At St Robert Southwell Catholic Primary School, our approach to Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) is rooted in our Catholic faith and the belief that God reveals Himself in Jesus Christ. It is through our love of God and our love of neighbour that we respond to God’s love for humanity.
Any teaching or formation in this area is therefore placed firmly within the wider context of our mission: to nurture children to grow as responsible, compassionate and confident individuals, who understand their dignity as children of God and the dignity of those around them.
The purpose of RSHE in our school is to give children the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to build respectful, loving and healthy relationships. As the DfE guidance states, pupils need to know “how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way.”
In primary school, this means focusing on the building blocks of positive relationships, including:
These early lessons prepare children for deeper teaching about respect, consent, and responsibility as they grow.
Our programme is underpinned by Catholic teaching on the importance of:
We promote the virtues of compassion, empathy, respect, self-discipline and responsibility, which are central to both Catholic life and healthy relationships.
At St Robert Southwell, we use the ‘Life to the Full’ programme, as recommended for Catholic schools. This high-quality, evidence-based and age-appropriate resource allows us to deliver RSHE in a way that is both faithful to Church teaching and relevant to children’s daily lives.
We ensure equal access to the curriculum for all pupils. In some cases, teaching may take place in single-gender groups, and where appropriate we invite professionals such as the school nurse to contribute to the programme.
Through this approach, we aim to prepare children not only for the opportunities and challenges of modern life, but also to live out their vocation as children of God: confident, compassionate and committed to loving relationships.
As a Catholic school, our mission is to support all of our pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, rooted in the wisdom and teaching of the Church. The Church teaches us that this is very much a partnership with parents, in which parents are the first educators of their children on these matters; ultimately, you confer on us the right to co-educate your children with you.
Life to the Full has been approved by the Arundel and Brighton Catholic Diocese. Furthermore, Ten Ten have entered into a partnership with the Catholic Education Service and the Department for Education to provide training for teachers in Catholic schools on the new statutory curriculum. Through their programme, Ten Ten understand the foundational role parents have in educating and nurturing their children on these matters. Within the programme, they have built-in resources that will keep you informed about what is being taught in school and allow you to engage your children in discussion, activity, and prayer.
Please see the link for further information Ten Ten Resources | Catholic / Christian resources
At St Robert Southwell, we will be using the Ten:Ten Programme for Catholic Primary Schools called Life to the Full, to teach Relationships Education and Health Education within the context of Christian understanding of human sexuality rooted in the wisdom and teaching of the Catholic Church.
We will deliver this teaching through the prism of Catholic RSHE. The framework of our programme is taken from the Model catholic RSE Programme by the Catholic Education Service, which has been highlighted by the DfE as a work demonstrating good practice.
Life to the Full is a fully resourced Scheme of work in Relationships and Health Education for Catholic Primary Schools which embraces and fulfills the new statutory curriculum. Taught with a spiral approach to learning, in which pupils will revisit the same topics at an age-appropriate stage through their school life. The programme includes teaching about personal health, physical and emotional well-being, strong emotions, private parts of the body, personal relationships, family structures, trusted adults, growing bodies, puberty, periods, life cycles, the dangers of social media, where babies come from, an understanding of the Common Good and living in the wider world. the entire teaching is underpinned with a religious understanding that our deepest identity is as a child of God – created, chosen and loved by God. The programme is fully inclusive of all pupils and their families.
Parents can access the content being taught via the online parent platform. This allows you to engage with the teaching and deepen the experience for your child. The log in for the parent portal (below) is as follows:
Username: robert-southwell-rh12
Password: door-glass
