Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Catholic school experience

48 replies

HolyMotherFuckers · 13/02/2018 17:38

I’m 21, and attended catholic primary and secondary schools. So I finished year 11 in 2012. Admittedly, not at all that long ago really.

But being on mumsnet has made me realise how little I am aware of my own body. And I think it’s because I went to catholic school. Maybe some things you just learn as you go along, but I don’t really know anything about the ins and outs of ovulation (is that even the same thing as a period. I think so). I couldn’t name all the parts of the vagina, couldn’t tell you about pregnancy or giving birth and the logistics of it. Didn’t even know about after birth until I watched Call the midwife.

In this day and age it’s not really acceptable is it? We can’t keep not discussing human biology because the church things sex, periods and the female body is too taboo to discuss in biology

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 13/02/2018 17:42

Well at least you have Google now.

I went to Catholic primary and senior school during a time where you'd have to walk a long way to the library and trawl through an encyclopedia (70s/80s)

What bothered me more, was that we learned very little about other religions.

Hopefully that's changed now.

toffee1000 · 13/02/2018 17:43

No, ovulation and period are not the same thing.

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/menstrualcycle/Pages/Whatisthemenstrualcycle.aspx

That’s an appalling education to not know even the basics! Given that the Catholic Church traditionally teaches that women should have as many children as possible, you’d think they’d at least tell you the absolute minimum.
Faith education has no place in modern society. If it’s illegal to discriminate on the grounds of religion when selecting an employee, why is it fine to discriminate when it comes to schools?? Totally wrong IMO.

dantdmistedious · 13/02/2018 17:45

Well I went to a catholic convent school, left in 1997 and learnt al those things in Biology and PHSE. Unless you went to a non curriculum following school I'm surprised you didn't learn any of that.

Pyjamaface · 13/02/2018 17:47

I attended a catholic high school, left in 96 and we had good biology lessons. Ovulation, periods, pregnancy, sex etc were all covered.
It was all from a scientific viewpoint but it was all taught

confusednotcom2 · 13/02/2018 17:47

I went to catholic schools in London, was taught about my bits, contraceptives & visited mosques, temples & synagogues.

iamafraidofvirginiawolves3cats · 13/02/2018 17:48

Nothing to do with the religion of the school but the conservative Sex Ed curriculum in this country. Very few schools, if any, teach this!

I think parents have a responsibility to fill in some of these gaps- my son is sick of me going on about how many ‘ holes’ women have after reading on MN that lots of men and some women’s have no idea!

Original poster
HolyMotherFuckers · 13/02/2018 17:49

Geuinely didn’t. I took my biology GCSE In 2012. I was never taught about any of it. I actually remember watching a video of a woman giving birth in year 7 (2007) but I don’t remember anything else so maybe I was taught it then but I was too young for it to stick as I don’t remember.

OP posts:
MerrilyWatkins · 13/02/2018 17:50

I also went to a Catholic Convent; left in 1989. I learned all those things. My daughters attend a Catholic school and I have been really impressed with the wide range of PSHE they have studied.

PatheticNamechange · 13/02/2018 17:51

I went catholic schools - primary and secondary. Learned about periods in 4th yr juniors, but had 2 older sisters and a very approachable mum for any questions I needed answering like that.

Fwiw, I don't think my friends in non faith schools were told all this either. I left high school in 94

implantsandaDyson · 13/02/2018 17:52

I went to Catholic primary and secondary a very long time ago and covered all those things inside and out. I'm in my 40s. We also learned a lot about other religions - that was the basis of our GCSE and A- level courses. My 12 year old daughter has went to Catholic primary and is now in Catholic secondary - she has covered sexual health and puberty, birth, correct names for anatomy in both biology and PHSE.

zen1 · 13/02/2018 17:57

That has really surprised me. I went to a Catholic secondary and left in 1989. We learned everything in detail. I remember us passing round coils, caps, the female condom etc in GCSE biology. We even learnt about insects deriving pleasure from sex!

