Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is learning about the emotional, social and physical aspects of growing up, relationships, sex, human sexuality and sexual health, diversity and personal identity. 

We provide a developmentally progressive relationships and sex education curriculum offer at Windmill Hill School. This reflects the statutory focus required in this area from Sept 2020, and also the need for a developmentally appropriate approach to learning about relationships. This progression notes moving on from developing a self-identity, to exploring and understanding physical and emotional changes associated with adolescence. For our learners, a personalised curriculum will typically be more appropriate, and underpinning this will be an appraisal of a young person’s sensory profile, communication pathways and also levels of cognitive understanding.

PSHE and RSE are addressed as part of our Physical and Mental Wellbeing curriculum, in which students are taught:

• To stay as healthy as possible 
• To keep themselves and others safe, including recognising signs of bullying and knowing where to turn to for help 
• How to use the Internet, including social media, safely and responsibly 
• To develop effective, satisfying and safe relationships 
• To recognise similarities and differences between themselves and others and to respect these differences, to be independent and responsible members of the school community 
• To be positive and active members of a democratic society 
• To develop self-confidence and self-esteem, and to make informed choices regarding personal and social issues 
• To develop good relationships with other members of the school and the wider community 

Values and skills are taught as part of our Physical and Mental Wellbeing scheme of work across the school, but also embedded throughout our Preparation for Adulthood curriculum. Teachers endeavour to provide a safe learning environment through the establishment of clear expectations, which are made explicit to the children and reinforced consistently and this is reflected in our Relationships Policy. This allows pupils to discuss feelings and sensitive issues within a non-threatening and supportive environment. Visiting speakers, such as the police and health workers, also contribute to the taught curriculum.

Across the school we use Zones of Regulation and Protective Behaviours to support children to identify their feelings and provide them with a toolkit to manage them. We also use Restorative Practice following an incident to enable students to think about the impact on themselves and others and how to be a responsible member of the community.

Skills and knowledge in all areas of the curriculum build upon students' prior learning and experiences and lessons are differentiated according to the physical, emotional and cognitive development of individual students.