Dear parents,
Next week, we will be delivering our Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) Curriculum as part of the statutory National Curriculum. Your child/children will be taught all aspects of the RSE Curriculum. This includes developing healthy relationships, staying safe, knowing how to look after their mental health and wellbeing, understanding the natural changes to bodies and naming of body parts. We believe that this biological approach needs to be balanced with an emphasis on relationships, feelings, and values. We are focused on ensuring our children know how to keep themselves safe and healthy and develop confidence and self-esteem to ensure they are not vulnerable or exploited in any way.
As previous years, we are delivering Shropshire Respect Yourself: Sex Education programme. This programme has been nationally recognised, is informed by good practice guidance and has received the quality Kitemark from the Personal, Social Health Education Association (PSHE). It includes the transition programme for Year 6, which ensures continuity and age-appropriate progression with the Shropshire secondary programme.
As part of our planning for the delivery of this programme we have ensured that there is consistency with our school’s ethos and related policies, such as safeguarding, equalities and bullying.
The programme will be delivered by classroom teachers and supported by teaching assistants. There will be opportunities for children to work in mixed and single gender groups and exercises will be adapted to take into account different levels of maturity and ability. We encourage pupils to ask questions, seek further information and complete activities at home. We see this work as a partnership between school and home.
I also write to inform you that you do have the right to remove your child from the sexual education section of the learning as this is non-statutory until Year 7. However, I must reiterate that this award-winning scheme is nationally recognised in the delivery of sex education. We feel that that there is a risk that children may learn this information incorrectly from others or from the internet which could cause great misunderstanding and problems in the future.
Please feel free to contact your class teacher or myself if you have any questions about the content we will be covering.
The topics we will be covering in each year as well as the vocabulary we will be learning is outlined in the document below.
Many thanks,
Mr Lowrie-Herz