At Wyvern Academy we want to help young people develop fully as individuals and as members of families and social and economic communities. The PSHCE programme is intended to help equip our students with the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live healthy, safely, productively and responsibly.

All students at Wyvern Academy are, without exception, entitled to a world-class PSHCE education that is holistic, ambitious and aspirational spanning the pupils’ secondary school career, with a progressive, spiral curriculum that addresses real needs in a rapidly changing world. It is vital that we prepare our young people so that they are empowered to become engaged positive and respectful members of society through a dedicated focus on developing them as professional learners and developing a deep understanding of the world around them by covering different aspects of the subject.

Our PSHCE programme aims to develop our young people at Wyvern Academy through carefully planned and resourced lessons that develop the knowledge, skills and attributes young people need to protect and enhance their wellbeing. Through these lessons, students will learn how to stay safe and healthy, build and maintain successful relationships and become active citizens, responsibly participating in the world around them. Lessons in this scheme of work have their foundations in seeing each and everybody’s value in society, from appreciation of others in units such as Diversity, to promoting strong and positive views in the Health and Wellbeing units.

The PSHCE curriculum aims to cover a range of social and emotional aspects of learning, enabling our pupils to develop their identity and self-esteem as active, confident individuals. The topics within PSHCE support social, moral, spiritual and cultural development and provide our pupils with essential safeguarding issues, developing their knowledge of when and how young people can ask for help.

Literacy and numeracy skills are fed through our curriculum allowing students to focus on the precise technical language and skills needed to make sense and interact with the numerous topics they will learn.

We are responsible for ensuring our young people are confident to pursue ambitious next steps and progress on to further education, employment or training which will support their future careers through introducing careers related to intervention, the importance of the wide range of transferrable skills that are used in PSHCE and how these can be used by young people in their future learning or careers.

Knowledge and skills:

Through our curriculum, students:

• Living in the wider world - PSHCE education helps pupils to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society. From making responsible decisions about alcohol to succeeding in their first job, PSHCE education helps pupils to manage many of the most critical opportunities, challenges and responsibilities they will face growing up.
• We aim to develop the ability for students to have a deeper understanding of the importance of their Mental Health and Wellbeing by discussing age appropriate topics including: How to talk about their emotions accurately and sensitively, using appropriate vocabulary. That happiness is linked to being connected to others. How to recognise the early signs of mental wellbeing concerns. Common types of mental ill health (e.g. anxiety and depression). How to critically evaluate when something they do or are involved in has a positive or negative effect on their own or others’ mental health. The benefits and importance of physical exercise, time outdoors, community participation and voluntary and service-based activities on mental wellbeing and happiness. The benefits of regular self-examination and screening. (KS4)
• Increase their awareness of E-Safety and Self Esteem in all year groups will cover age appropriate topics including: The similarities and differences between the online world and the physical world, including: the impact of unhealthy or obsessive comparison with others online (including through setting unrealistic expectations for body image), how people may curate a specific image of their life online, over-reliance on online relationships (including social media). How to identify harmful behaviours online (including bullying, abuse or harassment) and how to report, or find support, if they have been affected by those behaviours.
• Learn about the world around them supporting them to have an appreciation of what it means to be a positive member of a diverse, multicultural society. To have a strong self-awareness, interlinked with compassion of others and become kind, supportive members of their community and embrace diversity. 
• Develop students understanding of risks that they may experience in life and how to cope with them and keep themselves safe. Content includes: Basic Life-saving skills, including how to administer CPR. The purpose of defibrillators and when one might be needed.
• Alcohol and Drugs: The facts about legal and illegal drugs and their associated risks, including the link between drug use, and the associated risks, including the link to serious mental health conditions. The law relating to the supply and possession of illegal substances. The physical and psychological risks associated with alcohol consumption and what constitutes low risk alcohol consumption in adulthood. The physical and psychological consequences of addiction, including alcohol dependency. Awareness of the dangers of drugs which are prescribed but still present serious health risks. To recognise the strategies to manage different influences (including peer influence) on their decisions about the use of substances, (including clarifying and challenging their own perceptions, values and beliefs).
• Relationship and Sex Education in all year groups will cover age appropriate topics including:  Healthy relationships, including friendships and intimate relationships; families; growing and changing, including puberty; personal hygiene; changing feelings; becoming more independent; keeping safe and consent, teenage pregnancy and alternative ways of having a baby. Students will also have opportunities to ask questions that help prepare them for relationships of all kinds in the modern world.
• Finance: That money comes from different sources and can be used for different purposes, including the concepts of spending and saving. About the role money plays in their lives including how to keep it safe, choices about spending or saving money and what influences those choices. To develop an initial understanding of the concepts of ‘interest’, ‘loan’, ‘debt’, and ‘tax’ (e.g. their contribution to society through the payment of VAT)
• Careers: About different work roles and career pathways, including clarifying their own early aspirations. To identify own strengths, interests, skills and qualities as part of the personal review and planning process, including their value to future employability and strategies for further developing them. Different types of work, including employment, self-employment and voluntary work; that everyone has a ‘career’ which is their pathway through life, education and work.