The Intent of our RSE Curriculum at St Francis Xavier

At St Francis Xavier, we believe that Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is an integral part of a child’s education so they can ‘Live life to the full’. We endeavour to ensure RSE is faith sensitive, inclusive and inspiring. Children explore how we are created and loved by God, created to love others and created to live in community. Through RSE our children understand the importance of family life, stable and loving relationships. They understand how to show respect, love and care for others as well as themselves. Our RSE curriculum helps to foster pupil well- being, confidence, self-esteem and develop resilience, values that we know are fundamental to pupils being happy, successful and productive members of society.

Year 6 have been learning about emotional changes. We discussed different strategies in groups on how we can manage intense feelings and emotions such as counting to 10 or going for a walk. We agreed it is important to remember that no matter what we are feelings or what is happening around us God loves us. Finally, we made a feelings word bank where the children drew an emoji to match the feelings.

Year Three began RSE playing a game comparing everyone's similarities and differences in the class. God blessed us all with  different skills and talents. The children created scenarios to show that children's talents or characteristics should be celebrated.

Year Five discussed appropriate and inappropriate behaviour relating to our school rules. We watched episodes of Paradise Street where inappropriate behaviours caused behaviour issues in friendship groups. Then, we all remembered that God calls for us to love each other even when things are difficult. Finally, we wrote a diary entry on how we can manage our thoughts and feelings so that we can act lovingly towards ourselves and each other.

Year Two have been discussing feelings. We have looked at how certain feelings can make us act in a certain way. Then we explored that in certain situations we can feel more than one feeling. We looked at how we resolve difficult situations when we are experiencing tricky feelings. 

Year Six discussed the pressures people could feel to act or look a certain way. We watched episodes of Paradise Street and answered questions on what we had watched. Then, we discussed what we are thankful to God for about our body image. We discussed the pressures we have felt personally and scenarios where we could feel pressures. We lastly acted out different scenarios which demonstrate healthy and unhealthy pressures such as a school test or a friend wants you to buy the same shoes as you or they wont be your friend anymore.

Year 4 explored thankfulness in RSE. We started by looking at appropriate and inappropriate behaviours in different scenarios and how if those children would have used resilience the situations could have been different. Then we discussed that being resilient also means that, whatever is going on for us, we can look for opportunities to be thankful. We made mindmaps of all the things we are thankful for. 

Today we had a managing feelings talk with the school nurse. First, we looked at different emojis and discussed how they are feeling and what we feel like physically when we are feeling that feeling such as angry or sad. Then. we looked at different pictures and discussed what might have happened and how the people in the pictures or feeling. Next, we discussed our feelings in terms of a stress bucket and what happens when that bucket is full and what might happen if that bucket overflows. Finally, we discussed different ways and strategies of managing our feelings. 

Year One discussed their feelings and how we can feel a variety of feelings at one time. We acted out different scenarios showing different feelings and how we can resolve difficult situations.

The children had lot's of fun exploring stories and conversations about things that we like and dislike. We discussed how different things can make us feel a variety of ways, both good and bad, and that is okay! We went on to say how we can deal with our emotions, and the children came up with many ideas, such as talking to a friend, or telling a grown up!

As you can see, the children made charts, and told eachother about the things that they like and dislike. They then wanted to make their own emotion cards to show that there are many emotions that we might feel everyday!

Year Three learnt in RSE that our bodies are a gift from God. We made a poster to show how we can respect and care for our bodies. For example, we made suggestions like eating healthy or exercising more.

Year 5 enjoy Picture News. We love learning about the British Values and the different current events effecting us in our lives. Here is a range of activities that we have done responding to the different key questions in Picture News.

Year 2: Picture News - is money important?

In Picture News Year 2 have looked at what is going on in the news recently and discussed our thoughts and opinions on the weekly question "is money important?".  We discussed what different situations we need to use money and what would happen if we didnt have any money.

In Picture News Year 3 have looked at what is going on in the news recently and discussed our thoughts and opinions on the weekly question "are there some jobs robots cold never do?".  We discussed different job roles that robots could and couldnt do.

Year 5 discussed their gifts and talents and what makes them unique. We made posters showing our own unique gifts and talents.

Year 1 learnt that we are all special and valued by God. We drew and wrote things in our special box that we think make us all unique.

Year 1 explored the Bible story where Jesus told his disciples to let the children come to him. We learnt that we are created by God out of love and for love. 

Year Six went on a trip to Crucial Crew. They did several different workshops such as knife crime, water safety, arson and court. They learnt great life skills that will keep them safe in the future. 

In RSE the nursery children talked about what makes them worry. We then wrote down our worries and gave them to the worry monster. The children felt much better afterwards!

As part of our keeping safe topic, Year 4 acted out a series of first aid scenarios and discussed what they could do in an emergency. 

Our lovely outside displays showing our amazing Internet Safety and RSE religious understanding work.

Year 2 have been exploring the special people in their lives who they love and can trust. They created their Super Squad just like Super Suzie!

