselves
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Assertiveness and communication
• Understanding emotions
• Empathy for everyone's unique journey and background

Creating a safe and trusting environment is a top priority, especially as many of our students arrive with disrupted educational experiences, gaps in knowledge, and misconceptions about PSHE topics. Key Stage 3 focuses on re-establishing core knowledge and developing essential social and emotional skills, ensuring students are well-prepared for the more mature and sensitive themes explored in Key Stage 4. By laying strong foundations early, we ensure students are equipped to engage meaningfully with the complex and relevant challenges they will encounter as they progress through the school.

We build on the foundations laid in Year 7 by gradually exploring personal and social issues in greater depth. For example, students' progress from simply identifying and naming emotions to discussing specific mental health challenges by the end of Key Stage 3.

In Key Stage 4, this development continues as students tackle more sensitive and complex topics that require a higher level of maturity, applying the skills and understanding gained in earlier years. Key themes such as Consent, Relationships and Online Safety are revisited in every year group through a spiral curriculum. Each revisit deepens understanding, moving from basic communication and boundaries to more advanced concepts like consent and the law. To support this progression, curriculum ladders have been developed for each unit, clearly showing how learning builds across Key Stages 3 and 4.

Developing the Whole Student Through PSHE

Our PSHE curriculum is designed to equip pupils with essential skills for life, supporting their personal development and wellbeing through carefully planned lessons, meaningful experiences, and external partnerships.

Lessons are built on a foundation of inclusivity, respect, and recognising the value of every individual. From developing self-worth in All About Me to fostering citizenship and mutual respect in Rights and Responsibilities, the curriculum helps students grow into confident, responsible and empathetic individuals.

PSHE lessons also support:

• Oracy development
• Spiritual, moral, social, and cultural (SMSC) understanding
• British Values
• Safeguarding awareness and protective behaviours

By addressing a wide range of social and emotional learning topics, we ensure that students not only understand how to seek help and support, but also develop the resilience, identity and self-esteem needed to thrive as active members of their community.

Implementation

Our PSHE provision is built on a commitment to creating a safe, structured and supportive learning environment where students can explore key personal, social and health-related issues with confidence.

Classroom Environment

• Students feel safe and secure to discuss sensitive topics respectfully and openly.

• The classroom displays the PSHE Code of Conduct and ALL students have a signed copy within the front of their books reinforcing consistent expectations for behaviour and discussion.
• A focus on creativity and practical approaches to learning helps students engage meaningfully with lesson content.

Curriculum Planning and Delivery

• Lessons are planned, sequenced and structured to build knowledge over time and address misconceptions.
• All lessons include assessment for learning opportunities, starting with a discussion of students’ existing knowledge and experience to provide baseline assessment, and ending with consolidation and reflection (green pen time).
• Cross-curricular links are actively developed through collaboration with other subject areas and whole-staff discussions.

Assessment and Reflection

• Clear assessment strategies are used, including:
  • Lw stake quizzes
  • Draw and write activities
  • Reflectin slips
  • ‘How am I doing?’ personal learning checklists
    • These promote self-evaluation, highlight progress, identify learning gaps, and signpost pupils to further support (both online and in person).
    • Teachers use these checklists to evaluate learning and plan next steps.

Staff Expertise and Development

• PSHE is delivered by qualified and trained staff, with regular access to CPD, including:
  • Whle-school safeguarding training with a PSHE focus
  • Attendance at Suthampton PSHE network meetings
  • Internal staff meetings t share good practice and ensure curriculum alignment
  • Attendance at annual PSHE Assciation conferences in London
  • Attendance at the Festival f Education
  • Cllaboration with other agencies in the city
  • Membership t The PSHE Association and Jigsaw

Enrichment and External Partnerships

We aim to develop the whole student, combining high-quality teaching with contributions from a wide range of expert visitors, including:

• NHS Sexual Health and Dental Practitioners
• Hampshire Police Education Partnership
• Yellow Door – Star Project
• No Limits
• DASH Team
• Saints Foundation
• Solent University
• Life Lab at Southampton General Hospital
• St John Ambulance
• Southampton Contextual Safeguarding Team

We also enhance learning through trips, workshops, assemblies and whole-school events such as Diversity Day, Anti-Bullying Odd Socks Day, and Black History Month, embedding PSHE values throughout the school community.

Consistency and Policy Alignment

• Marking and Feedback: All PSHE lessons follow the school’s Marking and Feedback Policy, ensuring consistency in how students progress is monitored and responded to across the curriculum.
• Behaviour Expectations: Behaviour in PSHE lessons aligns with the whole-school behaviour policy and is further supported by the PSHE-specific Code of Conduct, displayed in all classrooms where PSHE is taught.
• Curriculum Compliance: PSHE lessons are fully aligned with the statutory 2020 PSHE and RSHE guidance. Planning and delivery are currently being updated in preparation for full implementation of the 2026 curriculum revisions.
• RSHE Delivery: The school’s RSHE Policy provides a clear framework for the delivery of Relationships, Sex and Health Education within PSHE, ensuring content is age-appropriate, inclusive, and sensitively delivered.

Impact

As a key department within the school, PSHE plays a central role in ensuring that students achieve positive outcomes both academically and socially. Our curriculum is designed to equip students for further education, adulthood, and life in wider society.

We aim to see continued improvement in participation, engagement, and progress, with clear evidence shown through classwork and ‘How am I doing?’ checklists, which allow students to reflect on their learning and teachers to identify progress and next steps.

Wellbeing and the Whole Student

The PSHE lesson schemes of work provides an effective and responsive curriculum for wellbeing. It supports students in developing:

• A robust vocabulary to express their emotions and experiences
• The confidence to articulate thoughts and feelings in a climate of openness, trust, and respect
• The ability to recognise when to seek help and where to find it

Students are encouraged to apply their understanding of social and emotional concepts to their daily interactions in school and beyond. PSHE at The Polygon actively promotes a school culture that prioritises both physical and mental health, giving students the tools to:

• Assess and manage their own wellbeing
• Practise self-care
• Contribute positively to the wellbeing of others

Equity and Lifelong Impact

Successful PSHE education is proven to support not just wellbeing but also academic progress by helping to remove social and emotional barriers to learning. Our curriculum is especially impactful for disadvantaged and vulnerable students, raising aspirations and empowering them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to overcome barriers and engage positively with the world around them.

The Polygon’s PSHE curriculum is carefully structured and repetitive by design, revisiting key themes such as consent and online safety in a spiral model to embed essential knowledge and prepare students for safe, respectful, and independent adult life.

Parental Engagement and Voice

We are committed to working in partnership with parents and carers to strengthen the impact of PSHE beyond the classroom. Through the school website, blog, and face-to-face interactions, we aim to ensure parents are:

• Informed about what is taught and why
• Equipped to support their children with sensitive issues
• Signposted to useful resources and external support

Recent parental surveys have shown strong support for our PSHE curriculum. In response, Mrs Foster plans to launch a PSHE Parent Forum in collaboration with school governors. This forum will:

• Offer workshops to help parents develop skills to support students at home
• Provide a platform for parental voice in curriculum content and material selection
• Strengthen home-school partnerships in promoting student wellbeing and development