PSHE, RSHE and Character Education
At Co-op Academy Failsworth, our PSHE and RSHE is delivered by a specialist team of Citizenship and PSHE teachers. The curriculum aims to provide our students with the powerful knowledge, skills, and qualities they need to be physically healthy and mentally well citizens of modern Britain who actively contribute to society and know how to keep themselves and others safe. Our Citizenship curriculum is ambitious, broad, and balanced.
In addition to PSHE and RSHE being delivered through the Citizenship curriculum, we also have a wider curriculum which encompasses all elements of personal development within the academy, covering all relevant guidance from the Department for Education, supporting not only our culture of academic excellence but for character development too. At Co-op Academy Failsworth we define strong character as the good decisions we make, even when no one is watching. We codify this through our Ways of Being: Be Yourself Always, Do What Matters Most, Succeed Together, Show you Care. We use these as vehicles in which to develop the character virtues as set out by the ACE and Jubilee Centre in terms of character education. Through these principles, we teach all students the importance of making the right decisions at the right times for the right reasons.
Our Citizenship, PSHE, RSHE and Wider Character Curriculum aims to:
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Form a spiral curriculum structured around three key strands: Physical Health and Mental Wellbeing, Living in the Wider World, Relationships
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Place safeguarding at its heart, supported through core concepts, including the fundamental British values and equality, diversity, and inclusion.
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Build in complexity over time whilst remaining age-appropriate. At each level, the curriculum is interleaved and explicitly links to prior and future learning, building a deep conceptual understanding of the powerful knowledge by maximising the potential of memory and retention. Living in the wider world includes part of our offer for careers education, information, advice and guidance, ensuring students are provided with up to date information about all future pathways available to them.
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Be fundamentally guided by our academy ways of being and create the conditions for our students to reflect on and clarify their own personal values, considering fundamental British values and those of the Co-op Academies Trust. Through careful sequencing of complex and conflicting points of view, our community conversations offer an opportunity to debate in a safe environment with clear ground rules linking to our principles of community and respect.
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Support all students to unlock their potential, regardless of academic, societal, or economic starting point, to take their ambitious next steps in life with the powerful knowledge, support, and guidance needed for success.
PSHE (Personal, social, health and economic education), RSHE (Relationships, sex and health education), CEIAG (Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance) and Citizenship are all taught primarily throughout the Citizenship and Wider curriculum at Co-op Academy Failsworth. There is curriculum coverage of these areas in other subject disciplines in the academy as well as through daily collective learning through morning and afternoon meetings and masterclasses. The academy also offers a comprehensive wider programme of opportunities to complement this and support the personal development of all students.
At Co-op Academy Failsworth we value the personal development of all students. We ensure parity with other subjects by providing one hour curriculum time of citizenship (and RE) per week for all students to allow for sufficient coverage of powerful knowledge, opportunities for discussion and questions.
All lessons are delivered through our collaboratively written curriculum that are created by our expert team and are regularly reviewed and updated to ensure they are age appropriate and effectively serve the local community and surrounding areas.