At Rivendell FHA we use SCARF through Coram Life Education to teach our pupils about relationships, health, wellbeing, and drugs.

SCARF is a comprehensive, fully resourced, progressive PSHE scheme of work for 3-11 year olds, high-quality, educator-led workshops for pupils and a host of free and low-cost staff training, truly supporting schools with a Whole-school approach to wellbeing and Mental Health. Our vision is for all children to acquire the life skills needed to thrive.

Alongside SCARF lessons, our teachers deliver fun, engaging and memorable PSHE Education workshops and assemblies for the pupils.  During these workshops, children meet Harold, the giraffe puppet (‘Healthy Harold’) and friends, have discussions and watch short films about healthy eating,  drugs –  legal and illegal –  and their effects, the body and how it works, friendships and their influence, and how choices and behaviours can affect children’s health and education outcomes.  Coram Life Education’s work includes challenging social norms – misperceptions of peers’ engagement with risky behaviour – to engender more positive behaviours. 

Coram Life Education helps schools fulfil their statutory requirements for Relationships and Health Education, children’s Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development, and Ofsted inspection criteria for personal development, behaviour and welfare. This includes Relationships and Sex Education (RSE).

Since September 2020, relationships education became a legal requirement; parts of sex education were already legal requirements before this time, within the National Curriculum. The design of the programme has taken into account the requirements of the statutory guidance, up-to-date best practice guidance, and the needs of our children.

The lessons content focuses on body changes and keeping safe. Your child will be exploring these themes through examining the following questions:

• How will my body and emotions change as I approach and move through puberty?

• Why are girls and boys bodies different?

• How do I feel about growing up and changing?

• Which parts of my body are private?

• What kind of physical contact is unacceptable and how should I respond?

• How can I say ‘no’ to someone and keep myself safe but without hurting their feelings?

• What are personal boundaries?

• Who can I talk to if I feel uncomfortable, or if someone isn’t respecting my personal boundaries?

• Who can I talk to if I want help and advice or am worried about someone else?

Appropriate questions that children might ask during the workshops will be answered honestly, factually and in the context of safe, supportive, loving, and caring relationships. Each pupil's privacy will be respected, and no one will be asked to reveal personal information. We will use a class question box where children can ask questions anonymously and securely. All resources that will be used have been reviewed by the school for their suitability, and tailored to suit our children’s needs.

There is sometimes concern that RSE in school might promote sexual experimentation or cause confusion about an individual’s sexuality. The research on quality RSE in the UK by the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles team over several years consistently shows that adults who reported that lessons at school were their main source of information about sex were more likely to have started having sex at a later age than those for whom parents or other sources were their main source.

We recognise that parents and carers play a vital part in their child’s RSE, and we encourage you to explore these questions with your child at home as well. You can find more information on the lesson content and coverage by visiting www.coramlifeeducation.org.uk/family-scarf/parents-and-schools-together

If further advice or support is required please do not hesitate to speak to your child’s class teacher or the Head teacher.

We Statutory guidance can be found here Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

You find out more information about the content and learning outcomes here: