Personal Social Health and Education
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Pupil Council
We feel that it is important for pupils to have the opportunity to voice opinions and have their ideas heard. For this reason we have a Pupil Council here at Southwater. Each class within the school selects a representative at the beginning of each academic year. The pupil council meet regularly to discuss both school and community issues raised by their peers. It is the job of the Pupil Council to make things happen and discuss how ideas can be made into reality. The Pupil Council are enthusiastic, motivated and forward thinking when it comes to generating ideas to solve problems. School Shop The Pupil Council members are also enthusiastic about the school shop which they run. The shop sells a variety of items including pens, pencils, revision guides, table tennis bats and balls.This links into our PSHE ethos of encouraging children to be financially aware, even if it is with their pocket money. Charity Committee At Southwater, we place high emphasis on charity work. Having a Charity Committee means we are able to support a range of charities that the pupils feel passionate about. The Charity Committee is selected each academic year with pupils from each year group being involved. The committee meets every half term to discuss charities that have been suggested by their peers and to generate ideas on how to support such charities. The committee organises money raising events to support selected charities. These have included selling Christmas themed key rings for St Catherine’s Hospice and red noses for Comic Relief. Once a year the committee also organises an event where children group together and raise money for charity. They make a wide variety of items including home-baked cakes and home-made jewellery. The hall is then taken over with stalls selling the children’s wares for the chosen charity. In recent years we have had to extend the event to two evenings due to the number of children wanting to run stalls. |
Personal Social Health and Education at Southwater
At Southwater Junior Academy we place a high emphasis on children’s personal, social and emotional learning. Through our teaching of personal, social and health education (PSHE) we aim to give children the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead a confident, healthy and independent life. We base our learning around our core values of rights and responsibilities which are a strong focus both in the classroom and around the school. By having a whole school approach to PSHE, we aim for our pupils to develop attributes and qualities they need to thrive as individuals and members of a community. Across each year, children learn through different topics such as ‘Respect’, ‘Doing our best’ and ‘Looking out for others’. Through these topics children will encounter areas of discussion such as what it means to show respect. At the beginning of each year, all classes create a class charter which sets out rights and responsibilities which the class will follow throughout the year. Assemblies at Southwater also place high emphasis on PSHE topics such as respect whilst also teaching children about worldwide issues and how these leave people feeling and thinking. PSHE is a very cross-curricular subject here at Southwater with strong links in Computing, particularly E-Safety, and with Mathematics where children look at economical and financial awareness. We also invite members of the local community in to talk to the pupils. Recent visits have included Sussex Police, Sussex Fire and Rescue, Childline and local community members such as youth workers. 
Playground Buddies
At Southwater, we feel that it is important for all children to feel safe and secure both in lessons and on the playground. The Playground Buddies, a group of responsible and mature Year 6s, help children with issues they may have on the playground. Trained in mediation, the buddies help to solve conflicts between pupils and also help support those children who, may at times, feel lonely. Not only do they do an amazing job here at the Junior Academy, but they also work extremely well with the younger children at the neighbouring Southwater Infant Academy. With their bright yellow t-shirts, they are easy to identify and are always willing to help. Junior Neighbourhood Watch At Southwater we are proud to be a part of the Junior Neighbourhood Watch scheme and work in partnership with Sussex Police. The Junior Neighbourhood Watch (JNHW) has been created to show that young people can make a difference, encourage children to think about community issues and help children grow into responsible citizens. This project is fun, interesting and motivating whilst teaching children about issues within and around their local community. Pupils learn how to be safety aware whilst out and about and also to look at topics such as how to protect their home and belongings. Random Acts of Kindness Through our PSHE learning, and in other areas of school life, kindness has a great emphasis here at Southwater. Classes discuss what kindness is and how to show this to everyone within not only our school community, but to those outside of it too. The pupils of Southwater Junior Academy are very kind and will hold doors open for others, help each other with their work and play with those who are lonely on the playground. To show our acts of kindness, each class have created a video highlighting some of the daily random acts of kindness they do. You can see these videos on our Kindness page. |
