The Staff and Governors at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School have adopted the programme, 'Journey in Love' to support the  teaching of Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) through the primary years.

Relationships, Sex and Health Education is a positive experience of relationships rooted in Gospel values, to help children accept and understand changes, developing the whole child. It is essential for young people to learn about the nature of marriage, family life and relationships taught in an age appropriate way. In Catholic schools, RSHE must be taught in the context of the Church's teachings.

'A Journey in Love' is a developmental programme from Early Years to Year 6.

An aspect of the mystery of love is treated in each year group; children are asked to marvel at the wonder and beauty of God's love. This is reflected, at each stage of a person's growth in the primary years, through a series of suggested, progressive and developmental tasks, activities and reflections, which focus on physical, social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual development.

Reception - God loves each of us in our uniqueness

Y1 & 2  - We meet God's love in our family /  We meet God's love in our community

Y3 & 4 - How we live in love / God loves us in our differences

Y5 & 6 - God loves me in my changing and development / The wonder of God's love in creating new life.

In Year 5, puberty and body changes are discussed and in Year 6, sexual intercourse is discussed. These lessons for Years 5 and 6 are usually in the second half of the Summer Term.

As well as the Church’s recommendation ‘Journey in Love’, St. Mary’s also runs a weekly ‘My Happy Mind’ programme, which is NHS backed to deliver the full statutory PSHE/RSHE curriculum. This programme offers our children another layer to help them develop their mental health and well-being.  They will all follow the same theme over the year, which will be scaffolded according to their year groups.  These will be called; Meet My Brain, Celebrate, Appreciate, Relate, Engage and Transition. 

Our whole RSHE is threaded through the school's mission of ‘In God’s light, we love, learn and grow together’.  We celebrate our children as unique individuals and equip them for life in modern Britain.

We also use some aspects of 'No Outsiders' to teach our children through stories about social differences. 

As a parent, you have the right to withdraw your child from Sex Education at any time. If you wish to do so however, this is not to be confused with the topics around growing and life cycles within the Science curriculum which is a statutory requirement.

Please contact the RSHE coordinator for more information.

RSHE Documents