Rationale

The Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE) programme is taught by specialist teachers as a core timetabled subject. All students, Y9 onwards, will study towards a collection of Level 2 Certificates from AQA. The certification is gained through continuous assessment and students will study the following units: Making Informed Careers Choices, Personal Safety, Healthy Lifestyles, Diversity Prejudice and Discrimination, Relationships and Sex Education, Applying for Jobs and Courses, Emotional Wellbeing, Drugs Education and Personal Finance. 

Students in Years 7,10 and 11 receive two lessons a fortnight whilst year 8s and 9s receive 1.  Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is an integral part of this course and became statutory for all students from September 2020. The resources used and topics taught were most recently updated in 2026 to align with the new RSE curriculum and are regularly reviewed to ensure that information is accurate and pertinent to students’ needs and age. Cotham already has a comprehensive RSE curriculum, taught within the existing PSHE curriculum which can be viewed on the school website.

Our SRE (Sex Education and Relationships) policy states that:

• Sex education is an entitlement for all students at Cotham. This is in recognition of the importance of encouraging the development of responsible sexual attitudes and behaviour as students move to adulthood.

• The moral framework will reflect the overall ethos of the school and show respect for diversity of cultures and beliefs within the whole school community. The delivery is factual and balanced with opportunity for questions and discussion.

• Sexual relationships will be presented in the context of human relationships such as parenthood and families, acknowledging the individual differences within family make-up.

The programme seeks to promote values common to all faiths and societies with respect for human life and dignity.

Details of the new framework for Relationships and Sex Education can be found on the Department of Education’s website.

The new RSE and Health curriculum requires schools to teach lessons on the following topics:

• Families
• Respectful relationships, including friendships
• Online and media
• Being Safe
• Intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health**
• Mental Wellbeing
• Internet safety and harms
• Physical Health and Fitness
• Healthy Eating
• Drugs, Alcohol and tobacco
• Health and prevention
• Basic First Aid
• Changing Adolescent Body

Parents have the right to remove their children ONLY from those lessons which come under the heading ‘Intimate and sexual relationships including sexual health’. If students wish to attend these lessons without the consent of their parents, they are able to do so during the three terms prior to their sixteenth birthday. If a parent wishes to withdraw their children from ‘Intimate and Sexual Relationships, including sexual health’ lessons, then this intention needs to be expressed in writing, and also needs to be approved by the Headteacher. 

Schools have a responsibility to provide age-appropriate lessons and to inform parents about what is taught and when. The current PSHE curriculum is published on the school website. ‘Intimate and sexual relationships’ content will be covered in Year 10 (terms 2 and 3).

We’re really excited to announce that we have passed the Personal, Social, Health and Economics Education (PSHE) Badge badge of the Healthy Schools Awards! We are the first secondary school in the city to pass this new award.

The Healthy Schools Team felt that "this was a very strong submission and it is clear that Cotham is committed to outstanding PSHE. The fact that the school has timetabled, regular lessons for all year groups means that pupils have access to a wide range of health and wellbeing topics, have opportunity to have their voice heard and can make meaningful and informed decisions about their own health and wellbeing. Since the programme of study follows the PSHE Association’s ‘best practice’ guidance we are also clear that what is taught is high quality and meets the needs of young people today.  The fact that pupil’s in Key Stage 4 are entered in for a qualification also sends a strong message to pupil’s that this is a subject that has worth and is important while more officially rewarding their progress. We can see that the school is also committed to PSHE teacher’s own CPD as staff have been able to attend multiple training courses and networks year on year which has no doubt ensured excellence in their teaching. Lastly, we can see that the subject is regularly monitored internally and that when students have asked for certain topics to be taught, the PSHE team have responded well.”   

Ben Saunders

Drug alcohol and tobacco education is statutory in as far as it is included in National Curriculum Science. However the National Drugs Strategy places expectations on schools which require a broader interpretation than is possible in Science. All schools are now required as part of this strategy to have a programme of drug alcohol and tobacco education and a policy for the management of drug related incidents.

At Cotham students study drug education throughout Key Stage 3 and 4. In Year 9 they study the content that is specified in the AQA GCSE course.

