​PSHE or personal, social and health education is taught once a week at St. Mark’s at KS3 and makes for a very interesting and enriching experience for the students. It is time away from the rest of the curriculum which is formally assessed. Time to discuss issues that do not always come up in other curriculum areas but are an important part of current affairs and, in turn, the students’ lives. The curriculum is rich and the topics are varied. In Year 7 the pupils will learn about topics including, bullying and politics; in Year 8 topics include, feelings and emotions and drugs and alcohol; in Year 9 the topics range from gangs and crime to FGM.

We do not formally assess PSHE but we mark pupils’ books to develop literacy.