At Brookhaven School, Relationships, Health and Sex Education (RHSE) is designed to equip pupils with the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to develop safe, healthy and respectful relationships, both now and in adulthood.
RHSE supports pupils to understand themselves, their bodies, their emotions and their rights, while promoting personal safety, positive wellbeing, self-advocacy and preparation for adult life. The curriculum reflects the Department for Education's aim that young people develop healthy, nurturing relationships, understand human sexuality, recognise healthy and unhealthy behaviours, and make informed decisions about their wellbeing and safety.
A personalised, graduated curriculum
As a specialist setting, Brookhaven recognises that pupils develop at different rates and that chronological age does not always reflect developmental readiness. Therefore, RHSE is delivered through a personalised and graduated curriculum which takes account of each learner's cognitive development, communication profile, emotional maturity, EHCP outcomes and individual vulnerabilities. Baseline assessment and ongoing evaluation are used to determine the most appropriate learning pathway for each pupil, ensuring that content is meaningful, accessible and developmentally appropriate. This enables learners to build the prerequisite knowledge and skills needed to stay safe, develop positive relationships and navigate the wider world with increasing independence.
The curriculum draws upon a range of evidence-informed resources, including Jigsaw Primary and Secondary, the PSHE Association Programme of Study, and Real Love Rocks, to provide a comprehensive and progressive pathway from Key Stage 2 through to Key Stage 4. These resources are used flexibly to ensure that learning is carefully sequenced and adapted to meet the needs of pupils with autism and associated needs while maintaining high expectations and ambition for all learners.
What RHSE promotes
RHSE at Brookhaven promotes:
- Healthy and respectful relationships.
- Personal safety, including online safety and consent.
- Understanding of physical, emotional and social development.
- Self-awareness, self-esteem and emotional wellbeing.
- Respect for diversity, difference and individual identity.
- Communication, self-advocacy and preparation for adulthood.
- Safe decision-making and access to support when needed.
Our aim is that every pupil leaves Brookhaven with the knowledge, confidence and practical skills necessary to form healthy relationships, keep themselves safe, understand their own needs and rights, and participate as successfully and independently as possible in their communities and adult lives.
Whilst the statutory RHSE curriculum provides the long-term destination, pupils' individual starting points determine the route taken. Curriculum content is therefore selected and sequenced according to developmental readiness rather than chronological age alone, ensuring learning is both ambitious and appropriate for each learner.
Through the year
Most year groups follow the Jigsaw units in this order. Year 11 follows an adapted sequence.
Autumn 1
Being me in my world
Autumn 2
Celebrating difference
Spring 1
Dreams and goals
Spring 2
Healthy me
Summer 1
Relationships
Taught alongside Real Love Rocks.
Summer 2
Changing me
Including puberty, taught alongside Real Love Rocks.
Within each unit, content is adapted to each pupil's developmental readiness, as described below.
Curriculum adaptation and developmental readiness
Brookhaven School is committed to meeting the statutory requirements of Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) whilst ensuring that learning is developmentally appropriate for each individual learner. The Department for Education states the knowledge pupils should know by the end of secondary education; however, the statutory guidance also emphasises that RSE should be taught at an age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate stage and should take account of pupils' needs and understanding.
As a specialist setting for pupils with Autism Spectrum Condition and Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), curriculum content is carefully sequenced in line with each learner's cognitive, social, emotional and communication development. Baseline assessments, ongoing curriculum assessment, EHCP outcomes, observations and professional judgement are used to determine readiness for specific areas of RSE learning. This ensures that teaching supports pupils to understand, retain and apply knowledge safely and meaningfully.
Whilst a small number of learners are currently working at an age-related developmental level and are able to access the full secondary RSE curriculum, the majority of pupils require a differentiated pathway. For these learners, introducing some of the more complex secondary RSE content would not be developmentally appropriate and could result in misunderstanding, confusion or increased vulnerability. Instead, teaching focuses on the prerequisite knowledge, skills and understanding that pupils need to remain safe, develop healthy relationships, communicate their needs, understand personal boundaries, and prepare for adulthood.
This approach is informed by robust baseline assessment and ongoing review of pupil progress. Curriculum decisions are therefore based on developmental readiness rather than chronological age alone, ensuring that RSE is personalised, meaningful, and compliant with the school's duties under the SEND Code of Practice and the DfE expectation that curriculum content is delivered at the appropriate stage of development for individual pupils.
As outlined in the school's RSE policy, lessons are planned with consideration of pupils' emotional development and special educational needs, with specialist staff determining the appropriate stage of knowledge and understanding for individual learners and teaching groups.
The DfE statutory guidance for secondary RSE covers five areas:
- Families
- Respectful relationships
- Online safety and awareness
- Being safe
- Intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health
Questions about RHSE?
We are always happy to talk with families about RHSE and how it is adapted for your child.
