Google Translate
Google Translate
The governors of Upham CE(A) Primary school have determined that we will teach relationships and sex education (RSE) as part of the school curriculum, alongside the statutory relationships and health education content, as set out by the DfE in ‘Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education’ DfE 2019. Aspects of relationships and sex education makes links to areas of the wider RSHE curriculum and also the science curriculum but the RSE content is distinct and separate.
Relationship and sex education (RSE) is lifelong learning about physical, moral and emotional development. It is about the understanding of the importance of loving and caring relationships. It is about the teaching of sex, sexuality and sexual health.
It involves learning about procreation, pregnancy and puberty and the emotional and relationship contexts of these stages. This learning is underpinned by learning such as understanding that boys and girls have different private parts. This sort of prior learning completed by young children is still part of RSE and the RSE curriculum (and the scope of this policy) encompasses the whole learning journey leading to understanding about sex itself.
Further information about our school Relationships, Sex and Health Policy and specifically the Relationships and Sex elements can be found detailed in our RSHE Policy (currently in a draft format during the final stages of approval):
Throughout the development of our school policy, parents have been consulted on content and how the curriculum is planned. In 2020, an initial consultation was undertaken when the DfE produced new guidance and content. Parents indicated that the very large majority (96%) wanted sex education to be taught. Parents supported the plan that younger children should start to learn about their bodies, lower key stage 2 children should start to explore the effects of growth on the body including hygiene and keeping clean. It was felt that puberty and sex education should only be delivered to upper KS2 children.
The overwhelming view throughout the questionnaire was that parents want to be kept well informed about what their children will be taught and when each aspect will be covered to ensure they can support their children at home.
Staff also contributed to stakeholder gathering. They felt some of the initial effects of puberty, such as the need to keep clean should be delivered in lower KS2. It was felt that sex education would be best delivered to just year 6, not to the whole Mixed Year 5/6 class, as had previously been Upham School policy. Here is a copy of the Stakeholder Summary report shared with governors:
The DfE have published detailed overviews of what the statutory relationships and health curriculum must include, follow the link below. These aspects are distinct from (though clearly related) to the RSE elements described previously which the governors of Upham School have determined.
Here are some other links to documents which you may be interested in. Some of these are produced by the Church of England and governors have formulated our policy with due regard for this guidance: