Airy Hill Primary School PSHE and RSE Curriculum
We are proud to be a myHappymind school! myHappymind is a whole school programme that teaches our children to understand how their brain works to control their thoughts and feelings. It focuses on understanding neurodevelopment and neuroplasticity in a child friendly way. It is an NHS-backed curriculum in primary schools, secondary schools, and nurseries and is focused on building resilience, self-esteem, and happiness in children. This ties in closely with our school values as well as our PSHE curriculum.
PSHE promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and
of society, and prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later
life. We aim to provide pupils with the knowledge, understanding, attitudes, values and skills they need in
order to reach their potential as individuals, within the community and modern Britain. They reflect on their experiences and understand how they are developing personally and socially, tackling many of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up. They learn to understand and respect our common humanity; diversity and differences so that they can go on to form the effective, fulfilling relationships that are an essential part of life and learning.
PSHE is carried out throughout the whole school day. This can be in a range of ways for example: listening to others, talk partners, sharing feelings, developing inference about characters in stories and focusing on similarities and differences. At playtimes we offer pupils playtime where they can play games, dance, use the adventure trail and ride scooters or enjoy a quieter social playtime colouring and reading. Furthermore, pupils have approximately 1 hour of allocated to PSHE each week. In class, children focus on the programme myHappymind. The children also go to assemblies that celebrate children’s achievements both inside and outside of school. They also have a weekly whole school and class assemblies, where the theme will be based around SMSC, British Values or RRS articles. At Airy Hill, we aim to give the children the best possible experience at school and strive help our pupils develop across all areas of school life and be the best that they can be.
Aims of PSHE Education
The PSHE Association state the following aims for PSHE education. myHappymind is totally focused on all of these aims, particularly as they relate to emotional and mental well-being and resilience. The aim for PSHE education is to provide pupils with:
Intent
Our curriculum intent for PSHE at Airy Hill is to enable pupils to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to manage their lives, now and in the future. We strive to develop imaginative individuals who think critically and reflectively. Our want our pupils to be masters of the basic skills in all areas of learning; confident, independent and resilient learners for life. We teach pupils to be respectful of diversity and value all communities.
We aim to foster and develop:
• Resilience, confidence, independence and how to keep mentally healthy.
• Pupil’s enjoyment of learning about how to stay healthy and about emotional and mental health and how to build safe and positive relationships’.
• Children’s ability to make informed choices about healthy eating, fitness and their emotional and mental wellbeing’.
• Children’s personal skills, employability skills and ability to achieve academically
Implementation
At Airy Hill, we use myHappymind for the basis of our PSHE and Relationships Education. myHappymind is
an award-winning programme for schools, nurseries, families and organisations. It teaches preventative
habits that support positive mental health, resilience and self-esteem. All of the concepts taught are based
on science and research and grounded in neuroscience and positive psychology. The programme is delivered via an innovative technology platform making learning easy, convenient and fun. It is commissioned by theNHS up and down the UK due to the incredible impact the programme has on reducing CAMHS referrals along with the overall improvements to the wellbeing of children, staff and parents.
The myHappymind curriculum is grounded in scientific research and helps children to:
• Feel happier
• Know what to do when they feel worried or stressed
• Improve their focus and learn more
• Achieve more of the goals that they set for themselves
• Develop better relationships with friends and families
• Feel great about who they are and have positive self esteem
myHappymind Module Descriptions
Meet Your Brain: Understanding how your brain works and how to ensure we look after it so that we can manage our emotions and be at our best. Growth
mindset is a key part of this too.
Celebrate: Understanding your unique character strengths and learning to celebrate them. This is a fantastic module for building self-esteem.
Appreciate: Understanding why gratitude matters and how you can develop gratitude as a habit. Gratitude is key to well-being and resilience.
Relate: Understanding why positive relationships matter and how to build them. We're focused on the building blocks of good relationships and friendships.
Engage: Understanding how to set meaningful goals that matter and how to keep resilient in times of challenge. This module is all about building self-esteem and resilience too.
