What is Jigsaw? 

At SMPS we follow the Jigsaw PSHE Scheme of Work.  Jigsaw PSHE is a comprehensive and completely original Scheme of Work for the whole Primary School from Early Years through to Year 6.  It brings together PSHE Education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development in a comprehensive scheme of learning. 

SMSC (Spiritual, Moral Social and Cultural) development opportunities are mapped throughout.  All of these pieces of learning are brought together to form a cohesive picture, helping children to know and value who they are and understand how they relate to other people in the world.

Jigsaw PSHE is designed as a whole school approach, with all year groups working on the same theme (Puzzle) at the same time. 

How does Jigsaw PSHE work?

Each year group has a Jigsaw character with its distinctive colour and a chime bar to encouragement calmness.

Each Piece (lesson) has two Learning Intentions: one is based on specific PSHE learning and one is based on developing emotional literacy and social skills. Jigsaw is relevant to children living in today’s world as it helps them understand and be equipped to cope with issues like body image, cyber and homophobic bullying, and internet safety.

What is a mindful approach?

How would children benefit if they could be aware of their thoughts and feelings as they happen, in the present moment, on purpose with no judgement? This is what mindfulness means. It can be learnt, and techniques to develop it taught. It also needs to be practised.

We believe mindfulness is a vital tool for life, not only does it support the regulation of emotion and build emotional resilience but also enhances focus and concentration; both helping to optimise learning.

Mindful children can more readily choose their responses to situations rather than react while caught up in the thought-flows and emotions.

In Jigsaw PSHE, mindfulness is developed through the ‘Calm Me’ time in each piece (lesson). This consists of breathing techniques, awareness exercises, visualizations etc, all tried, tested and very enjoyable activities for children and teachers alike.

The 6 Puzzles:

Autumn 1: Being Me in My World 

Includes developing the understanding of rights and responsibilities

Autumn 2: Celebrating Difference

Includes anti-bullying (cyber and homophobic bullying included) and diversity work

Spring 1: Dreams and Goals

Includes goal-setting, aspirations, working together to design and organise fund-raising events

Spring 2: Healthy Me

Includes drugs and alcohol education, self-esteem and confidence as well as healthy lifestyle choices

Summer 1: Relationships

Includes understanding friendship, family and other relationships, conflict resolution and communication skills

Summer 2: Changing Me 

Includes growth and change, life cycles including human reproduction, respecting our bodies and sex education

E-Safety

Through our PSHE and Computing learning, we prepare our children to stay safe online. e-Safety is taught to all pupils explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online. Through these lessons, we explore how to stay vigilant when communicating online, the importance of privacy and being careful when sharing information, the reliability of information from web-based sources, the impact of cyber-bullying and how to behave appropriately online, and who to talk to if something is upsetting them. At South Milford Primary School we follow the SMART rules:

We also explore e-safety when we get involved in the annual Safer Internet Day. This is an important day to raise awareness of some of the issues linking to e-safety and for every class to participate in some activities and discussions around how we can stay safe online.  

Digital Leaders

To spread the word about e-safety and the importance of staying safe online, we have recruited and trained a group of Digital Leaders in school. These children will help to inspire the safe, positive and creative use of technology in our school.