Intent (What we want to do)
At Wath C of E we believe that the child is at the centre of all we do. Our aim is to ensure that every child develops into the most social, emotional, moral, spiritual and resilient young people can be to take into adulthood. At our school we ensure that every child feels valued and cared for as well as enabling them to become healthy, independent and responsible members of society. We encourage our pupils to play a positive role in contributing to the life of the school and the wider community. PSHE builds social skills, grows emotional literacy, enables positive mental health and nurtures children’s relationships with themselves and others. Teaching children that everyone is unique and that all are equal, to choose kindness and to understand emotions. These are all key aspects to allow children to have a healthy relationship with both themselves and others.
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Summary
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All children are taught mindfulness PSHE.
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Children will develop an awareness of themselves and the world around them.
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Children will be taught to have a kind relationship with themselves.
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Children will understand the different emotions and discuss what these could feel like.
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Children will be aware of their feelings and have techniques to use for negative emotions.
Implementation (How we will do it)
PSHE is delivered through Jigsaw and shows progression through each year.
The Six Puzzles (Themes/Units of work)
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There are six Puzzles in Jigsaw (quickly identified by their colour scheme) designed to progress in sequence from the beginning of each academic year:
Term 1: Being Me in My World
Term 2: Celebrating Difference (including anti-bullying)
Term 3: Dreams and Goals
Term 4: Healthy Me
Term 5: Relationships
Term 6: Changing Me (including Puberty and Human Reproduction Education)
Each Puzzle has six Pieces (lessons) which work towards an ‘end product’, for example, The School Learning Charter or The Garden of Dreams and Goals.
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Each Piece has two Learning Intentions: one is based on specific PSHE/HWB learning (purple) and the other based on emotional literacy and social skills development (green).
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The whole school works on the same Puzzle at the same time, meaning that each Puzzle can be launched with a whole-school assembly and learning can be celebrated by the whole school in a meaningful way.
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The Structure of the Pieces (lessons) in Jigsaw
The creation of Jigsaw is motivated by the genuine belief that if attention is paid to supporting children’s personal development in a structured and developmentally appropriate way, this will not only improve their capacity to learn (across the curriculum) but will ultimately improve their life chances. That’s why Jigsaw is completely child-focussed. This is reflected in the innovative way that Pieces (lessons) are structured, which also reflects understanding of the learning process.
In designing the Pieces, we imagine that children are asking the teacher to:
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Improve their social skills to better enable collaborative learning (Connect us)
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Relax their bodies and calm their minds to prepare them for learning (Calm me)
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Help the brain to focus on specific learning intentions (Open my mind)
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Initiate new learning (Tell me or show me)
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Facilitate learning activities to reinforce the new learning (Let me learn)
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Support them in reflecting on their learning and personal development (Help me reflect)
Using these child-centred headings for the sections of each Piece is very significant.
It encourages teachers to see their pupils as whole children who want and deserve to learn.
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Connect Us - This is a game or activity designed to be fun and inclusive and to build and maximise social skills. ‘Connect us’ engenders positive relationships and enhances collaborative learning. It sets the atmosphere at the beginning of each Jigsaw Piece and can be used again at the end should the teacher feel the atmosphere needs to be lifted after some deep work during the lesson.
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Calm Me - This section of the Piece helps children gain awareness of the activity in their minds, relaxing them and quietening their thoughts and emotions to a place of optimum learning capacity. This will also engender a peaceful atmosphere within the classroom. It may well take a number of sessions before children can do this successfully, as many children live in continually noisy and hectic environments. It is an invaluable life skill which also enhances reflection and spiritual development. This underpins the mindful approach advocated in Jigsaw (See ‘mindfulness’ above)
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Open my Mind - The Reticular Activating System of the brain filters the many stimuli entering the child’s mind at any given time. It is designed only to allow in that which is significant. Therefore, it is important to engage this system with the most important aspects of learning intended for each Piece (lesson). If we do this well, it will enable children to filter out activity around them not significant to this learning intention, thereby improving concentration and learning.
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Tell Me or Show Me - This section of the Piece (lesson) is used to introduce new information, concepts and skills, using a range of teaching approaches and activities.
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Let Me Learn - Following Piaget’s learning model, after receiving new information/concepts, children need to manipulate, use, and play with that new information in order for it to make sense to them and for them to ‘accommodate’ it into their existing learning.
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Help Me Reflect -Throughout Jigsaw, children are encouraged to reflect on their learning experiences and their progress. By reflecting, children can process and evaluate what they have learnt, which enables them to consolidate and apply their learning. They are also asked to stop and become aware of their thoughts and feelings in any given moment in Pause Points thus developing their mindfulness.
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Closure - Each Piece needs safe closure. This will always include the teacher praising the children for their effort, positive attitude and achievement, as well as giving one or two sentences to summarise the key learning points for the children.
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Summary
6 puzzles are taught in each year and the whole school cover each puzzle at the same time
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Term 1:  Being Me in My World
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Term 2: Celebrating Difference (including anti-bullying)
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Term 3: Dreams and Goals
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Term 4: Healthy Me
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Term 5: Relationships
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Term 6: Changing Me (including Puberty and Human Reproduction Education)
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Impact
Jigsaw is a whole-school approach and embodies a positive philosophy and creative teaching and learning activities to nurture children’s development as compassionate and well-rounded human beings as well as building their capacity to learn.
Summary
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Implement our school values and vision.
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To build the children’s capacity for learning
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To equip the children for life.
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Jigsaw is a whole-school approach and embodies a positive philosophy and creative teaching and learning activities to nurture children’s development as compassionate and well-rounded human beings as well as building their capacity to learn.
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Have positive self-esteem, this is measured through pupil voice.
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Have a positive and healthy relationship with themselves and others, this is measured through pupil voice.
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Each puzzle is built on each year from foundation to year 6.