In RSE, Year 4 have been looking at personal relationships and part of that is what to do if we are being bullied and what it feels like to be bullied. We used drama to act out potential scenarios before discussing what the people being bullied should do.

For our Religious Understanding RSE lesson we were learning about role models. We learnt through the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet that Jesus is our ultimate role model and we should always follow his example. So we showed love to each, like Jesus, by washing each other's feet.

For Internet Safety Day we read the story Hanni and The Magic Window. This is about Hanni seeing some nice things through her window and seeing some not so nice things through her window. This makes her very sad and she does not like what she has seen. She then tells a trusted adult! The story shows children that some things are nice, some things are not nice and if you do not like it, then you should always tell your trusted adults. The children then designed their own magic windows and drew all the things that they would want to see! 

Our Nursery children had some very special visitors today. They were giving Nursery the Big Talk, all about their bodies. The children listened very well to the visitors and joined in with all the activities! 

Big Talk came in to talk to the children today. We started by looking at our bodies and what we call the different body parts on a boy and a girl. We talked about the private areas of our bodies that others shouldn’t touch. We learnt what ‘trusted adults’ mean and who our trusted adults are and who we can talk to if someone did touch our private areas or showed us something inappropriate.

In Reception we looked at the different feelings we might experience through a story with Freddy teddy, Billy Bird and Molly Cat. The children explored when we might feel happy, sad, angry, shocked and scared or worried. Here are the children's facial expression showing the different feelings we looked at.

In RSE Year 4 have been learning about puberty and why we go through it. The children explored the concept of puberty as the stage of life that everyone goes through on their way to becoming an adult and that it is a time of physical growth and development in the body which can result in changes in emotions. The children learnt that puberty is part of God's plan for our bodies and that it happens to everyone in their lives. Year 4 reflected on their past selves and the looked to the future and what might happen.

Year Six have been exploring feelings and how they change when we start to grow up. In the lesson they have learnt different techniques they can use to help them manage their thoughts, feelings and actions. The children have created their own personal poems for anyone who is struggling to understand the different feelings that may be effecting them and to know that it is normal and that they can reach out for help if needed.

In RSE Year 1 have exploring each other's likes and dislikes. They can recognise we all have different ‘tastes’, but also similar needs. Through videos and discussion, the children showed respect for the likes/dislikes of others, and understand that people might experience feelings differently. We looked at different emojis and the facial expressions they were pulled and discussed how they might be feeling. The children then placed 'pass the face' where a facial expression and feeling was passed around the circle and each child had to copy each other and pass the face.

Year Five reflected on what storms they have had to face in their life and what they would like to ask God to help them with in the future. In their prayer they tell God their hopes and fears and how they would like him to help them overcome their obstacles and fears. Here are some of their amazing prayers to God.

Year Two have been learning how to take care of their bodies because they are special as they are a gift from God. The children were introduced to Super Susie who needed help looking after herself. They helped Susie with her diet, changing her clothes regularly, washing her body and hands, sleep and her teeth. This lesson helped the children learn how to take care of their bodies like Susie. 

Children in nursery have been doing some amazing work in RSE. Children have been ready about Freddy Teddy and all the times he has not been ready to go out. Children have been looking at ways to look after their body, like eating healthy and washing their hands. Children especially liked when Freddy Teddy has chocolate ice cream all over his mouth. They knew he was not ready to go outside to play!

Year 2 and 3 had a visit from the Fire Safety Team who taught the children about what to do in the situation of a fire. We discussed what a smoke detector is, what we should do if our clothes catch fire and we also explored safety rules within cars. Here are the children’s responses.

"We learn that when you catch on fire you have to stop, drop and roll."

"I learnt that if your pets are inside the house, which is on fire, we shouldn't worry because the fire fighters will get them for you (not you)."

"I liked the session because it told me how to be stay safe."

"I know I need to call 999 in case of an emergency if there is a fire."

"I know if there is a fire in your house you shout fire help."

In RSE, we have been looking at how each and every individual child is unique, and they all have unique talents. The children chose to express their talents through the medium of drama. 

Year 4 explored the Gospel story of Jesus healing Jairus’ daughter. The story was repeated in various ways, and through times of discussion, imaginative reflection and creative response, the children learnt that they are created by God out of love and for love: they were designed for this purpose, which should inform how they live. The class created storyboards to show the sequencing of the story of Jairus' daughter.

Year 5 reflected on the similarities and differences between individuals in the class. We understand that children we are all unique, with different family set-ups, gifts and talents. Finally we created self-portraits with ‘I am…’ statements around the outside with the title of the portrait ‘I am loved by God’.

Year 2 have been singing the song ‘God Made You, God Made Me’, celebrating that God loves us all individually and we are all part of one big family.

Year 3 created prayers for the passing of our Majesty the Queen. We thanked God for her duty and long reign over our country and hoped that she has been reunited with her late husband Prince Philip in the kingdom of Heaven.

Nursery have been learning lots in RSE. We have been looking at how God created the world and talking about how we are God's children and are all special! Children enjoyed acting out the story using actions.

Here are some amazing examples of what Year Two have created in their RSE lessons.