Key Stage 3

• The differences between recreational and medical drugs use and that there can be risks associated with both, including healthy and legal consequences.
• Drug laws in the UK
• The different reasons people might misuse drugs and how to get help.
• The health dangers of nicotine products, including cigarettes, vapes and shisha.
• The dangers associated with the misuse of other chemicals, including solvents and Nitrous Oxide.
• County Lines, grooming and how to safeguard yourself and friends.

Key Stage 4

• Alcohol use and abuse, including units of alcohol, low risk drinking, alcohol dependency, binge drinking, and health and social harms caused by alcohol misuse.
• Nicotine harms, includes vapes, cigarettes, shisha, and mixing tobacco products with other drugs and the cost to the NHS and other social welfare.
• Information about illegal and prescribed substances, including reasons people misuse these, drug effects, health risks, legal consequences for possession and supply, and pressures to become involved in misusing drugs.
• Discussions on decriminalisation
• Discussions on addiction, harm reduction, and situational awareness when under the influence.
• Discussions about grooming, country lines and drug dealing.

The non-statutory framework for Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education provides opportunities for children and young people to learn about keeping safe; and who to ask for help if their safety is threatened. As part of developing a healthy, safer lifestyle students should be taught:

• To recognise and manage risks in different situations and then decide how to behave responsibly; health and safety in the workplace, recognising hazards and hazard signs; fire safety; keeping safe on the streets; online safety;
• To judge what kind of physical contact is acceptable and unacceptable; consent in relationships including sexual relationships; pressure within relationships; ‘sexting’ and the sending of explicit material via text, email or social sites, AI and deepfakes
• To recognise when pressure from others (including people they know) threatens their personal safety and well-being and develop effective ways of resisting pressure, including boundaries and assertiveness; knowing when and where to get help;
• Drug safety;
• CPR training (Year 7)

In PSHEE lessons, students will:

• access the impartial careers information, advice and guidance that they need, including support with finding work experience placements.
• identify their transferable skills, and how they might develop these.
• understand how work is changing and how this impacts people’s satisfaction with their working lives, including the impact of new technologies and work/life balance.
• be aware of what job and labour market information is and what it can do for them.
• be aware of the laws relating to young people permitted hours and how to minimise health and safety risks to them and those around them.
• understand how to manage their money.
• prepare and present themselves well at interviews.
• write a CV and letter of application for a job.
   

Year 7

Students receive signposting and engage in discussion on:

• Friendships, bullying, consent and friendship power dynamics
• Puberty, self-esteem, emotional regulation and FGM
• Drugs Education including nicotine, alcohol, prescribed medicines and ‘legal highs’, pressures to engage in drug abuse, addiction, county lines and grooming.
• Conspiracy theories, financial scams and online privacy, sexting, grooming
• Debt and gambling

Year 8

Students receive signposting and engage in discussion on:

• Identity, multiculturalism, discrimination and the Equalities Act 2010
• Responsibilities of parents and carers, coercion in family relationships, forced marriage and grooming.
• Knife crime

Year 9

• Personal safety, risk management, fire safety, the water safety code, knife crime, sexting, cyberbullying, online scams and gambling, drug laws.
• Health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle and ultra-processed foods, eating disorders and disorders related to body image.

Year 10

• Sex and relationships education in including consent and coercion, STIs, contraception, pregnancy, adoption and abortion, sexting and child produced sexual imagery, pornography, incel culture, sexual violence.
• Multiculturalism and migration, the Equalities Act 2010, intersectionality and social power dynamics, stereotypes and prejudice in the media, direct and indirect discrimination.

Year 11

• Financial scams, debt, gambling, pyramid schemes, budgeting
• Drugs Education including nicotine, alcohol, prescribed medicines and ‘legal highs’,and illegal drugs, including risks of mixing substances and street bought substances containing other substances, drug abuse, addiction, sobriety and harm reduction, risks of being under the influence in public e.g. at a festival
• Health impacts of chronic stress, stress management techniques, mental wellbeing, poor mental health and mental illness