All pupils, no matter their SEND condition, have the right to be sexual beings.  It is inexcusable for any child to go through important
life changes/stage unprepared. Children with Special Needs are at increased risk of abuse. It is important that we provided quality scaffolding and support to help safeguard them.
 
Silverwood School recognises the entitlement of all pupils to receive Relationships and Sex Education, which is current, meaningful and relevant. Silverwood School promotes respect for diversity, promoting our pupils as global citizens. We encourage a sense of compassion and understanding of others, and a deep respect for human worth and dignity. We recognise and respect every member of the school community’s ethnicity, cultural and religious values and sexual orientation. The advance of modern technology brings with it issues of safeguarding and the school will needs to address on-line safety in its various forms. This policy forms part of this commitment.
 
We are aware that parents need to know what their children will be taught at different ages and communicate and involve parents and communities to communicate clearly the nature of the school’s programme on Sex and relationships.  We offer support for parents through our family support workers to ensure that they also feel they can have open and honest communication on these topics with their children.

​More specifically, having regard for the uniqueness and special circumstances, all pupils and students have entitlements:

• to receive information about human development, with facts being presented in an objective, balanced manner, appropriate to the age, stage, level of maturity and learning needs of the individual;
• to knowledge about sexuality, with a structured framework of learning experiences designed to prevent unnecessary anxiety. This includes learning to communicate about sexuality and the development of appropriate language and vocabulary;
• to consideration of and specific training for relationships building and socio-sexual behaviour in order to promote greater social confidence; this would include realistic information on responsibilities and expectations of personal relationships;
• to information, advice and guidelines on inappropriate sexual behaviour (social, legally and culturally unacceptable), and all aspects of exploitation;

 
Our relationships and sex programme form part of the wider PSHE education provision at the school and topics are repeated and re-taught to aid retention of memory and long term  understanding.

​We have based this SRE curriculum on UNESCO’s |International Technical Guidance on sexuality education, and have adapted this by using documentation from the autism society and Down Syndrome Association with the help of INSIGHTS to ensure that it is relevant for all stage and age ages of our learners at Silverwood School.

This PSHE Curriculum is designed to ensure all Silverwood pupils develop the essential skills and attributes; to live a happy life in today and tomorrow’s society.

The topics are planned and developed to be specific to the age of the pupil, but also takes into account their cognitive function and stage of development.

Topics are repeated and developed throughout the pupil’s time at the school. Content is mapped and learning matches inevitable age related milestones e.g. puberty and age of consent etc.

Staff take opportunities to over-teach PSHE themes in other subjects such as Science, Learning Outside the Classroom (LOTC), Life Skills, Animal Care, English, Drama, and use opportunities through-out the day to reinforce them,  such as changing times, meal times, and play times.

The whole school environment contributes to a pupil’s personal development. (See the Personal Development Statement for details).

Silverwood’s PSHE curriculum is based firmly within the PSHE association Framework for pupils with SEND.

‘The World I Live In’ section covers aspects of PSHE relating to careers education, economic wellbeing, personal safety (including assessing and managing risk) and preparing for adulthood. Though not yet a statutory part of PSHE education, this learning is critical to support different levels of independence that pupils with SEND may have, as well as helping schools to meet the Gatsby Benchmarks for careers education as part of the DfE Careers Strategy.
 
We know that it is not enough to simply teach pupils about the issues covered in the framework; it is vital they have the opportunity to explore, recognise and understand the subject content. Like all children and young people, pupils with SEND live in an increasingly ‘connected’ world. They are not always able to recognise or separate the ‘offline world’ from the ‘online world’; therefore, all topics are explored within the context of both. PSHE topics are tracked and through the Silverwood Assessment Branches and evidence is captured on the Evidence for Learning Platform. 

The Curriculum is based on the PSHRE associations SEND curriculum and has been adapted to ensure that it is accessible for all ages and stages of pupils at Silverwood School. The curriculum is mapped to ensure that each pupil receives the full coverage of topics through-out their time at the school. It should be read in conjunction with the SRE curriculum and includes revisiting topics to aid overlearning.

The Curriculum can be viewed or printed by clicking the link below: