At Kippax Ash Tree we use Jigsaw to teach PSHE from the age of 3 to 11 years. Jigsaw unlocks the potential for every child to become a happy, healthy and compassionate human being. The scheme empowers children as global citizens to use their voice to shape the world for the better.
The Jigsaw PSHE scheme sets out clearly the knowledge and skills that pupils gain at each stage of their learning journey. Clearly defined end points highlight what the curriculum is building towards, which have been carefully sequenced so that pupils progress well over time. This curriculum runs alongside our Personal Development opportunities which we carefully plan for. This information can be found on the Personal Development subject page.
A child’s PSHE journey starts in the Autumn Term where we embark on the whole school unit of ‘Being Me in my World’ where children take part in learning about self identity, group identity, responsibilities, consequences and teamwork.
Following this children move on to ‘Celebrating Differences’ by learning about similarities and differences, bullying, stereotyping, racism, discrimination and celebrating differences and individuality.
In the Spring Term across school children move on to the Dreams and Goals unit where they learn about developing their aspirations and goals, facing challenges, the importance of teamwork, building resilience, jobs and careers and managing money and budgeting.
Following this children take part in weekly lessons learning about dangers and side effects of drugs and alcohol, developing self esteem and confidence as well as understanding what a healthy lifestyle choice is as part of the ‘Healthy Me’ unit of learning.
In the Summer Term children learn about ‘Relationships’ through lessons about healthy friendships, families, conflict resolution, communication, loss and bereavement.
Finally in the final half term as the children prepare to move to their next year group children learn how to cope positively with change, they learn about puberty, environmental and life cycles and human reproduction in the ‘Changing Me’ unit of learning.
Assessment and Floor Books
We document our PSHE Jigsaw Learning journey in our class floor books. The floor books capture the lesson's key knowledge taught, the child's voice and links the learning to the British Values and Protected Characteristics. At the end of each unit children take part in a skills and knowledge quiz which assesses their learning from over the half term. This enables children to remember and recall key information and apply their knowledge and skills to real life scenarios. Teachers also assess each child against the 'big question' at the end of each half termly unit and collate this information on a PSHE Assessment tracker.
PSHE In Early Years
The 3-4 years Early Years Jigsaw Scheme supports the teaching of the Early Years Statutory Framework 2021. PSED Early Learning Goals are supported through examples such as:
ELG: Managing Self: Throughout Jigsaw, children are challenged by new activities and challenges e.g. trying out how they might react in certain familiar or unfamiliar situations. In ‘Dreams and Goals’ they work towards specific challenging targets and are given the opportunity to demonstrate resilience and perseverance and strategies to support this. (e.g. Piece 1 – “I understand that if I persevere I can tackle challenges”. )
‘Being Me in My World’ supports children in understanding the school/ setting rules and why we have them, and the right of children to learn and play. They consider the impact of their behaviour on others and the need for everyone to work together to ensure that they have a safe and happy learning environment.
ELG Building Relationships: The inclusion of both adults and children in the Jigsaw circle and some directed activities, enables positive attachments to be formed. Adults may often be asked to role play a situation (e.g. being mean or dis-respecting resources) to ensure that the children understand that they can offer advice and support to the adults as much as each other and regulating emotions is necessary skill for everyone.
Jigsaw and British Values
The OFSTED Inspection Framework (Sept 2019) states that inspectors will consider whether “ the provider prepares learners for life in modern Britain by: equipping them to be responsible, respectful, active citizens who contribute positively to society; developing their understanding of fundamental British Values; developing their understanding and appreciation of diversity; celebrating what we have in common and promoting respect for the different protected characteristics as defined in law”.
The British Values are promoted through the use of the Jigsaw Learning Charter which is shared at the beginning of every Jigsaw PSHE lesson. The Learning Charter is child-centred and aims to encourage children to work together and follow a set of ‘ground rules’ to create a safe, positive learning environment. The behaviours of the Jigsaw Charter are reflected in the whole-school Learning Charter developed in the first puzzle of the year (Being Me in My World), and will consequently permeate the school community, supporting children as they grow and learn. The Learning Charter supports the work that is going to happen in each Jigsaw lesson.
Democracy: During Jigsaw lessons children have lots of opportunities for their voices to be heard through whole class, group or paired discussions. The Jigsaw Learning Charter aims to ensure that all lessons establish a safe learning environment. The ‘ground rules’ of the Learning Charter invite children to sign and agree to try and stick to the rules during all Jigsaw lessons. It encourages children (and adults alike) to listen carefully to one another, and respect the right of others whilst having opportunities to have their own opinions and voices heard. Jigsaw encourages children to take ownership of their learning through their ‘Help Me Reflect’ time when recording their thoughts, feelings and ideas in their individual Jigsaw Journals. Many of the Jigsaw PSHE lessons include ‘Pause for Thought’ moments, whereby children can reflect in the moment; considering their thoughts and feelings. Opportunities are given to all of the children to share their thinking, thoughts and ideas with others if they feel comfortable doing so.
