Year 8 Personal, Social & Health Education
What will my child study in PSHE during Year 8?
Students are taught PSHE in their tutor groups. PSHE in Year 8 focuses on enabling students to identify positive relationships, learn about our country and community, British Values and gain and understanding of physical and mental wellbeing.
Some of the Areas covered include:
Relationships and Sex Education
Focussing on:
- Puberty, Changing Bodies, Friendships, Bullying, Self-Confidence
- Gender Identity
- Being a Positive Citizen and Understanding Prejudice.
- The similarities and differences between the online world and the physical world
- How people may curate a specific image of their life online, over-reliance on online relationships including social media
- 9 Protected Characteristics
- Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships and our Online Presence,
- Self-Image and Identity
- How to recognise the characteristics and positive aspects of healthy one-to-one relationships, which include mutual respect, loyalty, trust, shared interests and outlooks
- The characteristics of positive and healthy friendships (in all contexts, including online) including: trust, respect, honesty, kindness, generosity, boundaries, privacy, and the management of conflict, reconciliation and ending relationships. This includes different (non-sexual) types of relationship.
Citizenship
Focussing on:
- What it means to be part of a community
- Exploring the issues affect people in their neighbourhood and wider communities in different ways
- British Society and Values
- Identifying the concept of citizenship
- What it means to be an active citizen
- Understanding about different disabilities
- Learning about prejudice and prejudicial language/discrimination
- A refresher about Road Safety
- how stereotypes, in particular stereotypes based on sex, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or disability, can cause damage (e.g. how they might normalise non-consensual behaviour or encourage prejudice).
Health and Well-being
Focussing on:
- Healthy Lifestyles, Physical Health, Positive Mental Health
- Common types of mental ill health (e.g. anxiety and depression)
- Sleep Hygiene
- Mindfulness
- Healthy diet and exercise
Finance/Careers
Focussing on:
- Soft Skills and Range of Career Types
How will my child be assessed and how will I know how well they are doing in PSHE in Year 8?
- There is no formal assessment in PSHE.
What homework will my child be expected to do in Year 8 in PSHE?
- There is no homework given in PSHE.
How can I support my child to do well in PSHE during Year 8?
The best way students can be supported in PSHE is to have regular discussions at home about Relationships and Sex Education. Please visit the Relationships and Sex Education page on Wavell’s website for further support.
The Department for Education specify that, by the end of Secondary School, students should have a working knowledge about:
- Families
- Respectful relationships, including friendships
- Online and media
- Being safe
- Intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health
- It is important to know what the law says about sex, relationships and young people, as well as broader safeguarding issues.
Please also refer to The Wavell School Promoting British Values document on the PSHE page.
What equipment may my child need in addition to the standard school equipment?
- PSHE is predominately discussion based.
How will we support those students who were unable to work properly during the school closures and have gaps in their knowledge/understanding?
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We are mindful that there was a toll on students’ mental health having to live through Covid. As a response to this, staff members have had the choice to volunteer to be part of one of three groups: the first is the Mental Health Forum and the second is the Inclusivity Forum. Staff members can volunteer to attend meetings after school once a half term where we discuss different projects to be included in your child’s school day to ensure the school is as inclusive as it can be, and that students learn how to manage their emotions. The third is a new PSHE Forum – one tutor from each year group is responsible for feeding back about the impact of our curriculum on your children. They are responsible for helping me implement effective and impactful lessons in a timely way. It is important that the PSHE curriculum is reactive and meaningful.
Updated August 2023
