The Department for Education have made changes to Relationships and Sex Education following nationwide consultation which came into effect from September 2020.
The ‘Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019’, made under sections 34 and 35 of the ‘Children and Social Work Act 2017’, make Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) compulsory for all students receiving secondary education. If you would like this information in another language, we have guidance from the department of education available in Somali, Urdu and Arabic. These are available to collect from reception.
MEA Central believes Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) forms an essential part of students, health and wellbeing and prepares students for adult life. It is an integral part of the curriculum and will be delivered through our Social, Capital and Cultural (SCC) lessons.
The stage of development and the experiences of any group of young people of the same age will be diverse and varied. The students in our school come from diverse backgrounds, expressing a spectrum of beliefs and values. This fact has clear implications for curriculum content, teaching approaches, and the creation of an appropriate learning environment based on the need to develop in young people respect for each other’s differences.
Department for Education Statutory Guidence 2019
RSE is lifelong learning about physical, sexual, moral and emotional development. It is about understanding the importance of stable and loving relationships, respect, love and care for family life. It involves acquiring information, developing skills and forming positive beliefs, values and attitudes.
RSE will support children and young people in managing puberty and adolescence and prepare them for an adult life in which they can:
Students will cover the following content in lessons from Summer two.
Year |
Relationships and Sex Education lesson content by year |
Year 7 |
L1 How can we form positive relationships? L2 What makes a good relationship and what are the signs of a bad relationship? L3 What is commitment and why do people commit? L4 Why do relationships come to an end? L5 What is menstruation? |
Year 8 |
L1 What does a healthy relationship look like? L2 How can we understand gender and sexuality? L3 What is puberty and reproduction? What are the responsibilities of parenthood? What are key parenting skills? L4 How can people adopt and foster? L5 What factors might affect fertility? |
Year 9 |
L1 What is peer pressure? L2 What are gangs and what is exploitation? L3 What is the ‘knife free’ campaign and how can I support it? L4 How can I stay safe online? L5 What is female genital mutilation (FGM)? |
Year 10 |
L1 How can we give and recognise consent? What is the law surrounding sexual consent? L2 What are different types of contraception? What are the risks of not using contraception? L3 What is sexual health? L4 What are the laws around sharing images online? L5 What is relationship abuse? |
Year 11 |
L1 How is sex portrayed in the media? L2 How to manage a breakup. L3 What is relationship abuse? L4 How to use social media safely (includes references to sexting). L5 What is forced marriage and honour-based violence? |
Parents/carers have the right to withdraw their child from the sex education aspects of the RSE curriculum under the following conditions specified by the RSE and Health Statutory Guidance (DFE 2019).
If you wish to withdraw your child please consult our draft policy linked above.