At Compass Primary Academy, Relationships Education is learning about emotional, social and physical aspects of our lives, about ourselves and our relationships. It enables pupils to develop essential life skills for building and maintaining positive, enjoyable and respectful relationships. It equips pupils with information and skills they need to understand themselves, their peers and people they meet in the wider community. It explores risks, choices, rights, responsibilities and attitudes. It will help pupils to develop skills to keep themselves and others safer, physically and emotionally, both on and offline. Relationships Education enables pupils to explore their own attitudes and those of others respectfully.

We deliver Relationships Education as part of our wider provision of Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE), which also includes statutory Health Education.

The aims of Relationships Education and Health Education are further supported by interventions, extracurricular and enrichment activities we provide.  Examples include the implementation of a whole school therapeutic behaviour policy, Zones of Regulation, pastoral interventions and provision and working with external agencies and professionals. 

Our Relationships Education Curriculum is wholly consistent with the DfE statutory requirements for Relationships Education and Health Education (2020), National Curriculum (2014), other DfE and Ofsted guidance.  We consider Relationships Education to be a continuous process of learning, which begins before the children enter our school and continues into adulthood.  We have planned a curriculum appropriate to each age group with a spiral of progression.

Relationships Education is learning about:

• Families and People who care for me
• Caring Friendships
• Respectful relationships
• Online Relationships
• Being Safe

Our PSHE topic structure does not separate delivery of Relationships Education from Health Education and wider PSHE.  We deliver topics which, taking the lead from children’s lived experiences, consider related themes including development of knowledge, skills and attitudes in an integrated way.

Relationships Education will be taught in:

• PSHE through designated lessons.
• Other curriculum areas, especially Science, English, RE, PE and Computing.
• Enrichment activities, especially our assembly programme, growth mind-set approaches, visits and visitors, social skills groups, involvement in school trips and adventurous activities.

We will primarily use the Cambridgeshire Primary Personal Development Programme and the resources recommended within it when planning and delivering Relationships Education. We also ensure that every year we inform parents/carers about the content of the curriculum in advance of teaching, and they are invited in to talk to staff if they have questions.  

Parents/carers have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex (non-statutory) education delivered as part of statutory RSE. Before granting any such request, we encourage all parents/carers to discuss their feelings with the Principal who will listen and ensure that their wishes are understood.