Personal, Social and Health & Citizenship Education 

Introduction

Personal, Social and Health & Citizenship Education (PSHCE) is an integral aspect of education at Rishworth, and has been for many years. Lessons, tutor time, assemblies and pastoral time are all used to promote the many messages and values that PSHCE seeks to put across. The overall aim of PSHCE at Rishworth is to : "Empower through raised awareness and informed choice"

The learning objectives are :

• To develop skills, knowledge and understanding for living a fulfilled life and playing a full role in society.
• To develop the ability to question, justify, judge and decide.
• To enable pupils to know what society calls "right" and "wrong" and to understand why.

PSHCE at Rishworth

The content of PSHCE is vast, covering such diverse aspects as Careers, Personal Health and Hygiene, Relationships, Citizenship, Spiritual Values, Study Skills and Decision Making.

Clearly the role of parents and the family is crucial in the overall development of young people. At Rishworth we fully realise this and our PSHCE provision is aimed at enhancing everything which goes on at home as a matter of daily life.

Tutors play a vital role in providing PSHCE at Rishworth in tutorial sessions and dedicated lessons. Year 7 and 8 pupils have one PSHCE lesson every other week covering a range of topics from citizenship to bullying to personal health.  They also have one Religious Studies lesson every two weeks in which a range of religions is covered.

The pupils in Year 9 have a one-hour PSHCE lesson with their tutor every week in addition to tutorial sessions. 

Year 10 and 11 pupils have a one-hour PSHCE lesson every alternate week. These lessons enhance the tutorial work done during this very important year of examinations and decisions, the emphasis being on study skills and future educational / career needs.

The Sixth Form have an induction course which involves a three-day residential team building course as well as a one-day study skills course at the start of the school year, and then regular tutorials which deal with various aspects of Study, Careers Development, Planning for Higher Education, Driving, Health and Social issues.

One morning each week, as an alternative to School Assembly, all year groups have either a tutorial or a Year Group Assembly in the Performing Arts Centre. These provide opportunities to deal with general routine as well as PSHCE issues.

Visits outside School and expert guest speakers provide additional guidance, information and advice to enhance what is provided in-house.

Visits from

• the ISCO careers adviser

• West Yorkshire Police

• charity organisations

Guest speakers on subjects such as

• Alcohol Awareness and Binge Drinking

• Relationships/Sex education

• Crime Awareness

• Year 10 Work Experience

• Drugs awareness

• Religious Education

At Rishworth we aim to encourage the pupils to achieve their potential in every possible way, to conduct themselves in appropriate and acceptable ways and to empower them to make rational and sensible decisions. PSHCE has an important role in achieving these objectives.