Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) is a lifelong process of acquiring knowledge and understanding and of developing attitudes, beliefs and values about sexual identity, relationships and intimacy.
This education is delivered consciously and unconsciously by parents, teachers, peers, adults and the media.
On 1 March 2017, the Education Secretary announced that Relationships and Sex Education rather than Sex and Relationships Education will become a statutory subject by September 2019.
The Primary RSE curriculum focuses on building healthy relationships and staying safe, which must be taught within an age appropriate context.
The main themes will include:
- Different types of relationships, including friendships, family relationships, dealing with strangers and, at secondary school, intimate relationships;
- How to recognise, understand and build healthy relationships, including self-respect and respect for others, commitment, tolerance, boundaries and consent, and how to manage conflict, and how to recognise unhealthy relationships;
- How relationships may affect health and wellbeing, including mental health;
- Developing healthy relationships and safety online;
- At secondary school, as children get older, they will then start to develop their understanding of healthy adult relationships in more depth, with sex education delivered within this context.
- Factual knowledge, at secondary school, around sex, sexual health and sexuality, set firmly within the context of relationships
Parents will still have the right to withdraw their child from sex education other than the sex education that is within the National Curriculum (i.e. biological aspects of human growth and reproduction that are essential elements of National Curriculum Science).
At New Chapter, RSE is not taught in isolation. We already provide structured opportunities for pupils to acquire the above age appropriate knowledge and understanding of human relationships and sexuality via our integrated PHSE and creative curriculum (see overview below). This approach gives opportunities for pupils to learn about relationships and sexuality in ways that help them think and act in a moral, caring and responsible manner.
RSE contributes to the promotion of the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at school and in society; preparing them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life. Pupils will develop a greater understanding of their life choice issues, we do this with regard to matters of morality and individual responsibility, and in a way, that allows children to ask and explore moral questions.
It is important that parents are aware of the areas we will be covering as we encourage all children to come home and ask questions to secure their understanding and build a trusting and comfortable relationship between themselves and their parents.
Key Stage 1
Curriculum Outline:
- Work and play in cooperation with each other;
- Recognise other people in the community that have roles and responsibilities and people who help us;
- Understand the need to take care of myself;
- Understand the need to take care of my personal belongings;
- Recognise what they like/dislike, what is fair/unfair, what is right/wrong;
- Be aware of different parts of their bodies, responding to physical contact and indicating approval and disapproval;
- Recognise the main differences between people i.e. girls/boys;
- Maximise independence to complete simple personal care routines;
- Understand that some personal care routines are done in private;
- To recognise, name & deal with their feelings in a positive way.
Core Theme 1: Health And Wellbeing
Key Themes:
- What is meant by a healthy lifestyle;
- How to maintain physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing;
- How to manage risks to physical and emotional health and wellbeing;
- Ways of keeping physically and emotionally safe;
- About managing change, including puberty, transition and loss;
- How to make informed choices about health and wellbeing and to recognise sources of help with this;
- How to respond in an emergency;
- How to identify different influences on health and wellbeing.
Pupils have the opportunity to learn:
- What constitutes a healthy lifestyle including the benefits of physical activity, rest, healthy eating and dental health;
- to recognise what they like and dislike, how to make real, informed choices that improve their physical and emotional health, to recognise that choices can have good and not so good consequences;
- To think about themselves, to learn from their experiences, to recognise and celebrate their strengths and set simple but challenging goals;
- About good and not so good feelings; developing a vocabulary to describe their feelings to others and simple strategies for managing feelings;
- About change and loss and the associated feelings (including moving home, losing toys, pets or friends);
- The importance of and how to maintain personal hygiene;
- How some diseases are spread and can be controlled and the responsibilities they have for their own health and that of others;
- About the process of growing from young to old and how people’s needs change;
- About growing and changing and new opportunities and responsibilities that increasing independence may bring;
- The names for the main parts of the body (including external genitalia) the similarities and differences between boys and girls;
- That household products, including medicines, can be harmful if not used properly;
- Rules for and ways of keeping physically and emotionally safe (including safety online, the responsible use of ICT, the difference between secrets and surprises and understanding not to keep adults’ secrets; road safety, cycle safety and safety in the environment (including firework, road, water and fire safety);
- About people who look after them, their family networks, who to go to if they are worried and how to attract their attention, ways that pupils can help these people to look after them;
- To recognise that they share a responsibility for keeping themselves and others safe, when to say, ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘I’ll ask’ and ‘I’ll tell’.
