Year 9 Personal, Social & Health Education
What will my child study in PSHE during Year 9?
Areas covered include:Students are taught PSHE in their tutor groups. PSHE in Year 9 focuses on enabling students to identify responsibilities and relationships, the law and under age sex and methods of contraception.They will learn about many aspects of the modern world, including how to keep safe online, how to maintain positive mental health and healthy relationships and recognise the dangers of prejudice.
Areas covered:
Health and Wellbeing:
This covers aspects of personal health and safety, such as:
- Diet and exercise
- Physical and mental health
- Healthy Lifestyles, Physical Health, Positive Mental Health
- Common types of mental ill health (e.g. anxiety and depression)
- The impact of unhealthy or obsessive comparison with others online (including through setting unrealistic expectations for body image)
- Mindfulness
- CPR
Relationships and Sex Education:
RSE focuses on the development of identity physically and psychologically. Year 9 builds on the Year 7 and 8 RSE Curriculum, to explore and build upon what has been learned in previous years. PSHE ties closely with Computing and Science for this year’s RSE content.
- Consent and understanding that there are a range of strategies for identifying and managing. sexual pressure, including understanding peer pressure, resisting pressure and not pressurising others.
- Understanding choices about sexual relationships, for example to delay sex or to enjoy intimacy without sex.
- Image sharing and peer on peer abuse
- Harassment
- Self confidence
- Puberty
- Self-image/identity
- Healthy relationships
- How to recognise the characteristics and positive aspects of healthy one-to-one intimate relationships, which include mutual respect, consent, loyalty, trust, shared interests and outlook, sex and friendship.
- The facts about the full range of contraceptive choices, efficacy and options available.
- How the different sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDs, are transmitted, how risk can be reduced through safer sex (including through condom use) and the importance of and facts about testing.
- About the prevalence of some STIs, the impact they can have on those who contract them and key facts about treatment
- That sharing and viewing indecent images of children (including those created by children) is a criminal offence which carries severe penalties including jail.
Citizenship:
This is all about studying those areas that make someone a good ethical citizen, such as:
- Prejudice
- Social Responsibility
- A series of debate lessons about current issues
Careers:
- World of Work
- Aspirations
- Soft skills understanding and development
How will my child be assessed and how will I know how well they are doing in PSHE in Year 9?
- There is no formal assessment in PSHE.
What homework will my child be expected to do in Year 9 in PSHE?
- There is no homework given in PSHE.
How can I support my child to do well in PSHE during Year 9?
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
