St. Thomas More Primary Relationships and Sex Education Curriculum

All the content within our Relationship, Health and Sex policy supports our school vision, which is for all of our pupils to achieve their full potential physically, socially and academically, whilst preparing them for a successful future in a multicultural society by celebrating diversity and embracing our British values.

Good relationships are fundamental to our ethos and our success in being a happy, caring, and safe school. Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is a lifelong learning process linked with a variety of factors such as emotions, promoting a healthy well-being, dealing with different sexual orientations and sexual health. We aim for our children to have opportunities to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society. Our children are encouraged to develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community. Supporting our value and school ethos statement of walking in the footsteps of God and live as God Calls us.

‘Life to the full’ teaching covers the emotional, physical, and sociological aspects of relationships. Our programme covers EYFS, KS1 and KS2 and is based on three core themes within which there will be broad overlap. It is adaptable to the age and ability of the pupils. The three themes are:

• Created and loved by God (this explores the individual) The Christian imperative to love self, made in the image and likeness of God, shows an understanding of the importance of valuing and understanding oneself as the basis for personal relationships.
• Created to love others (this explores an individual’s relationships with others) God is love. We are created out of love and for love. The command to love is the basis of all Christian morality.
• Created to live in community – local, national & global (this explores the individual’s relationships with the wider world) Human beings are relational by nature and live in the wider community. Through our exchange with others, our mutual service and through dialogue, we attempt to proclaim and extend the Kingdom of God for the good of individuals and the good of our local community and wider society.

The impact of our curriculum will mean our children will become healthy, independent, and responsible members of a society who understand how they are developing personally and socially and give them confidence to tackle many of the moral, social, and cultural issues that are part of growing up.  By following the life to the full curriculum, it will help our children follow a progressive program of learning that builds upon prior knowledge in order to meet the current national curriculum standards across the school. Through our RSE curriculum, we believe we can enhance children’s education and help them to become confident individuals who have positive body awareness, an in-depth knowledge of how to keep themselves safe and healthy and who will, through respect, tolerance and understanding, forge and maintain positive relationships with a diverse range of family and friendship groups.