At Epsom Primary and Nursery School, we place great importance on Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education. Through a broad and carefully planned curriculum, children gain the knowledge, skills, and values they need to grow into confident, healthy, and responsible young people.

Our Curriculum

Our PSHE curriculum is taught progressively from Reception through to Year 6, with core themes revisited and deepened through a spiral structure as pupils mature. Across six half-terms each year, pupils explore:  

• My Healthy Self (Health and Wellbeing): Managing emotions, caring for physical and mental health, making informed lifestyle choices, and understanding how choices impact future wellbeing.  
• Connecting with Others & Building Relationships: Building safe, kind, and respectful relationships, fostering inclusion, celebrating diversity, and learning to stand up for oneself and others.  
• The Online World: Navigating digital spaces safely, managing screen time, communicating online, evaluating online content critically, and recognizing digital influences.  
• Citizenship & Economic Wellbeing: Understanding rights, responsibilities, community participation, protecting universal human rights, earning money, financial management, and exploring future career choices.  
• Health Protection & Growing Up: Learning everyday hygiene, preventing illness and injury, responding to emergencies, and understanding physical and emotional changes during puberty.  
• Staying Safe & Sex Education: Recognizing safe and unsafe situations, making safe choices in different environments, managing school transitions, and receiving age-appropriate sex education.

This spiral structure ensures pupils build on their prior knowledge, applying their learning in real-life contexts and developing resilience, empathy, and independence.

Government Guidance and Statutory Requirements

Our PSHE curriculum is designed to meet the most recent government requirements. Since September 2020, Relationships Education and Health Education have been statutory for primary schools. This ensures that pupils are taught about healthy relationships, mental health, and how to keep themselves safe. We regularly review and update our provision in line with Department for Education guidance to reflect current priorities and expectations.

Safeguarding Through PSHE

Safeguarding underpins everything we do in PSHE. Children are taught in an age-appropriate way how to:

• Recognise unsafe or worrying situations
• Understand personal boundaries and the concept of consent
• Stay safe online and when using technology
• Identify trusted adults and know how to seek help

By embedding safeguarding into PSHE, we help children develop the confidence, awareness, and strategies they need to make safe and informed choices in an ever-changing world.

RSE PolicyRSE-PSHE Curriculum Overview for parents and carersHow do British Values and SMSC appear throughout our Kapow-PSHE curriculum

PSHE progression Map