Our Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) programme is a key part of daily life at St Cuthbert’s, enabling us to form the whole person.
At St Cuthbert's we view the social, moral, spiritual and cultural education of our pupils as equally important to their academic education. The PSHE curriculum is perfectly aligned with the school’s vision, mission and values. Alongside this, our PSHE programme aims to serve the local community and beyond.
All of our pupils, from Year 7 to Year 13, have a lesson of PSHE during Form Time once a week and a lesson of RSE during Form Time. These lessons are delivered by trained Form Tutors because we believe they are best placed to form positive working relationships with the boys where mature, in-depth discussions about topics can be held. All pupils in Years 7-11 will have five assessment checkpoints throughout the academic year.
Our PSHE curriculum is completely bespoke to the boys of St Cuthbert's. The programme is implemented through a spiral curriculum of 6 units which are built upon each academic year. Each Unit has a ‘Big Question’. The 6 Big Questions are:
- How do I become a 'man for others?'
- How do I become a man fit for the 21st Century?
- How do I become a responsible British Citizen?
- How can I keep my body healthy?
- How can I keep my mind healthy?
- How do I become ready for work?
St Cuthbert's Catholic High School PSHE Curriculum PDF
On top of trained staff delivering high-quality resources, our PSHE programme is unique due to the following:
- Our PSHE at home scheme- We believe that parents are the first educators of their children and we feel it is key to involve them in the learning process for PSHE, so we have made our 'curriculum fit for families.' Each week in the Families Update, parents are told in advance of the topic of their son's lesson and are provided with questions/links to initiate a discussion about what he has been taught.
- Contextual Safeguarding lessons- At the end of each unit of work the whole school will study a topic to do with local issues in the West End of Newcastle. These lessons are planned by St Cuthbert's Designated Safeguarding Lead who works with external safeguarding authorities and the Police in the planning process.
- Safeguarding slide- At the start of each PSHE (and RSE) lesson, Form Tutors will read out the Safeguarding Slide which contains information about who to go to/what to do if a pupil has a concern about anything. This helps to foster a safe environment for discussion and debate and reminds pupils that we are here to help them.
- Staff training- Form Tutors have undergone at least two CPD sessions to aid in their delivery of the programme.
- CEIAG Unit 6 for Years 7-13- Every pupil at St Cuthbert's will have acess to information about the jobs market in addition to our usual CEIAG programme. These lessons are planned by our Progressions Coach.
- Where appropriate, our lessons signpost to further support; both internal and external.
We are proud to have shared our successful PSHE model and original ideas with other schools.
New for 2023-2024
- Year 8 Unit 3 changed from ‘What rights do I have?’ to ‘Why should I respect Emergency Services?’. This is due to high level of attacks on emergency services in West End of Newcastle in recent months and will coincide with some Y8 pupils visiting the interactive centre ‘Safetyworks’ which is run by Police and Fire services.
- Year 8 Unit 4 Week 27 changed from ‘What is drug addiction and how can I avoid it?’ to ‘Why might young people be influenced to vape? Advertising and gangs’. This change was made due to national concerns over increasing numbers of young people vaping and local Police and Trading Standards intelligence that illegal vapes are being sold in the school’s vicinity and that local gangs are using vapes as currency.
- Sixth Form PSHE is brand new for 2023-24 with lesson topics chosen following feedback from student and staff voice at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year.
- Year 12 PSHE has a strong emphasis on mental health with Unit 2- ‘How can I keep my mind healthy?’- coinciding with Movember where students will raise awareness and lead on fundraising activities. This is also tied into the Sixth Form assembly programme. In addition, half of Unit 2 lessons will focus on suicide prevention as the latest data tells us that 75% of UK suicides are male and the North East of England has the highest suicide rate in the UK.
- In Year 13 Unit 2, there is an emphasis on mental health with exam stress and related issues being taught and discussed
- Unit 3 has a strong emphasis on safety in and after Sixth Form with lessons on, nights out, travelling abroad, driving and tattoos.
The PSHE lessons are proving popular with the students, some of whom gave us the following responses to a pupil voice:
They are well-structured and focus on current events.
Year 10 Pupil
It’s good for communicating and we all enjoy it as it gives us a chance to talk all-together.
Year 9 Pupil
