‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’ ~ John 10:10

Ten Ten’s programme, Life to the Full, teaches Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) within the context of a Christian understanding of human sexuality rooted in the wisdom and teaching of the Catholic Church.

Given that RSHE is a statutory subject for all schools, we are embracing “the challenges of creating a happy and successful adult life” by giving pupils knowledge “that will enable them to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships” (DFE Statutory Guidance). Please note our e-safety is planned and delivered within our Computing curriculum. For further details please go to the dedicated e-safety page in the Children's section.

In our efforts to ensure that we are not only meeting the new government guidelines, but also continuing to remain in line with our Catholic ethos, we are following a programme called ‘Life to the Full.’ The Life to the Full programme is based on ‘A Model Catholic RHE Curriculum’ by the Catholic Education Service. The programme adopts a spiral curriculum approach so that, as your child goes through the programme year-after-year, the learning will develop and grow, with each stage building on the last.

In Life to the Full, follows a three-stage structure which is repeated across three different learning stages:

• Key Stage One is aimed at Years 1 and 2
• Lower Key Stage Two is aimed at Years 3 and 4
• Upper Key Stage Two is aimed at Years 5 and 6

Within each learning stage, there are three modules which are based on the Model Catholic RHE Curriculum:

• Created and Loved by God
• Created to Love Others
• Created to Live in Community

Each Module is then broken down into Units of Work:

Module One: Created and Loved by God

Module One: ‘Created and Loved by God’ explores the individual. Rooted in the teaching that we are made in the image and likeness of God, it helps children to develop an understanding of the importance of valuing themselves as the basis for personal relationships.

In these sessions, we explore:

Key Stage One (Years 1 and 2) – that we are uniquely made by a loving God, that we have differences and similarities (including physical differences between boys and girls), key information about staying physically healthy, understanding feelings and emotions, including strong feelings such as anger, and the cycle of life from birth to old age.

Lower Key Stage Two (Years 3 and 4) – understanding differences, respecting our bodies, strategies to support emotional wellbeing including practicing thankfulness, and the development of pupils understanding of life before birth.

Upper Key Stage Two (Years 5 and 6) – appreciation of physical and emotional differences, a more complex understanding of physical changes in girl and boys bodies, body image, strong emotional feelings, the impact of the internet and social media on emotional well-being, a more nuanced and scientific understanding of life in the womb and how babies are made*, and menstruation.

* Please Note: During our consultation process, no parent indicated that they would not like this to be taught in school. However, this lesson is non-statutory in the primary phase and so parents continue to have the right to withdraw their child. We will write to parents in advance of this lesson taking place so that you are able to exercise the personal choice that you wish to make for your child.

Module Two: Created to Love Others

Module Two: ‘Created to Love Others’ explores the individual’s relationship with others. Building on the understanding that we have been created out of love and for love, this unit explores how we take this calling into our family, friendships and relationships, and teaches strategies for developing heathy relationships and keeping safe. This religious understanding is then applied to real-world situations relevant to the age and stage of the children:

Key Stage One (Years 1 and 2) – In the Unit  ‘Personal Relationships’, children are taught to identify the Special People in their lives who they love and can trust, how to cope with various social situations and dilemmas, and the importance of saying sorry and forgiveness within relationships. In the Unit ‘Keeping Safe’, we explore the risks of being online by incorporating the ‘Smartie the Penguin’ resources from Childnet, the difference between good and bad secrets, and teaching on physical boundaries (incorporating the PANTS resource the NSPCC).

Lower Key Stage Two (Years 3 and 4) – The sessions here help children to develop a more complex  appreciation  of  different  family structures and there are activities and strategies to help  them develop healthy relationships with family and friends;  here,  they are also taught simplified Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques for managing thoughts, feelings and actions. Once again, for the ‘Keeping Safe’ unit, there are some excellent NSPCC resources, as well as teaching on bullying and abuse through a series of animated stories.

Upper Key Stage Two (Years 5 and 6) – The sessions for UKS2 in the ‘Personal Relationships’ module aim to equip children with strategies for more complex experiences of relationships and conflict; this includes sessions that help children to identify and understand how to respond to spoken and unspoken pressure, the concept of consent and some practical demonstrations of this, and further teaching on how our thoughts and feelings have an impact on how we act.

Module Three: Created to Live in Community

Finally, Module Three: ‘Created to Live in Community’ explores the individual’s relationship with the wider world.  Here we explore how human beings are relational by nature and are called to love others in the wider community through service, through dialogue and through working for the Common Good. In the first Unit, Religious Understanding, the story sessions help children to develop a concept of the Trinity (The father, the Son and the Holy Spirit). In subsequent sessions, we apply this religious understanding to real-world situations, such as the community we live in, and through exploring the work of charities which work for the Common Good.

Life to the Full is intended to be partnership between home, school and church. We know that you already do a fantastic job and we see our new programme, ‘Life to the Full,’ as a means to further develop and enrich the partnership between home, school and church so that your child is fully supported.

If you have any queries regarding any of the information stated above or our RSHE curriculum please contact the school.

“Love is the supreme form of communication. In the hierarchy of needs, love stands as the supreme developing agent of the humanity of the person. As such, the teaching of love should be the central core of all early childhood curriculum with all other subjects growing naturally out of such teaching.” ~ Ashley Montagu