RSE is an important part of PSHE education and relationships education is a compulsory part of the curriculum for all primary pupils. RSE is taught within the personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education curriculum. Biological aspects of RSE are taught within the Science and PSHE curriculum.

From September 2020, Relationships and Health Education are compulsory in all primary schools in England. For primary aged children this includes curriculum content under two headings:

Relationships Education:

Relationships Education is designed to help children to have positive and safe relationships with family, friends and online.  All primary schools are required by the government to teach Relationships Education and parents cannot withdraw children from this section of the curriculum.  The areas this section of the curriculum cover are:

• Families and people who care for me
• Caring Friendships
• Respectful Relationships
• Online Relationships
• Being Safe

Health Education:

Health Education will help children to make good decisions about their health and wellbeing and enable them to know how to seek support if any health issues arise for themselves or others.  The areas it will cover are:

• Mental wellbeing
• Internet safety and harms
• Physical health and fitness
• Healthy eating
• Drugs, alcohol and tobacco
• Health and prevention
• Basic first aid
• The changing adolescent body

The DfE guidance clearly states the statutory requirements, i.e. what children MUST be taught by the end of primary school. Health Education includes learning about ‘the changing adolescent body’ to equip children to understand and cope with puberty. The National Curriculum for Science (also a compulsory subject), includes learning the correct names for the main external body parts, learning about the human body as it grows from birth to old age and reproduction in some plants and animals (which could include human beings). So, Relationships Education, Health Education and Science are compulsory subjects and parents/carers do NOT have the right to withdraw their children from these subjects. 

Sex Education

Sex Education is designed to help children to:

• Understand and respect their bodies
  • Develop positive and healthy relationships appropriate to their age and development
  • Support children to have positive self-esteem and body image
  • Empower them to be safe and safeguarded.

Parents at St Faith's are aware of the content and are invited to year group meetings to discuss lesson content and resources used in lessons. This usually answers any questions parents may have.

Parents do have the right to request their child is withdrawn from these specific lessons. If you wish to discuss these lessons further, please contact Mrs De Silva and she will be happy to meet with you.

At St Faith's, we have been delivering RSE within our Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) curriculum for many years.  We have reviewed our PSHE curriculum to make sure that our lessons meet the requirements that the government has set out for the content of Relationships and Health Education.  The DfE recommends, ‘that all primary schools should have a Sex Education programme tailored to the age and the physical and emotional maturity of the pupils.’  At St Faith's this is taught through Jigsaw and The Christopher Winters programme of study, which is covered during the summer term.