At The Morley Academy PSHE (including RSHE) curriculum is carefully designed to ensure that students are given the skills and knowledge to become effective citizens in their wider community and to manage their daily lives effectively. We are committed to ensuring that all our students understand and value the importance of healthy relationships across all aspects of their lives. We aim to provide students with a clear focus on developing specific skills such as resilience, self- esteem, working as a team and managing risk. It is to this end that the curriculum mapping is spiral in nature, meaning that we build student knowledge and skills over time whilst ensuring that they are age appropriate and in keeping with student context.

The National Curriculum states that

“All schools should make provision for personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), drawing on good practice’. PSHE education contributes to schools’ statutory duties outlined in the Education Act 2002 and the Academies Act 2010 to provide a balanced and broadly-based curriculum and is essential to Ofsted judgements in relation to personal development, behaviour, welfare and safeguarding. The relationships and health aspects of PSHE education will be compulsory in all schools from 2020”

Within The GORSE Academies Trust we have always taken our role of educating young people across all aspects of PSHE and Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural (SMSC) values very seriously and we seek to regularly discuss and debate challenging issues with our young people and to immerse them in a culture which celebrates and embraces difference. Through our Personal Development Programme at The Morley Academy, we utilise the guidance to further inform how we enrich the lives of young people within in the academy. We create opportunities for young people to explore beyond their own experience whilst also including them with further Extra-Curricular and Enrichment ++ opportunities to develop student character outside of the classroom.

Be S.M.A.R.T Days

Our Curriculum

Our curriculum is spiral in nature, meaning that we build on the knowledge, skills and understanding at KS2 and support students in their understanding of the wider world, sex and relationships and well-being. Our curriculum meets statutory RSHE guidance, as well as meeting the guidance put forth by the non-statutory Citizenship programme of learning; we also encourage a responsive curriculum, where we recognise the needs of individuals through our planning of resources so that we provide them with the knowledge that they will need to help them with their lives presently and in the future. The teaching of all aspects of the Personal Development curriculum (PSHE, SMSC, RSHE, Citizenship and British Values) are all taught under the umbrella ‘Be S.M.A.R.T’. Where our focus is on the knowledge, skills and understanding students gain over time when it comes to them being Safe, Moral, Aware, Ready and Thoughtful hence our use of ‘Be S.M.A.R.T’.

As you will no doubt be aware, young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and finding themselves interchanging between on and offline activity frequently and seamlessly. This presents many positive and exciting opportunities, but also challenges and risks. In this environment, children and young people need to know how to stay safe and healthy and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way; collectively we have a responsibility to work in partnership to achieve this.

Be S.M.A.R.T Days

Throughout the year students will have a number of Be S.M.A.R.T Days where the key themes of the PSHE curriculum are taught. These days have been designed to ensure that students are provided with a wide-range of skills and knowledge to help them live their lives safely and in a well-informed way. The curriculum has been purposefully designed to build student knowledge on very important topics such as consent, harassment and internet safety. The curriculum will build on student knowledge so that by the end of KS4 all students at The Morley Academy will feel they have the skills and knowledge to be articulate, informed and safe citizens. Students are encouraged to ask questions, debate and discuss topics about the world around them that may not normally be covered in other curriculums and within a safe inclusive environment. Crucially, within our curriculum mapping we have additional time where we are able to plan activities, assemblies and/or wider discussions to react to personalised needs within individual year groups. We work alongside the safeguarding team to deliver a curriculum that is relevant and pertinent to the needs of students.

These days also offer students a suitable time to ask any questions they may have and learn how to seek help for themselves should they need it. The aim of these days is to empower and to provide them with the knowledge they need to leave school as well-equipped, well rounded members of the community.

Be S.M.A.R.T Days are supplemented with a thorough form time PSHCE education where students focus on a weekly PHSCE topic and are encouraged to take part in debates with one another. Students are given a weekly Be S.M.A.R.T Question to discuss together with a key focus on their health and relationships as well as important current events. Students will also cover high profile topics through several pre-planned Watermark Days which are designed with specific focus on events such as religious holidays and charity awareness weeks. Students are also given a chance to engage with the wider world with a weekly Topical Talk session that grapples with wider world events from The Economist Newspaper (examples include gun crimes in America and Artificial Intelligence). The aim of this is ensure the students have a deeper understanding of what is happening in the world around them and how this affects both themselves and others. These tasks are undertaken by means of group discussion and debate, allowing the students to articulate and voice their opinions while listening to others. It provides a space for students to explore other cultures and recognise the importance of inclusiveness in society.

Parents and Carers

Our Be S.M.A.R.T days take place throughout the academic year and we work to engage all parents/carers to ensure that they have a clear understanding of the progression of the content that we explore with our young people during their time with us. As a parent or carer, it is likely you will already have talked to your child about (or had to support them with) many of the topics and issues covered in PSHE and RSHE education. You may also wish to supplement their in-school learning with further discussions of your own. Sometimes PSHE and RSHE education conversations with your child will arise incidentally, for example when you are watching television or films, or through news stories or events that happen within your family. In such cases we cannot always control the stimulus for the question or conversation, only how we manage it. Other times, you may wish to initiate a conversation about a topic you feel is important to approach.

The following two documents offer guidance for parents/carers:

We would also like to encourage families to engage with the information that we provide within this area of the website so that they are enabled to speak to your child about the complexities of the topics taught. Ahead of each Be S.M.A.R.T day we will share with all families useful links in correspondence with what will be taught on these days to aid these important conversations, as well as writing to families to prepare them for this. Within this section of the website, the Learning Journey for Be S.M.A.R.T days can be found so that the spiral nature of the curriculum can be understood further.

Please note that parents/carers are able to withdraw their child, up and until three terms before the child turns 16, from any aspects of Sex Education other than those which are part of the Science curriculum.

Please get in touch with the Personal Development team if you would like to discuss this further and/or the curriculum. 

Personal Development Team

Miss Dixon-Connor
Vice Principal (Designated Safeguarding Lead)

Mrs Gascoigne
Director of Personal Development

Miss Newton
Assistant Principal