‘I HAVE COME THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE LIFE AND HAVE IT TO THE FULL’
(Jn.10.10)
We are involved in relationships and sex education precisely because of our Christian beliefs about God and about the human person. The belief in the unique dignity of the human person made in the image and likeness of God underpins the approach to all education in a Catholic school. Our approach to RSHE therefore is rooted in the Catholic Church’s teaching of the human person and presented in a positive framework of Christian ideals.
At the heart of the Christian life is the Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit in communion, united in loving relationship and embracing all people and all creation. As a consequence of the Christian belief that we are made in the image and likeness of God, gender and sexuality are seen as God’s gift, reflect God’s beauty, and share in the divine creativity. RSHE, therefore, will be placed firmly within the context of relationship as it is there that sexuality grows and develops.
Following the guidance of the Bishops of England and Wales and as advocated by the DFE (and the Welsh Assembly Government) RSHE will be firmly embedded in the PSHE framework as it is concerned with nurturing human wholeness and integral to the physical, spiritual, emotional, moral, social and intellectual development of pupils. It is centered on Christ’s vision of being human as good news and will be positive and prudent, showing the potential for development, while enabling the dangers and risks involved to be understood and appreciated.
All RSHE will be in accordance with the Church’s moral teaching. It will emphasise the central importance of marriage and the family whilst acknowledging that all pupils have a fundamental right to have their life respected whatever household they come from and support will be provided to help pupils deal with different sets of values.
As a Catholic school, the teaching of this central component of the curriculum at St Nicholas’ is rooted in the Catholic Church’s teaching that we are all called to be truly human in Christ. Lessons within the curriculum are designed to enable our young people to live well in relationship with others and are presented within the positive and accessible framework of Catholic Christian values. We will celebrate human relationships such as our friendships, relationships at home and school, relationships with partners and within marriage, including respect for oneself and for others.
Our school Policy (which can be found on the school website link below) meets statutory guidance from the Department of Education and has been developed in conjunction with the Catholic Education Service and the Diocese of Shrewsbury. Our policy and curriculum will enable students to engage with relationship, sex and health education provision through the following key themes:
- Created and loved by God: The Christian imperative to love self, made in the image and likeness of God
- Created to love others: God is love and we are created out of love and for love
- Created to live in community, local, national and global: Human being are relational in nature and live in the wider community. Through our exchange with others, mutual service and dialogue, we attempt to proclaim and extend the Kingdom of God for the good of all
At St Nicholas, we believe that these themes within our overarching pastoral curriculum will enable our young people to become ever more confident and caring members of society, so that their future decisions are well considered, fully informed and bear witness to their being created in the image and likeness of God.
