Here at Reach, we teach a weekly lesson that incorporates our values, current affairs and personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE). These Team Reach sessions involve much class and small group discussion and are a platform for children to share thoughts and ideas and raise questions with the rest of their team.

For part of the year we follow the Nurturing Schools Network programme designed by Family Links. This scheme of work links well with our own values and helps children to develop emotional resilience as well as teaching them how to make a positive contribution to their community. These lessons are taught in a more informal way with a focus on circle time and role play. Each week covers a different theme from managing feelings to empathy. The aims of these lessons are to improve behaviour, encourage children to become more independent and improve children’s confidence.

We want to ensure that when children leave Reach, they are equipped with the skills to live a happy and flourishing life. Therefore, we have designed a robust PSHE curriculum, covering a wide range of subject to make this happen. Many of our PSHE lessons involve ‘active learning’ where students are given the opportunity to reflect on their own and other people’s lives. All of the topic we cover focus on children becoming successful learners who enjoy being at school, helping children develop into confident individuals who know how to be safe and healthy and ensuring children understand their place in society and how they can make a positive contribution to it.

As children progress through the school, Team Reach will incorporate lessons on sex and relationships (SRE). These lessons are vital in making sure children understand their own transition into adulthood and how to have safe and happy relationships with others. We also have a responsibility to make sure children know how to be safe both on and offline.

Some of our Team Reach lessons will encourage children to think more philosophically. A stimulus is shared such as a poem or video and children are then encouraged to devise their own questions in small groups. They choose questions that interest them and, with the teacher’s help, discuss it together.