PSHE

Personal, Social, Health and Economic
(PSHE) Education

The aim of the PSHE programme at Lancing College is to equip our young people with the skills, dispositions and knowledge to enable them to play a fully-fledged role in the modern world.

About the Curriculum

PSHE is taught in all year groups at the College in weekly timetabled lessons during the academic timetable.

The subject covers a whole range of topics which have direct relevance to the skills of everyday living and to key life choices concerning values, ways of living and relationships. The College follows the statutory obligation to deliver Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) as part of the PSHE programme.

It is taught weekly by a designated team in the timetable in Year 9 and Year 10 and through lectures, seminar and enrichment in Years 11, 12 and 13. Furthermore the subject matter is integrated and extended through our pastoral House systems. The programme uses expertise from within the school such as the safeguarding team, pastoral staff, the school counsellors, the Director of IT, staff of the Health Centre and staff from across a range of departments. In addition external speakers are carefully selected to add expertise in specific areas.

In all year groups, the key areas of self-awareness, citizenship, inter-personal skills and health are covered and age appropriate RSE occurs in all years from 9–13. The educational concept is to develop a spiral method of learning, preparing students with increasing knowledge of facts, skills and personal attributes that they can hopefully draw on in crunch moments throughout their lives.

Whilst pupils are presented with a variety of opinions for their consideration, these sessions are framed by the context of the College as a Christian foundation striving to provide a safe and supportive environment in which each pupil feels valued as an individual. As far as possible, matters of information are intertwined with moral issues. Housemasters/Housemistresses and Tutors too are encouraged to follow up PSHE matters with the pupils in their care.

Learning Approach

Students are predominantly taught in house groups. The programme is revised each year in response to feedback from stakeholders including students, parents and staff to ensure that it remains relevant and suitable for the school community.

There is considerable opportunity for cross-curricular learning, with PSHE topics also being addressed in, for instance, Religious Education, Biology, Business Studies, Economics and PE.

Overview of topics covered in the Senior School (Years 9–11):

Parents’ right to request withdrawal from sex education

Statutory guidance on Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) explains that parents have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education delivered as part of statutory RSE.

If you wish to withdraw your child from sex education, we would ask that you submit a formal request in writing to the Senior Deputy Head, and we would invite you for a meeting to discuss this request.

From three terms before the pupil turns 16, a pupil can choose to opt back into sex education even if their parent has requested withdrawal. For example, if a pupil turns 16 during the autumn term, the pupil can opt back into sex education at any time after the start of the previous autumn term.

Parents do not have the right to withdraw their pupils from relationships and health education, nor can they be withdrawn from topics taught as part of the science curriculum, including science topics related to puberty or sexual reproduction.

If you wish to view any of the teaching resources used to teach RSE, please submit a request to the Head of PSHE (Mr A Tobias axt@lancing.org.uk) who will be happy to share these with you.

The Department for Education’s statutory guidance on RSE can be accessed here:
Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Eduction and Health Education Guidance