A PSHE & Relationships Education Programme for Swindon www.syfc.org.uk
“Relationships are the most complicated things ever thought up… beside computers.” Year 9 student
“I cut because I want someone to listen”
16 year old
“Please don’t show us how to put on a condom again...talk to us about love.”
Year 11 student
“I think respect means treating people how you want to be treated.”
Year 7 student
“Talk to us about REAL LIFE” At LUSH we believe in the importance of young people being given the opportunity to study a curriculum for life. PSHE is an essential part of this giving young people the skills, knowledge and support they need to think about some of life’s big issues. LUSH has been developed and grown since 2006 here in Swindon by local youth work charity Swindon YFC. The programme recognises that young people need safe spaces to talk with trusted adults about these life issues in honest and supportive ways. Young people learn about relationships and sex from the very youngest age. Some of the things they learn are incorrect, confusing and frightening. It is increasingly critical that we talk meaningfully to our young people to help them make sense of their relationships with others, the pressures they experience and those things that can be a hindrance to their wellbeing and safety. Our education system is increasingly aware of the need for good quality relationships, sex and PSHE education as highlighted by the Life Lessons report (2015). The LUSH programme helps schools to tackle difficult topics with their students as part of their wider PSHE schemes of work through quality workshops led by youthwork professionals that come as visitors from outside the school community. LUSH has been created by Swindon YFC – a team of fully qualified youth and community workers who have had over 15 years experience of working in local secondary schools. In delivering this LUSH programme it’s our hope that by learning about the wider, and equally critical, aspects of relationships, sex and personal wellbeing young people will better understand reasons for delaying sexual activity until they are ready and feel empowered to do so and how to access help and support when they need it. Please contact us with any questions or to discuss how LUSH could assist your schools PSHE delivery.
What is LUSH and how does it work? The LUSH programme consists of a number of sessions that can be delivered to suit the needs of your school. If you have specific requirements we are can adapt and change sessions to meet those learning outcomes that are unique to your situation. Each session is designed to be 1 hour but can be adjusted to fit your timetable. Flexible delivery means we can deliver 1 lesson per week over a number of weeks, or deliver over the course of a whole enrichment day. Sessions are delivered as workshops and incorporate a mixture of; Multimedia presentations, Engaging interactive activities, Group discussions and Personal reflections. Throughout our time together, students are also given opportunity to ask questions of the team and receive honest, practical and constructive answers.
Relationships and Sex Education Programme This programme consists of 3 lessons is aimed at year 9 students.
- Relationships: The Foundations & Pressures This session enables students to explore the foundations of forming and developing positive relationships and what characterises a positive relationship. Students consider the pressures they feel when thinking about relationships and the programme encourages students to develop in their confidence and self esteem to exert their rights as individuals to be able to form stable loving relationships. - Relationships: Core Components & Key Issues This session explores students own opinions and values and how they affect the way they approach relationships both now and in the future. Students consider what makes a relationship strong and think about big issues such as sexting, pornography and consent. - Relationships: Positive Long term commitment & Decisions This session allows students to consider and explore the values of longer term relationships and what we can learn from those, whilst examining the positives and negatives for marriage and commitment. Students think about the decisions they will make in a relationship and how
they can be in control of those decisions. We end by providing students the opportunity to anonymously ask questions about relationships and sex to the team.
Other Material that we provide... Understanding Respect
This session is aimed at year 7 students and encourages them to consider the importance of respect in their friendship, family and romantic relationships as they make the transition from being a child to being a young person. “I think respect means treating people how you want to be treated.” Year 7 student
Resilience, Stress and Self Harm
This session explores the complex and difficult issues of Self Harm and Eating Disorders with young people helping them to understand how they can cope and deal with life’s challenges. The session promotes positive coping strategies for young people and equips them to support their friends who may be struggling with these issues. These issues are of growing concern and we believe that by talking openly but sensitively and carefully about them we can help young people to find safe and appropriate ways to deal with the things they are struggling with. “I’m like a balloon. Every bad thought, feeling and experience makes the balloon blow up and up and up. When I cut, it’s like I release a valve on that balloon and it deflates a little.”