Core Theme 2: Relationships
Key Themes:
- How to develop and maintain a variety of healthy relationships, within a range of social/cultural contexts;
- How to recognise and manage emotions within a range of relationships;
- How to recognise risky or negative relationships including all forms of bullying and abuse;
- How to respond to risky or negative relationships and ask for help;
- How to respect equality and diversity in relationships.
Pupils have the opportunity to learn:
- To communicate their feelings to others, to recognise how others show feelings and how to respond;
- To think about the importance of relationships they have with members of the family and other people;
- To consider the ways in which others care for them;
- To reflect upon different types of love for family, friends, pets, places and possessions;
- To recognise how their behaviour affects other people;
- The difference between secrets and surprises and the importance of not keeping adults’ secrets, only surprises;
- To recognise what is fair and unfair, kind and unkind, what is right and wrong;
- To share their opinions on things that matter to them and explain their views through discussions with one other person and the whole class;
- To listen to other people and play and work cooperatively (including strategies to resolve simple arguments through negotiation);
- To offer constructive support and feedback to others;
- To identify and respect the differences and similarities between people;
- To identify their special people (family, friends, carers), what makes them special and how special people should care for one another;
- To judge what kind of physical contact is acceptable, comfortable, unacceptable and uncomfortable and how to respond (including who to tell and how to tell them);
- That people’s bodies and feelings can be hurt (including what makes them feel comfortable and uncomfortable);
- To recognise when people are being unkind either to them or others, how to respond, who to tell and what to say;
- That there are different types of teasing and bullying, that these are wrong and unacceptable;
- How to resist teasing or bullying, if they experience or witness it, whom to go to and how to get help.
Key Stage 2
Key Themes:
- Knowing how I am changing;
- Being aware of physical changes to their bodies;
- Being aware of who is allowed to help take care of me;
- Being aware of internal body changes;
- Being aware of changing feelings and emotions;
- Respecting privacy;
- Taking responsibility for personal care routines;
- Taking responsibility for their behaviours towards others;
- Respect the wishes and privacy of others;
- What are your rights, responsibilities and choices in life;
- Making a choice given a range of options;
- Recognising you may need some help with some choices;
- Being aware that some choices may affect others safety in the community;
- Recognising places they feel safe in;
- Recognising the importance of keeping their immediate environment safe.
