PSHE, RSE and Careers

At Break Through school our PSHE Curriculum is designed with the specific needs of our learners in mind and is reflective of aims and ethos.

PSHE makes a significant contribution to the promotion of young people’s personal and social development, enables them to know how to stay safe and healthy and teaches them how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way. Through the promotion of PSHE, skills are developed that our learners need for them to grow and flourish as individuals and members of society.

Studying PSHE contributes to helping children and young people build their personal identities, confidence and self-esteem. It helps them to make career choices, understand and manage their finances, and what influences their decision-making processes. PSHE enables learners to recognise their emotions and to communicate positively in a range of different scenarios.

Learners are taught and continually encouraged to respect other people, regarding the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010. Learners study a variety of topics, which develop necessary skills and attributes, including, self-esteem, resilience, risk management and teamwork.

At Break Through school, we understand that PSHE lessons need to be fluid when dealing with topical situations in the lives of our learners, and current affairs that may affect them. We will not hesitate to change the content of lessons should the need arise, for example if a learner has lost a parent, we will be sensitive when discussing families. If situations arise in the playground and a learner uses discriminatory language, we will use our PSHE lessons to educate learners around this topic. We actively promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs, and our Careers Curriculum encourages learners to be citizens.

Our PSHE curriculum is planned around topics of:

• Self-Awareness
• Self-Care, Support and Safety
• Managing Feelings
• Changing and Growing
• Healthy lifestyles
• The World I Live In

At Break Through school, good relationships are fundamental to our ethos. Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is lifelong learning about relationships, emotions, looking after ourselves, different families, sex, sexuality and sexual health. It involves acquiring information, developing skills and forming positive beliefs, values and attitudes. RSE has a key part to play in the personal, social, moral and spiritual development of young people.

There are five key elements that are covered in our curriculum:

• Families
• Respectful relationships including friendships
• Online and Media
• Being Safe
• Intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health

Parents have the right to request children are removed from lessons teaching certain elements of RSE. Information on this can be downloaded here.

At Break Through school, our aspirational ‘Careers & Life Skills’ programme ensures our learners have experiences that set them up for independence and help them to realise their talents. This programme is under constant review to ensure it provides our learners with the very best chances for lifelong success. Our varied and inclusive curriculum supports learners to consider their future options, realise their potential, be able to identify their skills, and transfer them to further education and the job market. We are developing a programme that exposes learners to a range of work experiences and independence training opportunities for all Year 11 learners. This will involve opportunities to visit sites, hear from external speakers, giving real-life testimonies and wider travel training to prepare them for the next steps in independence. 

We promote that learners are motivated and excited for the world of work. Our Central Curriculum supports any potential barriers to positive pathways, by addressing self-confidence, emotional intelligence and aspiration. Further to this, all learners have Life Skills embedded within their timetable, to best prepare them for their next steps.

We support the wider family through this journey, by liaising with parents and carers, for their preferred Post 16 pathway, whether that is to continue with further education, training or employment. We are fully committed to our statutory and moral obligation to provide a structured, varied and personalised careers education to all Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 learners.

Our Year 11 learners have a range of opportunities for their Post 16 options, which includes, to continue their education, move on to local colleges or take apprenticeships.

Our careers curriculum is planned as per the guidance provided by the Gatsby Benchmark and DfE Guidance. Our objectives are:

• To deliver well planned, structured and accessible careers lessons to all students in Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.
• To ensure learners are able to identify and be proud of their individual skills.
• To ensure that all learners understand the range of career routes open to them.
• To ensure that learners research and understand the range of courses and academic choices available to them at Post 16.
• To help learners develop competencies to be able to transfer their knowledge and skills and be resilient and adaptable within changing sectors and economies.
• To work with parents at the start of Year 11 to follow a structured timeline of events of Post 16 transition to ensure that all leavers have a planned progression route.

At Break Through school, we are committed to ensuring that Year 11 learners move on to the appropriate Post 16 environment, be that; college, apprenticeship or training. Our robust Post 16 transition timeline means we continuously communicate with learners, parents and carers to ensure a smooth transition into an appropriate environment. This is underpinned by our Careers lessons which are written according to the guidance of the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks. We aim to ensure that no learner becomes NEET.

Post 16 Transition Timeline

Finally, we are proud of our post-placement support. We seek to monitor and support our learner’s way beyond their time at Break Through school. When placements are at risk of failing, we are on hand to offer guidance and reassurance to the learners and wider families.