Sexual Health and STI’s
This session can be incorporated into our wider relationships education programme or delivered as an additional session. It also works well as a recap session for year 10 reviewing their learning from year 9 before building on those key themes looking specifically at the consequences of sexual activity. During the lesson we explore the decision to become sexually active and promote delay. We will appropriately consider the consequences of sex, learn key information about common STI’s and give clear and helpful advice about accessing treatment options.
Connecting with the curriculum LUSH has been created in line with key PSHE outcomes at KS3 to contribute to the overall wellbeing of students taking part. Through engaging with the LUSH programme, students will acquire the following skills and knowledge: • • •
Recognise different influences and pressures that impact the choice to engage in sexual activity and learn strategies and skills to respond to these pressures appropriately. Critically reflect on long- and short-term consequences when making decisions about personal health and identify alternatives. Identify where to seek professional advice and find further information and support around sexual and emotional health.
Furthermore, it is our hope that through reflecting on the importance of healthy relationships students will: • • •
Gain a sense of their value as individuals and present themselves confidently in a range of situations. Be able to recognise exploitation and risk taking behaviours. Feel equipped & empowered to be in control of the decisions they make about their wellbeing, relationships and sexual activity and be able to support their friends who may be facing challenging issues in these subject areas. LUSH can also supply the school with some follow up material to be used by class tutors / teachers to support them as they to continue to work through the themes of LUSH with their students. These will help students to process what they learnt during the LUSH programme and enable tutors to follow up on some of the issues raised and engage the students in furthering their discussions around relationships.
Practicalities How many students can participate at any one time? Because of the interactive nature of the programme we feel that LUSH is most effective when delivered to a group of approximately 120 students. Depending on the number of students in the year group you may feel that it would be best to split the year group and run the programme twice. The LUSH team are more than happy to discuss the programme delivery options with you. What would the school need to provide? LUSH will provide all the technical equipment necessary, staging, backdrop and any props and resources needed. Due to the multimedia and technical requirements of the presentations, and the number of students experiencing the programme, LUSH needs to be delivered in a school hall or drama studio with 2 x 13amp sockets readily available in the room. Chairs are best laid out in loose rows so that students are able to turn into small groups of 4 to take part in some of the activities, tiered seating is not conducive to the programme’s delivery. Do staff need to participate in any way? During the event tutors / teachers are encouraged to participate and sit with their tutor / teaching groups in order to assist with small group discussions. We can provide a briefing document to the school in advance of our visit which can be distributed to all staff and tutors who will be involved in the day. This document gives staff information about what LUSH is and what it aims to achieve and what involvement is encouraged of them during the day. How much does LUSH cost? The LUSH programme is not offered free of charge however we are keen to offer a package that is affordable to your budget and suits your school’s curriculum. As such we would appreciate the opportunity to meet with your PSHE co-ordinator in person to discuss possibilities. The cost of the programme depends on the sessions you would like delivered, the format of those sessions and their time-tabling as this affects the number of visits we have to make to the school in order to deliver the programme. Please contact us for an example of prices and to discuss your situation with no obligation to make a booking.
Further information LUSH is delivered by members of the Swindon Youth for Christ team who have between them decades of schools and youth work experience. The team are passionate about the LUSH programme and working to ensure that all young people are given the opportunity to explore the foundations of building strong, healthy and positive relationships and equipped to make informed life choices.
How to book LUSH or find out more: Contact office@syfc.org.uk or visit our website either for more information or to arrange for the team to come and meet with you to discuss the programme further.
“LUSH was really a informative programme, the pupils were comfortable enough to share and fully engage with the discussions. A very positive project where all the pupils were reminded that they are unique and valuable.�
- Year 9 Teacher