From September 2020 all primary schools were required to have Relationships Education in place and a Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) policy.
We have an obligation to teach children from Year 1 to Year 6 about aspects of RSE and I feel it is important that as a school we are clear about what that entails. The mention of the words, ‘Sex education’ can create unnecessary anxiety for parents and carers and I want to reassure you that the focus of much RSE in primary school is broader than you might think, focussing more so on the Relationships rather than the Sex aspect.
We have adopted the JIGSAW scheme of work in order fulfil this statutory requirement. The JIGSAW scheme covers issues such as building self-esteem, recognising feelings and emotions, healthy friendships, differences and similarities between girls and boys and challenging stereotypes, rights & responsibilities and growing and changing.
Throughout the year, we cover different aspects of the JIGSAW curriculum through six broad topics:
- Being me in my World, Celebrating Difference (autumn term)
- Dreams & Goals, Healthy Me (spring term)
- Relationships and Changing Me (summer term).
A focus on Relationships is covered within each topic, with the ‘Changing Me’ topic covering most of the Sex Education aspects.
As a school, we feel confident that the content is designed to be both relevant and appropriate for the primary age group. However, parent and carers do have the right to request your child is removed from parts of the sex education programme. It is important to clarify that withdrawal of your child would only be considered for content that is not part of the statutory curriculum in Years 4, 5 and 6.
Our RSHE Policy can be found at the following link.
Overviews of what each class covers can be found below:
Here are two leaflets with further information for families.