Overview
Relationships Education is compulsory in all primary schools in England, Relationships and Sex Education is compulsory in all secondary schools; Health Education is also compulsory in all state-funded schools.
Today’s children and young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and living their lives seamlessly on and offline. This presents many positive and exciting opportunities, but also challenges and risks. In this environment, children and young people need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way.
Secretary of State Foreword – RSHE Statutory Guidance
For governing boards, this means that we have to ensure that:
- all pupils make progress in achieving the expected educational outcomes;
- the subjects are well led, effectively managed and well planned;
- the quality of provision is subject to regular and effective self-evaluation;
- teaching is delivered in ways that are accessible to all pupils with SEND;
- clear information is provided for parents on the subject content and the right to that their child is withdrawn; and,
- the subjects are resourced, staffed and timetabled in a way that ensures that the school can fulfil its legal obligations.
Governance Conversation
On the 2nd February 2023 we held an online conversation on Online Safety, RSHE and Data Protection, Alice Ndiaye
RSHE-NGN-2023-presentation-versionEssential reading, key guidance and helpful websites
Statutory duties
When the word ‘must’ is used it means this is a statutory requirement, when the word ‘should’ is used, governing boards (proprietor for academies and independent schools) ‘must’ have regard for statutory guidance. The current government guidance for RSHE is Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education.
Statutory Policy for RSHE
Schools must have in place a written policy for Relationships Education and RSE, the development and review of this policy must be in consultation with parents.
Policies are likely to include sections covering:
- details of content and scheme of work and when each topic is taught, taking account of the age of pupils
- who delivers either Relationships Education or RSE
- how the policy has been produced, and how it will be kept under review, in both cases working with parents
- how delivery of the content will be made accessible to all pupils, including those with SEND
- explanation of the right to withdraw
- requirements on schools in law, such as The Equality Act 2010: advice for schools
- how often the policy is updated
- who approves the policy
In secondary schools, RSE will often address aspects of relationships and sex education in an integrated way within a single topic. Schools should develop programmes of teaching which prioritise effective delivery of the content, and do not need artificially to separate sex education and Relationships Education.
The policy should also reflect the views of teachers and pupils. Listening and responding to the views of young people will strengthen the policy, ensuring that it meets the needs of all pupils.
RSHE Governor Monitoring Tool
Final word
Ensuring that there is a whole school culture of effective implementation of statutory RSHE supports the children and young people in your school. This area of personal development is of significant importance to allow children to grow up knowing how to stay safe, healthy and how to manage their lives, friendships and relationships and also what to do when things happen.
When we consider our school vision and ask:
RSHE and the wider PSHE (Personal, Social, Health & Economic) education help to deliver this, it is important to remember that there are key overlaps, particularly safeguarding and online safety.
RSHE is statutory and getting it right means that children and young people learn about the following areas of safeguarding including:
- healthy and respectful relationships
- boundaries and consent
- stereotyping, prejudice and equality
- body confidence and self-esteem
- how to recognise an abusive relationship, including coercive and controlling behaviour
- the concepts of, and laws relating to – sexual consent, sexual exploitation, abuse, grooming, coercion, harassment, rape, domestic abuse, so called ‘honour’-based violence such as forced marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and how to access support, and
- what constitutes sexual harassment and sexual violence and why these are always unacceptable.
Opportunities to teach safeguarding – Keeping children safe in education – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The reality of why an effective RSHE curriculum is needed, alongside robust safeguarding can be summarised by the Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
This rapid thematic review has revealed how prevalent sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are for children and young people. It is concerning that for some children, incidents are so commonplace that they see no point in reporting them. This review did not analyse whether the issue is more or less prevalent for different groups of young people, and there may well be differences, but it found that the issue is so widespread that it needs addressing for all children and young people. It recommends that schools, colleges and multi-agency partners act as though sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are happening, even when there are no specific reports.
