My son attends a primary school in Norfolk. Class sizes are small so he is in Year 4 with Year 5 pupils who are taught together.
A letter was sent home at the end of last term saying SRE was about to start and we had to let the school know if we wanted to pull our child out. I didn't get the letter, but there wasn't any detail in it that would give me a reason to think he should be pulled out.
After his first lesson my 9 year old came home and said to his 4 year old sister, "Do you know what, when you get older boys are going to stick their penis into your private bits". I distracted my daughter and then chatted to my son. He said he had been told not to talk about it with KS1 children, but he said his sister was not KS1!
I contacted the school immediately to pull him out of SRE lessons until we could find out how the school were teaching the subject. I also advised them that as a response to our situation, they should maybe reiterate that it wasn't just KS1 pupils but all pupils. The teacher came back with a very defensive response, that they had made it clear. Clearly, to the detriment of my family, they hadn't and were now putting other families at risk, why wouldn't a teacher want to just reiterate that pupils shouldn't speak to any younger children in the next lesson?
I have withdrawn my son saying I would like to look at how and what he is being taught. I have looked at the legislation on guidance for SRE, which would be great if my school were using them:
SRE Education Guide 2000
Key Points
All schools must have an up to date policy, drawn up by the governing body, and available to parents for inspection. I had seek it out on the school website, it wasn't in the policies section, but under curriculum. And it doesn't tell me the first lesson is on sex! What it does tell me is that they are vaguely providing a policy to cover the government requirements with a few bits missing and in less than 15 lines.
This should be developed in consultation with parents and the wider community. What a dream. How can I encourage this school to change to this way of thinking, rather than don't drop your child off late, make sure they come for 97% of the year, pick them up at 3 and its not our fault if your child doesn't come home with their letters. Does consultation really amount to a letter home that allows you to withdraw your child from a lesson? And does silence, a no reply, really amount to fair acceptance by parents?
Primary schools should have clear parameters on what children should be taught in the transition year before moving to secondary school and that parents should be consulted. My son is Year 4, what do they get taught in the transition year that is different from what he is learning now which parents should be consulted on?
I have withdrawn my son from SRE, but I am just at a loss as to what to do next. The school don't seem to care that my 4 year old daughter has been exposed to KS2 "sex" lessons, and I don't think my 9 year old son is really mature enough to be dropped into the deep end with his first lesson in SRE being centred around sex! However, I don't want him to miss out on lessons of physical, emotional and moral development. I thought teaching about relationships was more important than sex these days, that sex was just a part of learning about relationships. But what can a parent do, when the school isn't even operating to the government guidelines or statutory policy requirements?