RSE, Stay Safe and Anti-bullying
As part of our Whole School Plan for Social, Personal, Health Education (SPHE) we are implementing the programmes of Stay Safe and Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in term 2 of the school year (January to March).
The following classes cover Stay Safe: Junior Infants, 1st, 3rd and 5th
The following classes cover RSE: Senior Infants, 2nd, 4th and 6th.
What is RSE?
RSE provides children with structured opportunities to develop the knowledge, attitudes, values, beliefs and practical skills necessary to establish and sustain healthy personal relationships as children and, subsequently, as adults.
Why teach RSE in school?
The general aim of education is to contribute towards the development of all aspects of the individual, including the aesthetic, creative, critical, cultural, emotional, intellectual, moral, physical, political, social and spiritual development for personal and family life, for working life, for living in the community and for leisure. Relationships and Sexuality Education is clearly a part of this general aim.
RSE can be facilitated in three ways within the school:
- in the context of a positive school climate and atmosphere;
- as part of timetabled SPHE;
- on an integrated, cross-curricular basis.
The RSE program is a publication from the Department of Education and is prepared by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. It is obligatory for schools to cover this program to ensure the health and safety of the children in our care.
The program consists of a series of 9 to 12 lessons, which are arranged sequentially and are age appropriate. However, they are not prescriptive, rather they provide a menu of options for classroom lessons from which teachers can choose in accordance with the school policy on RSE (see school website for RSE Policy). Lesson materials may be supplemented and topics may be integrated across other curriculum areas.
Parents/guardians have access to classroom materials through the RSE link provided: https://pdst.ie/primary/health-wellbeing/RSE
There is also a wealth of materials in this link to support parents in approaching this information with their children in the home environment.
The RSE resource materials acknowledge parents/guardians as the primary educators of their children and provide assistance to teachers in their complementary and supportive role. Opportunities will be afforded parents to engage with their children on the resource content at various stages throughout the programme. There is a Home-School Links page for each theme which will be sent home by the class teacher as lessons are being taught.
What does the Stay Safe programme do?
The aim of the Stay Safe programme is to teach children personal safety skills so they can look after themselves in situations which could be upsetting or dangerous. It deals initially with common situations which most children will experience at some stage or other, e.g. getting lost or being bullied. The programme also teaches children the safety skills necessary to protect themselves from physical or sexual abuse and emphasises the importance of telling a trusted adult about any problems they have.
Parents/guardians have access to classroom materials through the SPHE link provided: https://www.pdst.ie/Stay-Safe-Teachers
The Stay Safe programme is part of the Social, Personal and Health Education curriculum which all primary schools are required to implement. Co-operation between parents and teachers is essential to the success of this programme. It is important that parents are aware of the content of the Stay Safe lessons and are able to discuss the lessons with their children. Your child may bring home worksheets which will inform you on the topics being covered in class and how you can reinforce the messages at home.
Anti-Bullying
Our school recognises the very serious nature of bullying and the negative impact it can have on the lives of pupils. We are fully committed to preventing and tackling bullying behaviour through our whole school approach. This includes:
- A positive school culture and climate which:
- is welcoming of difference and diversity and is based on inclusivity;
- encourages pupils to disclose and discuss incidents of bullying behaviour in a non-threatening environment; and
- promotes respectful relationships across the school community;
- Effective leadership with a designated Anti Bullying Co-ordinator
- A school-wide approach
- A shared understanding of what bullying is and its impact
- Implementation of education and prevention strategies (including awareness raising measures) that
- build empathy, respect and resilience in pupils; and
- explicitly address the issues of cyber-bullying and identity-based bullying including in particular, homophobic and transphobic bullying;
- effective supervision and monitoring of pupils;
- Effective supervision and monitoring of pupils
- Supports for staff
- Consistent recording, investigation and follow up of bullying behaviour (including use of established intervention strategies).
The Sean Fallon anti bullying campaign approach has been adopted by our school for tackling bullying issues. This campaign takes a ‘no blame’ approach whereby children are supported through their decision making and problem solving skills by following a series of lessons, steps and guidelines.
We have hosted separate teacher and parent training workshops by Sean Fallon in the school to date and information can be found on https://www.antibullyingcampaign.ie/
Please check out the relevant RSE, Anti-Bullying and SPHE school policies for further information. These policies are available to read on the school website.