At St Mary Immaculate Catholic Primary School, our approach to Relationships and Health Education (RHE) is rooted in our commitment to promoting emotional well-being, healthy relationships, and a positive understanding of physical health and safety. We aim to equip our pupils with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate personal and social challenges as they grow.
Classes are designed to be engaging and age-appropriate, fostering discussions that encourage respect, empathy, and understanding among peers. We incorporate our Catholic values, ensuring that every lesson reinforces our mission to create a caring and nurturing environment where students learn to care for themselves and others with compassion and responsibility.
Relationships and Health Education is statutory in all primary schools in England. At St Mary Immaculate we regularly consult with parents, staff and governors to create our Relationships and Health Education Policy. Parents will always be informed before we begin teaching RHE and parent resources are emailed home so that you will know what is being covered in class each session (and to prepare yourselves!).
We use three intersecting programmes which go beyond just covering the statutory requirements. Throughout the school year we use: Life to the Full Plus (from Ten Ten Resources), Protective Behaviours and My Happy Mind. These three programmes are complementary rather than overlapping: Life to the Full Plus provides the core relationships and health curriculum through a Catholic lens; Protective Behaviours strengthens safeguarding, personal safety and help-seeking; and myHappymind develops emotional wellbeing, resilience and self-regulation.
Life to the Full Plus
Life to the Full Plus is our main programme for teaching Relationships, Health and Sex Education (RHSE) within the context of our Catholic faith. Created by Ten Ten Resources, it supports children from Reception to Year 6 to understand themselves, their relationships with others and how to make healthy and responsible choices. The programme teaches that every person is unique, loved by God and deserving of dignity and respect.
Through age-appropriate stories, discussions, activities and videos, children learn about friendships and family relationships, their bodies and how they change, personal boundaries, keeping safe, emotional wellbeing and how to seek help when they need it. As children progress through school, the content develops appropriately for their age and stage, helping them to build the knowledge, confidence and values they need to form positive, respectful relationships.
Life to the Full Plus also supports the statutory requirements for Relationships Education and Health Education while ensuring that teaching reflects the Catholic understanding of the human person. Tap this paragraph to be taken to the Parent Portal within Life to the Full Plus.
Protective Behaviours
Protective Behaviours, delivered through the Taking Care Project, helps children develop the skills and confidence they need to recognise when they feel safe or unsafe and to know what they can do if something worries them. A central message is that “we all have the right to feel safe all the time”, and children learn to recognise their own early warning signs – the physical feelings their body may give them when they feel worried, frightened or unsafe. They explore the difference between safe and unsafe situations, learn about personal boundaries and develop a network of trusted adultsthey can talk to. Children are also taught that it is important to keep telling someone if they do not feel safe until somebody listens and helps.
Protective Behaviours is not designed to make children fearful; instead, it gives them practical language, strategies and confidence to help them understand their feelings, speak up, seek help and keep themselves and others safe. Tap this paragraph to find out more about Protective Behaviours from PB People.
My Happy Mind
myHappymind is a whole-school mental health and wellbeing programme that helps children understand how their brains work and teaches practical strategies for looking after their emotional wellbeing. The programme is NHS-backed and grounded in research from neuroscience and positive psychology. Children work through five areas: Meet Your Brain, Celebrate, Appreciate, Relate and Engage. They learn how different parts of the brain influence their thoughts, feelings and behaviour; recognise their own character strengths; practise gratitude; understand what makes positive relationships; and learn how to set meaningful goals and build resilience when things are difficult.
Children are introduced to simple techniques, including Happy Breathing, which they can use to help regulate their emotions and feel calmer. By using myHappymind throughout the school, we aim to give children a shared language for talking about their wellbeing and practical strategies that they can continue to use both at school and at home. Tap this paragraph to find out more about myHappymind from the NHS.
Within all these programmes, there are activities that parents can complete at home to follow up after the lessons. We encourage all parents to discuss any concerns with their child’s teacher or with Mrs Brooks or Mrs Wallace. Our aim is to inform the children about changes that will happen to them before they occur, so that they can be prepared and are not scared or confused. We will never tell the children that their feelings are wrong. God created us all in His image and loves us individually for exactly who we are (regardless of whether a person believes in Him, He believes in us all).
You can read our RHE policy in the Policies section of our website.