PSHE and Citizenship

Year 7 PSHE begins with an induction into Paddington Academy, introducing students to the school’s values, the importance of PSHE, and celebrating identity and difference to build a strong sense of community. Through the relationships unit, students are supported in their transition to secondary school by learning about respect, personal space, consent in friendships, empathy, and managing relationships both online and offline.

In careers education, students are introduced to Unifrog to explore pathways, job types and future careers linked to their interests. The global citizenship unit develops understanding of democracy, government roles, political parties and voting. Finally, students also explore health and wellbeing, including mental health, managing emotions and worries, the impact of social media, and how to support their own and others’ wellbeing, alongside media literacy topics such as influencers and digital footprints.

Year 8 PSHE builds on prior learning by developing students’ emotional maturity, respectful relationships and understanding of equality. Through the relationships curriculum, students explore conflict resolution, boundaries and consent in friendships, the impact of emotions on relationships, and the importance of challenging stereotypes and binary thinking. The health and wellbeing curriculum strengthens safeguarding and resilience by addressing anxiety, sleep, stress, social media pressures, harmful stereotypes, and gender‑related mental health risks, while ensuring students know how and where to seek support.

Careers education develops employability by focusing on professional communication, leadership skills, personal presentation, and core financial concepts including pay and taxation. Through the global citizenship curriculum, students study human rights, equality, protest and strike action, alongside climate activism, the role of NGOs and responsible action, enabling them to apply critical thinking to local, national and global issues and understand how individuals can contribute positively to their communities.

Year 9 PSHE develops students’ knowledge and judgement around risk safety and informed decision making. Through the health and wellbeing curriculum students explore legal substances and drug regulation. They look at ethical issues including organ blood and stem cell donation alongside body autonomy and the role of first aid /CPR in the world of work. Health and wellbeing education addresses online safeguarding including online sexual harassment and AI deepfakes.

Careers education supports students with their Key Stage 4 option choices by exploring pathways skills development and the importance of enrichment and personal development opportunities. The global citizenship curriculum develops understanding of how Britain is governed including the role of parliament the House of Lords voting laws policing and the courts while also examining extremism, democracy and justice to strengthen students’ civic responsibility. Finally, the Relationships unit addresses common problems in relationships such as alcohol use, racism, homophobia and misogyny.

Year 10 PSHE focuses on developing students’ independence, safety and readiness for adulthood. Through life skills education, students learn about upstanding, consent and sexual violence, including harassment within relationships, myths surrounding abuse, and how to safely challenge harmful behaviour in a safe way. The mental health curriculum builds resilience by exploring stress, anxiety, exercise, goal‑setting and protective factors that support positive wellbeing.

Careers education prepares students for work experience by developing professional behaviours, transferable skills and reflective decision‑making to support future career pathways. Through global citizenship, students deepen their understanding of human rights, democratic accountability and governance in the UK and internationally, including the role of the media, public finance, and how laws address complex social issues. Relationships education develops critical thinking by examining social constructs, family structures and sex roles, alongside risks in relationships both online and offline, enabling students to communicate boundaries and build healthy relationships.

Year 11 begin by looking at how to build habits for success. They learn about how to find purpose and how to manage their time. Through their health and wellbeing unit, students learn how to manage stress and how to avoid harmful coping strategies and practise healthy ones. The Year 11 careers and aspirations unit focuses on their Key Stage 5 pathway options and prepares them for interviews and applications. In their global citizenship unit, students delve into more depth and build on prior knowledge to learn more about the UK and the wider world. They explore diverse regional, national, religious and ethnic identities in the UK and the need for mutual respect and understanding. Students learn how they can be active citizens and volunteer in their local communities, as well as about other forms of responsible action. Students learn how to choose and set up a bank account, and how to manage their money safely.

Our KS5 provision is designed to support our students transition into adults within modern Britain. Year 12 PSHE begins with life skills in the form of study skills to help prepare them for the transition from GCSE to A-level/BTEC. This is designed to improve independence and increase aspiration in terms of their future and what they are aiming to achieve after sixth form. Students then go onto to look at mental health, building on what was covered at KS4 and focused specifically on topics such as exam stress and how to manage your mental health around big transitions, such as starting sixth form or university. Contextually we want to build on oracy, and so we spend the following term on debating and public speaking in front of the Year group assembly. This is coupled with reading presentations to support students as they develop ideas for their personal statement.

The next theme for Year 12 is sex and relationships, which again builds on work within KS4. In this topic we look at healthy and unhealthy relationship patterns, consent, contraception, sexual harassment and toxic masculinity. To support our students as they vote for the first time, we spend some time assessing the British political system and understanding differing policies and leaders. This is followed by a deep dive into finance and supporting students being financially independent. We then have a drop-down day to tackle scenarios that will be at the forefront of their transition into university life. We focus on feminism and diversity, including LGBTQ+ focused sessions alongside maintaining new healthy relationships. We also prepare students for university and apprenticeships with sessions supporting them to make these decisions and ensure they are aware of all the options open to them.

PSHE in Year 13 continues to explore several themes including study skills and organisation, speaking skills and oracy, mental health, relationships and sex education, sexual and gender diversity, financial education and university. This is coupled with the rigorous UCAS programme which supports students all the way through their transition into higher education or alterative pathways.