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VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM
vocabulary and knowledge they need to understand the ever-changing world in which they live. Through fortnightly PSHE lessons, children will develop the skills necessary to form responsible, mindful and well-informed choices that will allow them to take an active role in their local community, manage their life effectively and form healthy, positive relationships. Initiating a ‘safe space’ is an essential part of
PSHE lessons and there are a number of ways in which teachers at Richmond Hill Academy do this. At the start of the year, a set of shared rules known as the PSHE promise are created. This is child led, and based upon the themes of respect, safety and confidence. Once created as a class, these are displayed in the classroom and revisited every lesson. The use of dimmed lights, PSHE candles and fairy lights also create a comfortable and safe environment in which children feel able to share their personal thoughts and emotions. In doing this, discussions and activities will be natural and meaningful. Sentence stems such as ‘I respect your opinion, however…’ are encouraged and used throughout the lessons. During these lessons, disclosures may be made due to the content covered and the safe space initiated. If these occur, teachers follow the safeguarding and child protection policy when reporting the disclosures. We have created ‘Knowledge Organisers’ for every PSHE unit which detail important contacts and sources of further support should the children feel they need additional help.
How do you measure the impact? Class floor books are used to evidence learning throughout the lesson. They are used as a celebration of the lesson, opinions that have changed and knowledge gained. These are added to throughout the lesson, similar to the process of working walls, and consist of a mixture of quotes from children, drawings, pictures of the lesson activities or any writing or tasks that have been done. Children have an active role in creating the content with the teacher.
Children will complete a baseline activity sheet
at the start of a new strand of learning to assess their prior knowledge of the given topic. This will then be revisited at the end of the strand of learning in green pen, which gives teachers a clear indicator of how firm the children’s understanding of the given topic is, as well as the knowledge they have gained. A self-reflection sheet will follow on from the baseline and end assessment sheets. This gives children the chance to reflect on their own learning and how it will be useful in relation to their wider lives and situations they may come across.
What’s next at Richmond Hill Academy? We were delighted that Ofsted recognised the
quality of our work in this area and described it as worthy of sharing. We believe that together with our strongly held school values Unity Days are one of the reasons why children’s respect for their peers and their community was described by Ofsted as “breathtaking”. The learning which has taken place during Unity Days has enabled our children to develop a deep understanding of the Protected Characteristics and has further developed their ability to truly empathise with people who may be very different from themselves. We hope to be able to share the extraordinary work which takes place as part of the Richmond Hill Academy Unity Days beyond the schools in Leeds we are already supporting.
July/August 2022
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