Promoting an Emotions curriculum within the PSHE framework

The introduction of the new RSHE curriculum became compulsory in Sept 2020 with time to ensure it is embedded by 2021. The focus is on relationship and sex education as well as mental and physical wellbeing, but is there enough weight, awareness and teaching opportunity for children to think about their own life experiences, the emotions they have and to be supported to reflect on the whole range of emotions they will experience and how this may impact on their current and long-term mental health?

Are we giving children enough opportunity and psycho-education to feel heard, understood and supported to tell their story and to reflect safely on their own experiences and given the tools to develop resilience and emotional self-awareness? There is a powerful argument and a growing need for a more robust focus on an ‘emotions curriculum’ sitting alongside and embedded within RSHE and pastoral intervention to help the prevention of escalating numbers of children in our communities with mental ill-health.

The government RSHE guidance states:

“In primary schools, we want the subjects to put in place the key building blocks of healthy, respectful relationships, focusing on family and friendships, in all contexts, including online. This will sit alongside the essential understanding of how to be healthy.”

It then goes on to state that:

“Teaching about mental wellbeing is central to these subjects, especially as a priority for parents is their children’s happiness. We know that children and young people are increasingly experiencing challenges and that young people are at particular risk of feeling lonely. The new subject content will give them the knowledge and capability to take care of themselves and receive support if problems arise.”

This is incredibly welcome as all the research points directly to a growing crisis in the mental health of our children and young people with an alarming one in six children having a probable mental health disorder. (NHS Digital, July 2020, & Centre for mental health 2021). This figure has increased significantly in the past few years from one in nine in 2017.

This highlights the reality that we need to be strong in developing policy and practice as well as our curriculum provision and targeted range of intervention. We need to change the spiralling trajectory and provide a more robust framework and programme for children to avoid escalating further mental health needs leaving schools with no alternative but to refer out to wider services, who tragically lack capacity to respond to significant levels of need.

Whilst PSHE is crucial to ensure a ‘broad and balanced curriculum’ where mental health, wellbeing and relationships is central, it can be argued that there is a simultaneous need for a curriculum of emotions to be embedded and taught with a focus on enhanced intervention for children to have the opportunity to think about, reflect on and express their own life experiences and to feel heard by trained empathic adults within schools.

The new RSHE framework sets out the curriculum expectations:

Physical health and mental wellbeing:

Relationships:

This is all vital to provide our children and young people with the life skills, attitudes, values as a ‘curriculum for life.’ But is there enough focus on understanding and learning about our emotions with the opportunity to reflect safely on our life experiences, our emotional blocks, challenges, or indeed opportunities?

At Hamish & Milo we have created an emotional curriculum and programme of intervention for primary children KS2 particularly, but relevant for KS3 to help children explore in greater depth their emotions and life experiences and to give opportunities to think about, reflect and express themselves safely. Whilst this is an intervention programme delivered by mental health champions and pastoral staff, it embodies key themes of anxiety, sadness, strong emotions and anger, diversity, self-esteem, loss and bereavement, change and transition, friendship, conflict resolution and resilience.

The programme provides detailed resources to help equip staff with the language, the content and the awareness to be able to have open and courageous conversations with children and young people, to help reduce the stigma about mental health and allow children the chance to feel heard, understood and connected. It is becoming increasingly apparent how we need to open up the conversation, be courageous in having conversations with young people about issues that can be hard to talk about and to give them the vital information to help them feel connected to others with similar life experiences. By giving them the knowledge and support to help them begin to develop the skills to live life to the full, to express themselves and be open to the range of feelings and relationships they have can help to equip them with the strategies and understanding to be able to really keep themselves emotionally and physically well.