Impact
Children will learn how to become valued citizens and leave Airy Hill ready to embrace the next stage in their lives and learning. Children will be caring, respectful with good social skills underpinned with honesty and integrity. Imaginative individuals who think critically and reflectively. Children will be masters of the basic skills in all areas of learning. Confident, independent and resilient learners for life. Pupils will be respectful of diversity and value all communities. Secure pupils in their own set of personal values and guiding principles.
Resilience, confidence, independence and how to keep mentally healthy.
The myHappymind approach is grounded in positive psychology and neuroscience. By teaching the science and embedding the habits around mental wellbeing we give children the understanding and tools to cope when times get hard. The children learn how to look after their brain; they look at their own character strengths which helps them with their confidence and independence and they complete a module on goal setting which increases their resilience.
Pupil’s enjoyment of learning about how to stay healthy and about emotional and mental health and how to build safe and positive relationships.
The myHappymind approach teaches the children how to recognise when their brain is working well and when their brain is feeling stressed as well as techniques to deal with any moments of stress. There is a whole module within the myHappymind programme on building positive relationships and the core skills needed in order to do this. The myHappymind curriculum covers all the mandatory elements of the RSE curriculum. The children also complete a module called ‘Appreciate’ which helps them get in the habit of gratitude and developing positive relationships
Children’s ability to make informed choices about healthy eating, fitness and their emotional and mental wellbeing.
The myHappymind program gives the children the skills needed to understand their own emotions and wellbeing. Developing this emotional literacy helps them to navigate difficult situations.
Children’s personal skills, employability skills and ability to achieve academically.
The myHappymind programme gives the children the ability to self-regulate and to understand how their brain works. This enables them to go into situations, e.g. tests/going into school in a more calm and relaxed manner. The children learn how to self-regulate, persevere, show gratitude and develop positive relationships.
myHappymind Early Years Mapping
myHappymind is focused on developing children’s confidence, resilience and mental well-being and fits perfectly with the Statutory PSED Educational Programmeme. It is highly aligned with the PSED statements from Development Matters and ELGs. The programme also gives children the skills to be effective learners and fits the 3 Characteristics of Effective Learning.
myHappymind is highly aligned with the PSED Education Programme below:
Children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive
relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others. Children should be supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals, have confidence in their own abilities to persist and wait for what they want, and
direct attention as necessary.
Through adult modelling and guidance, they will learn how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating, and manage personal needs independently. Through supported interaction with other children, they learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably. These attributes
will provide a secure platform from which children can achieve at school and in later life.
myHappymind also considers the importance of storytelling and play during this phase and many of the resources are introduced in this way as a result.
RSE at Airy Hill Primary School
At Airy Hill, we believe that the essential aim of Relationship and Sex Education should be to provide pupils with the knowledge and skills to enable them to make informed and responsible choices in later life, emphasising the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
We believe that Relationships and Sex Education should contribute to promoting the moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at school and of society and preparing pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life. It should be taught within a climate of trust, respect and appropriate confidentiality, in which pupils and adults feel able to talk openly and honestly. This again is primarily taught through myHappymind.
Airy Hill nurtures every child to enable them to achieve beyond expectations and develop into confident individuals with a lifelong love of learning, equipped with the skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Children need to learn about:
• Different types of relationships (e.g. friendships, family, intimate)
• Recognising, understanding and building healthy relationships
• How relationships affect health and wellbeing (including mental health)
• Safety online
RSE is taught within the PSHE curriculum. Biological aspects of RSE are taught within the science curriculum. RSE is about the emotional, social and cultural development of pupils, and involves learning about relationships, healthy lifestyles, diversity and personal identity. RSE involves a combination of
sharing information and exploring issues and values.
Each year group will be taught appropriate to their age and developmental stage.
myHappymind Plus is being updated in line with the latest RSHE guidance, with all updates in place by September 2026, including brand new sex education lessons to support a fully joined-up approach to your curriculum. We will consult with parents as soon as the new plans are available.