In Scoil Chriost Ri we believe all teachers in this school are pastoral care teachers and all our teaching and learning has implications for personal and social development.
Our SPHE programme is informed by and informs many other aspects of school life, such as our Code of Behaviour, Anti-Bullying policy, Substance use and misuse, Pastoral Care, Child Protection Policy and our School Guidance Plan. We acknowledge the SPHE Programme is an Enabling and Spiral curriculum which allows us the flexibility to introduce our own modules if necessary, work cross-curricular school and build on students' knowledge and understanding year on year.
Early adolescence is a time of significant change for young people, physically, emotionally and socially. Through the use of experiential methodologies and group work, students have the dedicated space and time in this short course to develop their understanding and skills to learn about themselves, to care for themselves and others and to make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing in a rapidly changing world. In SPHE, students have opportunities to revisit different themes which focus on developing self-awareness and respect for others, and the skills of self-management, communication, coping, decision-making and relating to others.
The skills involved are vital for self-fulfilment, for living in communities and for full engagement in learning beyond SPHE. Personal reflection, resilience and empathy are also promoted through SPHE. Relationships and sexuality education (RSE) is important for young people at this stage of their lives. They are exposed to a lot of information about relationships and sexuality from informal sources, the media and online. SPHE provides the context within which young people can learn about important physical, social, emotional and moral issues around relationships, sexual health, sexuality and gender identity, including where to get reliable information from trusted sources.