The Rule of Law is evident in every Jigsaw lesson when beginning the session with the Jigsaw Learning Charter. Establishing a safe, comfortable environment for all children (and adults) to learn in is paramount to every lesson. Children are also taught about their rights as a child, including those from The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). These are included in all puzzle pieces. We believe it is important for children to understand equality and their rights, to understand how both they should be treated, and how they should treat others. Children are taught the value, importance and reasoning behind why rules exist. There are lots of opportunities throughout all age groups to explore making positive choices as well as how this balances with consequences. Making positive behavioural choices is explored through class, partner and group discussions. Opportunities for children to explore their thoughts during ‘Pause for Thought’ moments invite children to consider how they feel in the present moment, impacting choices and individual thinking.
Individual Liberty: Jigsaw provides a structured programme of personal development to nurture the ‘whole child’ and increase learning capacity, underpinned by mindfulness philosophy and practice. Jigsaw PSHE begins this teaching right from the beginning in the Early Years Foundation Stage and offers opportunities for children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development. We believe these opportunities are vital for children’s development, understanding of themselves and others, and increasing their capacity to learn. Children are provided with opportunities to make informed choices and feel comfortable expressing their views. The ethos of a Jigsaw lesson aims to always make every child feel welcomed, valued and comfortable and therefore promotes a positive learning environment.
Mutual respect: One of the key aspects of Jigsaw is to enable and teach children to have respectful discussions on sensitive subjects. Jigsaw provides a structured lesson format in which a safe learning environment is created. Each lesson plan includes phrasing, suggested use of language and terminology as well as suggestions for asking openended questions sensitively and reflectively. Jigsaw lesson plans provide these prompts through ‘ask me this’ questions. These are designed to support adults leading the session to feel confident in connecting with children to think about how they feel or what their opinions/ideas may be. Often this includes topics which involve thought-provoking and sensitive subjects. As children get older they build on previous knowledge and skills to develop their ability to listen to others respectfully, debate other people’s views and consider ways that we can be accepting of those who may be different to ourselves. Even in lessons where different points of view are encouraged, and issues may be debated, the Learning Charter is always revisited and its expectations reinforced. This ensures that children feel enabled to freely express their faith, feelings and values in an environment of mutual respect.
Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs: The Celebrating Difference puzzle specifically looks at how we might differ in many ways, but that there are human and spiritual elements in us all where we can find a connection and empathy with each other, no matter how much the world might find difference a cause for conflict. Jigsaw aims to go beyond ‘tolerance’ to help children ‘celebrate difference’, their own individuality and that of others. The children learn to be interested in what makes us all unique from as young as 3 years old and this includes the way we embody our beliefs, feelings and values. For children 7 years and over, elements of the Equality Act are examined within this puzzle which again ensures that the faiths, feelings and values of others are respected. Schools with Jigsaw embedded into their everyday life will also invoke the Jigsaw Learning Charter in other lessons, for example, in Religious Education. This ensures that children understand that the respect we discuss in Jigsaw PSHE permeates into other areas of school life and supports schools in ensuring that all differences in faith and beliefs are celebrated and respected.
Relationship and Sex Education
RSE is an integral part of personal, social and health education (PSHE) and ensures that pupils receive the appropriate information, develop skills and explore attitudes at the time when they are able to best respond in order to grow in confidence with their bodies and their relationships. At Kippax Ash Tree, we follow the Jigsaw Scheme of Work. RSHE outcomes will also be addressed in other parts of the wider and national curriculum. For example, National Curriculum Science outcomes include naming body parts, understanding the human life cycle and human reproduction, and religious education includes work on families and values. Effective SRE is integrated across the curriculum but it is also important to deliver some identified SRE lessons so that pupils can learn about the human life cycle in the context of learning about themselves and their relationships. Our comprehensive SRE programme ensures we meet all the SRE statutory requirements. It is important that the content within the programme is age appropriate for pupils and that this is developed and built on as the pupils move up through the school. For more information on our RSE Curriculum please visit our page under the Statutory tab.
The Right to Withdraw
“Parents have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education delivered as part of statutory Relationships and Sex Education” DfE Guidance p.17. At Kippax Ash Tree Primary School, puberty is taught as a statutory requirement of Health Education and covered by our Jigsaw PSHE Programme in the ‘Changing Me’ Puzzle (unit). We conclude that sex education refers to Human Reproduction, and therefore inform parents of their right to request their child be withdrawn from the PSHE lessons that explicitly teach this i.e. lessons in the Jigsaw Changing Me Puzzle (unit).
The parents 'right to withdraw' form can be found in the appendix of the PSHE and RSE Policy 2022. This can be found on our Policies website page.
