RSHE
As a parent/carer you are your child’s first educator and play a vital role in their personal and social development. Therefore, RSHE and PSHE education should always be a partnership between schools and parents/carers. This page will provide ideas in how you can continue to support your child's RSHE learning outside of school.
Here you will find a break-down of the topics and skills taught through our RSHE curriculum: https://www.st-marys-jun.hants.sch.uk/page/?title=RSHE+Curriculum&pid=243
Tips for talking to your child
Sometimes RSHE or PSHE conversations with your child will arise incidentally, when you are playing or cooking together, when you are watching television or films, or through news stories. 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.
It can be helpful to start talking about a RSHE topic using a stimulus — such as a storybook, film, news article, scenario or case study. It is important that any stimulus is chosen very carefully. Always ensure that the story/article/scenario you are using:
- Provide positive messages about how children and young people can stay healthy and safe, for example how to safely stay connected with friends online.
- Be accurate, non-biased and balanced, for example only using reliable sources for information, such as the BBC education site, NHS website and Pubic Health England.
- Reflect modern day society and actively seek to address or challenge stereotypes.
It is a good idea to have a plan for managing questions that arise from such discussions.
For example, you might:
- Praise and respond, remembering that most young people like short, simple, factual answers. If they want more information they will usually ask more questions.
“Thank you for asking that question… here’s what I would say…”
- Find out what they think first. “Good question! What do you think about that?”
- Delay, take time to stop and think or check information before going back to your child, but make sure you do respond.
“That’s a great question! Let me have a think about how best to answer. I will come back to you later.”
- Provide opportunities for open questions.
“Today we talked about… can you write down a question you still have about this so we can talk about it another time?”
- Pre-empt the type of questions they might ask. Discuss what you feel would be age-appropriate answers with friends or family. Prepare a response. Always aim to try to give a response where possible, whatever your child’s age. If you feel it is something you really cannot answer, be honest about that and explain.
“I really like that you were able to ask me that question, but you know what, that’s a question that will be answered when you are older, right now it’s not something to worry about.”
Books to support learning at home
The link below provides recommendations for books to support different topics within the RSHE curriculum.