Relationship with Sex Education Overview

At Phoenix we believe in ensuring our children understand about healthy relationships with friends and family, developing a good comprehension of what healthy future relationships can look like. We work hard to ensure all our children learn how to be healthy and safe in their lives and choices they make; this includes recognising and forming positive life sustaining relationships with others both in the real and virtual world.

Please read this information carefully as it contains curriculum coverage for the teaching of Relationships Education, Health Education and Sex Education

From September 2020, Relationships and Health Education became compulsory in all primary schools and parents/carers do not have the right to withdraw their children from these subjects. We believe that this work is an important part of safeguarding children as knowledge empowers them, helps them to stay safe and cope with puberty by understanding why their bodies will change.

At Phoenix Community Primary School, we define ‘sex education’ to mean ‘human reproduction’. This is in line with the Jigsaw scheme that we use. Parents do have the right to withdraw their child from particular lessons which include human reproduction. These are outlined in red below and feature only in Y4/Y5/Y6. If you do wish to withdraw your child from the human reproduction parts in Y4/5/6, please complete a withdrawal form available from the school office. Withdrawal requests can only be approved by the Head Teacher.

Why is this RSHE curriculum needed?

There are four main aims for teaching RSE within the context of Primary School PSHE (Personal, Social, Health Education):

• More than ever before, children are exposed to representations of sex and sexuality through the social culture around them. The unregulated content on the internet or social media, can mean children may be exposed to dangerous, confusing or scary content. We can prepare them for this by presenting a balanced view of positive healthy relationships to help them to be discerning and to stay safe.

• There is much independent research showing most parents and carers value the support of schools in providing Relationship and Sex Education for their children. Parents and schools want children to be safe and happy.

• A range of independent research consistently shows that effective Relationship Education delays first sexual experience and reduces risk-taking in young people.

• Surveys of children and young people, as well as Ofsted, have repeatedly said that Relationship and Sex Education tends to be “too little, too late and too biological”. This is one of the many reasons why the Department for Education has made Relationships and Health Education compulsory in primary schools from September 2020, with an emphasis on Relationships Education.

If you do have a concern, we would ask you to refer this directly to your child’s class teacher in the first instance and prior to making a withdrawal request, who will always be happy to support. You can contact your child’s class teacher by sending an email to the class’ email address.

What will my child actually be taught about puberty and human reproduction?

The Jigsaw unit ‘Changing Me’ is taught over a period of 6 weeks in Summer Term 2. Each year group will be taught appropriate to their age and developmental stage. If a question arises and the teacher feels it would be inappropriate to answer, the child will be encouraged to ask his/her parents/carers at home. The question will not be answered to the child or class if it is outside the remit of that year group’s lesson.