TheWoollybacksWife · 13/02/2018 17:57

I went to catholic primary and secondary schools - I left in the mid 80's. My school comprehensively covered sex and relationships - there was no issue with informing us of the mechanics Grin A couple of my peers who showed up heavily pregnant for their O'levels were expected to sit their exams in isolation which makes me think that the headmistress (a nun) might have been concerned that it might have been contagious.

I also had RE lessons that covered other religions.

Roselind · 13/02/2018 18:06

I am a governor at a Catholic school which my daughter attended. She covered all these things (unlike at my Catholic and then C of E schools back in the 70s).
Did you have any time off school? It is possible you missed the weeks when they were covered. Schools have really tight timetables to get through all the material they have to cover for every subject - they don't have much leeway at all - my other daughter missed a lot of school and there are some key areas in all subjects she missed out on because schools just do not have the time to go back and recap on everything.

Seniorcitizen1 · 13/02/2018 18:08

Think your school is pretty unique if you didn’t cover these in biology - did you pass your GCSE?

Original poster
HolyMotherFuckers · 13/02/2018 18:09

Nope was one of them who had to go in if their leg was hanging off because it wasn’t fully off yet. My school was awful imo even now it’s bren reported on by local papers as going down hill in the past 5 years. Maybe my school was just awful

OP posts:
Original poster
HolyMotherFuckers · 13/02/2018 18:10

Yes I did pass and went on to do A level Applied science

OP posts:
happiestcamper · 13/02/2018 18:13

I work in a Catholic primary and we have the school nurse in to teach about puberty and sex. We also follow a sex education programme as part of our religious education in the form of loving relationships etc

BanjoStarz · 13/02/2018 18:16

I think maybe your school just wasn’t very good.

I went through catholic primary and secondary and knew all that.

The only complaint was we didn’t really cover much about other religions but based on my nieces and nephew experience of the same schools that has changed.

MincemeatTart · 13/02/2018 18:19

My children had sex education in a Catholic primary. I went to Catholic schools and have an excellent understanding of the human body - I’m not sure it came from school though.
At 21 you’re old enough to find things out for yourself. It a few books on women’s reproductive health.

stitchglitched · 13/02/2018 18:19

I went to Catholic primary and secondary (left school in 96) We learned about sex and childbirth in the final year at primary. Although I do remember in about Year 9 or 10 of high school being shown a video about AIDs and when it mentioned condoms the teacher ran over and turned it off because the RE dept wanted to teach us about that in their 'own special way.'

Rainbowsandflowers78 · 13/02/2018 18:25

You get taught it in catholic marriage education classes - they tell you exactly how to get pregnant!

NannyR · 13/02/2018 18:26

I had primary and secondary education in catholic schools and I left school in the early nineties. I remember being taught sex education and human reproduction in biology. Maybe it's down to individual schools, although I thought certain topics had to be covered as part of national curriculum - does that include sex ed?

raisedbyguineapigs · 13/02/2018 18:27

I saw a preview showing of the film Ladybird. The girl in there goes to a Catholic high school in America. The abortion talk was eerily similar to the one I had 20 years ago! Our sex education was a couple coming in to talk about the rhythm method ( admittedly, this was quite handy when TTC! ) and SPUC coming in to give us little feet badges. I spent quite a lot of my 20's shagging Catholic boys and luckily not getting pregnant before marrying an atheist!

BillywigSting · 13/02/2018 18:29

I went to a state primary and a Catholic secondary.

We learned about all of those things in vague detail in yr7 and greater detail in year 9. My mum was mortified that they had us colouring in the missionary position and labeling all the bits.

The biggest complaint I had was its archaeic and sexist uniform and complete refusal to even acknowledge other religions. That was quite a culture shock, going from a very poor but very multicultural school to a white middle class Catholic school (which was much stricter and pretty condemning of anything other)

jerrysbellyhangslikejelly · 13/02/2018 18:29

I went to catholic primary and secondary schools, in Ireland, leaving in 2003 and all this was all covered extensively and objectively at both levels including extensive demonstrations on how to use various types of sanitary products in primary school. I think this was just your particular school OP.

Swipe left for the next trending thread