The Updated DfE RSHE Statutory Guidance 2026 – How Handsam Can Help

The updated DfE RSHE (Relationships and sex education and health education) Statutory Guidance will come into effect from 1st September 2026 and significantly increases the expectations on schools to educate pupils of all ages in various aspects of safety, including personal safety, health, hygiene, well-being, healthy eating, water safety and first aid, amongst others.

Water Safety

Handsam have partnered with Swim England to provide a wide range of their excellent resources within our Handsam Quick Guides Library. These can be accessed now by using the tag ‘Swimming’, ‘Swim England’ or ‘RSHE’ and provide an excellent resource to compliment their full range of online videos which can be accessed here: https://www.swimming.org/schools/resource-pack/

First Aid training for primary age pupils

In order to assist clients in delivering the requirements of Handsam are also delighted to announce that we are now able to provide a day’s worth of 40-60 minute training for primary age pupils as ‘Mini Medics’ to meet the requirement regarding Basic First Aid in the Primary health and wellbeing section of the guidance on page 24.

These sessions will be delivered by an expert first aid trainer, who regularly works in schools with primary aged children and with their staff, and will cover everything from what first aid is and why I might need it through to dealing with common injuries including head injuries, managing allergies, CPR, the use of defibrillators and calling the emergency services.

As we anticipate high demand for this please book early to avoid disappointment! Contact our support team via info@handsam.co.uk to request a quotation.

See the full guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education

Please note within the guidance there are specific sections for primary and secondary.

New Guidance

The new guidance encourages schools to develop their RSHE curriculum as part of a whole-school approach to wellbeing and positive relationships. This means linking RSHE to wider school policies — including behaviour and safeguarding — so that everything works together to create a supportive environment.

As part of preparing for delivery from the start of the Autumn term your RSHE policy will need to be updated to reflect the new guidance. Handsam Ltd have seen that many schools have these policies on a 2 or 3-year review cycle so please ensure yours does not become non-compliant by failing to update it this summer.

In order to assist you in preparing for the new guidance, Handsam Ltd can help you deliver these requirements in several ways: