Soudley Primary School

Significant success with RSE Curriculum

Significant Success with 'Changing Me'

We spent a good deal of time consulting with parents, governors and staff on a new Sex Relationships Policy which included JIGSAW’s ‘Changing Me’ strand. Parents could see the different stages of information, how the children would be taught it etc., but were taken aback by the content and the age children would see the material. 

During this consultation period, we had made a postbox called JUSTIN, in the shape of a JIGSAW character into which children could post their specific ‘Changing Me ‘ worries. This proved very valuable in convincing stakeholders about why we needed to do the ‘Changing Me’ strand across the school and expand our SRE teaching.

Impact of Jigsaw

In the JUSTIN postbox, alongside the SRE questions from the older pupils, were letters from the girls saying how the boys made offensive and sexist comments towards them. We are a small village school, with few incidents and generally calm, respectful children – we were taken aback. We used the children’s candidness to enable the parents to see that there was a need for more openness, discussion and information regarding SRE. That everyday sexism and misinformation needed to be addressed early on. 

The stakeholders agreed to the change and we were able to use the JIGSAW activities to address the situation, enabling the children to see that mindfulness, let me learn, help me reflect, was not something that simply happened in a lesson – it was something that you used in everyday life. The comments mostly stopped and pupils were empowered to report any incidents.

Looking Forward

We see the impact of Jigsaw in our children’s play and work; they work together to solve problems using the expectations in the Jigsaw Charter. Our staff, parents and governors have the same ethos. Along with the Global Learning Program and Rights Respecting Schools, we enable our community to become socially aware and consider the rights and expectations of all members of our community. 

Our children are tolerant, mindful and supportive of each other and this enables stakeholders to consider the needs of all children and develop opportunities for them to succeed. We see our children, through working within JIGSAW’s principles, becoming self-sufficient in managing situations, emotionally literate, resilient and able to work in harmony with others.

SARON HETENYI

Head and Jigsaw Champion – Soudley Primary School, Gloucestershire.