In The Redstart Learning partnership (TRLP) we are committed to promoting a safe and healthy lifestyle for our pupils, teaching the skills and knowledge needed to lead happy, healthy lives that are built on the foundations of strong and successful relationships.
Relationships and Sex Education is not regarded as a subject in its own right, but it is part of a carefully planned element in our PSHE curriculum and has strong links with the Science and RE curriculums. We believe that effective Relationships and Sex Education needs to be taught in an atmosphere of trust, responsibility and respect where sensitive issues can be discussed without embarrassment or threat. Our Trust values of Integrity, courage, perseverance, responsibility, respect and tolerance help us to ensure we create such an environment.
The aims of Personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) which includes Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) at our school are to:
As a primary academy school we must provide relationships education to all pupils as per section 34 of the Children and Social work act 2017.
We do not have to follow the National Curriculum but we are expected to offer all pupils a curriculum that is similar to the National Curriculum including requirements to teach science which would include the elements of sex education contained in the science curriculum.
In teaching RSE, we are required by our funding agreements to have regard to guidance issued by the secretary of state as outlined in section 403 of the Education Act 1996.
In TRLP we teach RSE as set out in this policy.
This policy has been developed in consultation with staff, pupils and parents. The consultation and policy development process involved the following steps:
Review – a member of staff or working group pulled together all relevant information including relevant national and local guidance
Staff consultation – all school staff were given the opportunity to look at the policy and make recommendations
Parent/Carer consultation – parents and carers are invited to look at and comment on the planned delivery along with the skills and content overviews. Their views will be taken into consideration.
Pupil consultation – we investigated what exactly pupils want/need from their RSE through an activity with a range of children across Years 2-6.
Ratification – once amendments were made, the policy was shared with the Teaching and Learning Committee and ratified
In TRLP, RSE is learning about the characteristics of positive relationships, with particular reference to friendships, family relationships, and relationships with other peers and adults. As well as this, it is about the emotional, social and physical aspects of growing up, about how a baby is conceived and about safeguarding.
We provide RSE within our PSHE education which is taught by class teachers through a spiral programme from Reception to Year 6 based on the SCARF PSHE scheme of work. Biological aspects of RSE are taught within the science curriculum, and other aspects are included in religious education (RE).
Developed by teachers and centred on a values-based and ‘Growth Mindset’ approach, SCARF promotes positive behaviour, mental health, wellbeing, resilience and achievement. It gradually expands and enriches key concepts, increases knowledge, deepens understanding, and rehearses and develops key skills through the themes of ‘Me and My Relationships, ‘Valuing Difference’, ‘Keeping Myself Safe’, ‘Rights and Responsibilities ‘Being my Best’ and ‘Growing and Changing’. The curriculum has been developed to take into account the age, needs and feelings of our pupils.
Relationships education focuses on teaching the fundamental building blocks and characteristics of positive relationships including:
More information about our curriculum is available on request
If pupils ask questions outside the scope of this policy, teachers will respond in an appropriate manner so they are fully informed and don’t seek answers online.
These areas of learning are taught within the context of family life taking care to ensure that there is no stigmatisation of children based on their home circumstances (families can include single parent families, LGBT parents, families headed by grandparents, adoptive parents, foster parents/carers amongst other structures) along with reflecting sensitively that some children may have a different structure of support around them (for example: looked after children or young carers).
Establishing a safe, open and positive learning environment based on trusting relationships between all members of the class, adults and children alike, is vital to successful and effective teaching and learning within this subject. Each class will establish ground rules based on the following:
The Teaching and Learning Committee will approve the RSE policy, and hold the Head of School to account for its implementation.
The Head of School is responsible for ensuring that PSHE and RSE is taught consistently across the school, and for managing requests to withdraw pupils from non-statutory/non-science components of RSE (see section 8).
Class teachers are responsible for:
Pupils are expected to engage fully in RSE and, when discussing issues related to RSE, treat others with respect and sensitivity.
Parents do not have the right to withdraw their children from relationships education.
Parents have the right to withdraw their children from the non-statutory/non-science components of sex education within RSE. We interpret sex education to mean puberty, conception, reproduction and birth. All of these themes, with the exception of conception, are statutory and are included in either Health Education or National Curriculum: Science.
The statutory guidance states that sex education should ensure children know how a baby is conceived. We interpret ‘how a baby is conceived’ as referring to what happens during sexual intercourse before an egg and sperm meet (reproduction). We therefore include sexual intercourse as well as IVF in our Year 6 Making Babies lesson.
Requests for withdrawal should be put in writing using the form found in Appendix 1 of this policy and addressed to the headteacher.
Alternative work will be given to pupils who are withdrawn from sex education.
Staff are supported in the delivery of the RSE curriculum and it is included in our continuing professional development calendar.
The headteacher will also invite visitors from outside the school, such as school nurses or sexual health professionals, to provide support and training to staff teaching RSE.
The delivery of RSE is monitored by the headteacher, through learning walks and pupil panels.
Pupils’ development in RSE is monitored by class teachers as part of our internal assessment systems.
This policy will be reviewed by the headteacher every two years. At every review, the policy will be approved by the Core Group.
| TO BE COMPLETED BY PARENTS | |||
| Name of child | Class | ||
| Name of parent | Date | ||
| Reason for withdrawing from sex education within relationships and sex education | |||
| Any other information you would like the school to consider | |||
| Parent signature | |||
