Life Skills 

At St James PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) education is at the heart of all we do. We want all of our children to become healthy, independent and responsible members of society. Our wish is that they leave at the end of Year 6 with the skills, knowledge and understanding to face the wider world with confidence. We therefore follow a whole-school approach to teaching PSHE through what we have called Life Skills lessons.

Life Skills is taught across the school from Reception to Year 6 on a weekly basis and as a school, we follow the Coram Life Education’s SCARF scheme. This stands for Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience and Friendship, which perfectly supports and enhances our school’s three core values of Respect, Unity and Love. This scheme fully covers the statutory Relationships and Health Education content and there is a strong focus on developing good mental health and wellbeing.  

Our spiral curriculum builds on 6 key themes each year, in an age-appropriate way:

• Me and My Relationships
• Valuing Difference
• Keeping Safe
• Rights and Respect
• Being My Best
• Growing and Changing

Our belief is that excellence in these areas will lead to excellence across the curriculum and beyond in later life.