Core Theme 1: Health And Wellbeing - Suggested Programme Of Study For Health And Wellbeing
Building on key stage 1, pupils should have the opportunity to learn:
- What positively and negatively affects their physical, mental and emotional health (including the media);
- How to manage risks to physical and emotional health and wellbeing;
- How to make informed choices (including recognising that choices can have positive, neutral and negative consequences) and to begin to understand the concept of a ‘balanced and helathy lifestyle’;
- To recognise opportunities to make their own choices about food, what might influence their choices and the benefits of eating a balanced diet;
- To reflect on and celebrate their achievements, identify their strengths, areas for improvement, set high aspirations and goals;
- To deepen their understanding of good and not so good feelings, to extend their vocabulary to enable them to explain both the range and intensity of their feelings to others;
- To recognise that they may experience conflicting emotions and when they might need to listen to their emotions or overcome them;
- About change, including transitions (between key stages and schools), loss, separation, divorce and bereavement;
- To differentiate between the terms, ‘risk’, ‘danger’ and ‘hazard’;
- To deepen their understanding of risk by recognising, predicting and assessing risks in different situations and deciding how to manage them responsibly (including sensible road use and risks in their local environment) and to use this as an opportunity to build resilience;
- How to respond in an emergency;
- To recognise their increasing independence brings increased responsibility to keep themselves and others safe;
- Understand that bacteria and viruses can affect health and that following simple routines can reduce their spread;
- That pressure to behave in an unacceptable, unhealthy or risky way can come from a variety of sources, including people they know and the media;
- To recognise when and how to ask for help and use basic techniques for resisting pressure to do something dangerous, unhealthy, that makes them uncomfortable, anxious or that they believe to be wrong;
- School rules about health and safety, basic emergency aid procedures, where and how to get help;
- What is meant by the term ‘habit’ and why habits can be hard to change;
- Which, why and how, commonly available substances and drugs (including alcohol and tobacco) could damage their immediate and future health and safety, that some are legal, some are restricted and some are illegal to own, use and supply to others;
- How their body will change as they approach and move through puberty;
- To recognise how images in the media do not always reflect reality and can affect how people feel about themselves;
- About human reproduction including conception (and that this can be prevented);
- Strategies for keeping physically and emotionally safe including road safety, safety in the environment and safety online (including social media, the responsible use of ICT and mobile phones);
- The importance of protecting personal information, including passwords, addresses and images;
- About people who are responsible for helping them stay healthy and safe and ways that they can help these people.
Core Theme 2: Relationships
Key Themes:
- How to develop and maintain a variety of healthy relationships, within a range of social/cultural contexts;
- How to recognise and manage emotions within a range of relationships;
- How to recognise risky or negative relationships including all forms of bullying and abuse;
- How to respond to risky or negative relationships and ask for help;
- How to respect equality and diversity in relationships.
Building on Key Stage 1, pupils should have the opportunity to learn:
- To recognize and respond appropriately to a wider range of feelings in others;
- To recognise what constitutes a positive, healthy relationship;
- To develop the skills to develop and maintain positive and healthy relationships;
- To be aware of different types of relationship, including those between friends and families civil partnerships and marriage;
- To be aware that their actions affect themselves and others;
- To judge what kind of physical contact is acceptable or unacceptable and how to respond the concept of ‘keeping something confidential or secret’, when we should or should not agree to this and when it is right to ‘break a confidence’ or ‘share a secret’;
- To listen and respond respectfully to a wide range of people, to feel confident to raise their own concerns, to recognise and care about other people's feelings and to try to see, respect and if necessary constructively challenge their points of view;
- To work collaboratively towards shared goals;
- To develop strategies to resolve disputes and conflict through negotiation and appropriate compromise and to give rich and constructive feedback and support to benefit others as well as themselves;
- That differences and similarities between people arise from a number of factors, including family, cultural, ethnic, racial and religious diversity, age, sex, sexual orientation, and disability (see ‘protected characteristics’ in the Equality Act 2010);
- To realise the nature and consequences of discrimination, teasing, bullying and aggressive behaviours (including cyber bullying, use of prejudice-based language, and towards all minority groups (including gay lesbian, bisexual and transsexual and those suffering from poor mental health), and how to respond to them and ask for help;
- To recognise and manage ‘dares’;
- To recognise and challenge stereotypes.
Sex Education
This usually takes place in the Summer term of Year 6. Parents will be informed of the date and will be invited in to view the literature and video used and will have the opportunity to discuss any issues with those who will be delivering the session. This is usually presented by trained professionals i.e school nursing service. Parents will also be given the opportunity to remove their children from the session.
- To recognise change is a part of growing up including changes to our bodies / feelings / emotions;
- Understand that reproduction is a natural process;
- Understand the life cycle in both animals and humans;
- Explore the physical and emotional changes that take place during puberty;
- Use biological terminology to describe sexual development in puberty;
- Have a basic understanding of the menstrual cycle (periods);
- Understand the basic process of fertilisation and how pregnancy occurs;
- Understand the health of the mother and her unborn baby are closely linked;
- Understand how a baby is born;
- Understand they inherit features from their parents.
