Personal Development and RSE

At Dixons Unity Academy, we promote personal wellbeing and development through our comprehensive Personal Development Studies curriculum, which encompasses both PSHE and RSE. Our programme ensures that our students gain the knowledge, understanding, and skills they need to live safe, healthy, productive lives so that they can meet their full potential.

Our programme is delivered through a weekly whole year group lecture-style session with the opportunity to follow up and discuss key themes in some tutor-led seminar sessions. Full details of our programme can be found on the document below, but the topics covered by all students each year are:

• Friendships
• Staying safe in the community
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Finance
• Making positive choices
• Relationships
• British Values
• Protected Characteristics
• Staying safe online

Our approach to RSE is taken directly from government guidance, which states:

“The aim of RSE is to give young people the information they need to help them develop healthy, nurturing relationships of all kinds, not just intimate relationships. It should enable them to know what a healthy relationship looks like and what makes a good friend, a good colleague and a successful marriage or other type of committed relationship. It should also cover contraception, developing intimate relationships and resisting pressure to have sex (and not applying pressure). It should teach what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in relationships. This will help pupils understand the positive effects that good relationships have on their mental wellbeing, identify when relationships are not right and understand how such situations can be managed. Effective RSE does not encourage early sexual experimentation. It should teach young people to understand human sexuality and to respect themselves and others.”

The content covered in all sessions is age appropriate and has been planned using resources from the National PSHE Association. All teaching takes place in a safe learning environment and is underpinned by our school values. The seminar sessions are interactive in order to allow students to take part in discussions and ask any questions they may have. Following each session, students will be signposted to support in school from the wellbeing team, if needed, and to external support, such as charities, to ensure students know where to go to find reliable information and high-quality support.

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact Ms Clynes (sclynes@dixonsua.com) or contact the academy on 0113 512 5530.