I have been fortunate to visit a wide variety of independent schools, and each one has its own unique character and community.
One thing they all have in common is a commitment to prepare their pupils for life — to thrive in their relationships, in their studies and career, and crucially, to know how to keep themselves healthy and safe.
This is the lifeblood of PSHE education. But beyond the primary (and crucial) step of meeting pupils’ needs through the subject, there are other considerations for Independent schools, such as:
And in answering these types of questions, it’s helpful to begin with the statutory requirements as it can be a complex picture. Schools need to meet the Independent School Standards for PSHE education, as well as ensuring compliance with the statutory RSHE guidance, while developing a curriculum that reflects your school’s ethos and meets pupils’ needs.
Added to this, the Independent Schools Inspectorate’s framework places pupil wellbeing at its core, stating that inspections will focus on the responsibility of leaders to ‘promote the wellbeing of pupils [and this will be] at the centre of ISI’s evaluation of the school.’
PSHE is a central plank of any whole-school approach to wellbeing. And indeed, ISI specifically refer to PSHE education, and constituent parts of the PSHE curriculum such as ‘relationships education’, ‘relationships and sex education’, and ‘economic education’. So PSHE education has a key role to play in evidencing wellbeing during inspections.
If you lead a boarding school, you welcome pupils from across the country, and likely the globe. Pupils join school with a wide range of prior learning for all subjects, and this is especially true for PSHE education, which they may never have studied before. Combine this with different lived experiences and cultural norms, and we get a complex picture from which to build the PSHE curriculum.
My role as Independent Schools Lead at the PSHE Association includes supporting PSHE leads to review their current provision, to meet and exceed all these different requirements — to develop a programme tailored to their pupils’ needs, and to evidence this effectively during inspection.
I always advise starting by considering how PSHE links to the school’s ethos and aims, ensuring this is outlined in up-to-date policies. For example, does your safeguarding policy outline how the PSHE curriculum contributes to safeguarding by teaching pupils to keep themselves and others safe in a range of contexts?
It is also important to build evidence of explicit and implicit teaching about wellbeing and pupils’ awareness of how PSHE supports their wellbeing, using pupils’ work to demonstrate learning and progress. Considering what you have in place already, and your next steps in these areas, are good starting points towards developing and evidencing your curriculum effectively.
We cover all this and more in our on-demand training, which includes courses on:
See our Training and events page to learn more about the different types of training we offer for Independent schools. Or email info@pshe-association.org.uk.
Wishing you all the best for a successful start to the new academic year.
Monica Perry, Independent Schools Lead, PSHE Association