Sex Education for Primary School Age - Advice needed

[Jockette]

Hi, I am after some advice as I have a meeting coming up with my child primary school this month. I am concerned about the sex education and innapropriate use of naming intimate body parts at age 5. I have since removed my child from being involved in further sex ed lessons, but how can I show the school that I think 5, 6 and 7 is way to young for the kids to be learning information they don't need to be aware of at that age. What age do any of you think is appropriate for your child to be taught the breakdown of the female body part?

Halogen Sex is also illegal in the uk until you are 16 - yet it is apparently perfectly acceptable to teach kids how to do it at age 7.

In some nursery classes they have very realistic models of adults engaging in activities that are illegal for under 16s. 3 and 4 year olds engage together in unsupervised role playing of age-inappropriate activities that they are not mentally or physically to deal with in real life.

They even have cartoons showing those activities with names like 'Roary the Racing Car'.

Shocking.

shakira - there is no 'just because'. This particular programme is not shown to 7 year olds. You are unable to say with any accuracy which programme it is, which does not surprise me. However I have the DVD in school so will remind myself again of the content of 'How babies are made'...

IIRC the focus of this programme is of the fertilisation of an egg. However I will get back to you.

If you are able to link to Health Education programmes in schools that do use this material at an inappropriately early age, that would be helpful.

Let's go back to my childhood and not teach anything (apart from embarrassed coughing over a dead pigeon - why a pigeon? Not even a mammal) so it all comes as a bit of a surprise and education is hormone driven involving the bikeshed or equivalent, with consequences. Oh, we were so much happier then!

Harry - how can you accurately say that it is not shown in any schools across the country how can you possibly know that?

I can not go to where i first viewed it online because it has been conveniently removed it was on teacherstv.com for a long time and was removed about two weeks after there was a big article in the news about explicit sex ed in schools, this was in March.I have viewed it plenty of times and checked the age rating as well to ensure I knew what I was talking about. If it was still available I would go and check it now - unfortunately not being a teacher I no longer have access to it. There were about 11 videos in the range. It was also on youtube for a long time and has been removed in the last week.
That particular video is not being used in my school although they are using the rest of the series, including boy talk and girl talk although I do know of a school in my town that is using it and several others across the country that do.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255483/Parents-anger-class-seven-year-olds-shown-graphic-sex-cartoon-school.html

I've just looked on the Channel 4 website, and on their shop they are selling the living and growing dvd and the episode ur on about shakira is unit 2 which says age 7-9.

Thank you Jockette.

Seems i did describe it accurately after all, the title and the age range.

shakira - this is precisely my point to you - how can you accurately say it is being shown to such young children?

You have watched a video on line. You have read a couple of scare stories in the press.
That does not mean it is being shown to 7 year olds.
I may not have evidence that it has never been shown to 7 year olds but my extensive experience of actually using this material in schools tells me that it is used with older children - as a number of teachers on this thread have already stated.

As we are the people delivering these lessons, surely we would know.

I am afraid that I don't find the Daily Mail to be a reliable source.

jockette - once again, can you describe the content of the programmes you are referencing? You have checked a website and looked at the titles but what does the programme contain that you actually object to?

Can I ask what is the right age for children to be told about the clitoris, and about enjoyment of sexuality?

harry - I have requested the dvds from the school, but they haven't got around to giving them to me yet. I just don't agree for my child to be shown or taught anything remotely sexual at her age (6) don't think its necessary, don't mind in year 6 as her body might be changing puberty etc, she already knows about periods as she has asked me. I would just prefer to be doing the teaching as she is my child not the schools. Surely just let her have as much youth as she can still believing in her disney fairy stories of falling in love etc, still believing in santa and the tooth fairy she doesn't need to know about sex as legally you need to be 16

himalaya, dunno to be honest, but do think age 5 (year 1) as my child has august birthday was too young. Since I started this thread, the school have since tippexed out the word clitoris from their diagrams and the teachers have also stated their disagreement in that part being taught at that age. Did also ask today though if they described the boys bits in as much detail, as in foreskin and scrotum etc, but they don't they just call it a penis. So why one rule for the girls and not the boys, when really the boys could do with being told that their foreskin protects the head of their penis and how to move it back etc and for hygiene reasons?????

I have described the sexual content of that video several times on here, to be honest I can't describe much of the rest of the video because it was pretty ok and of not much interest - it was the middle bit that grabbed my attention, I can however describe the whole of boy's talk and girls talk and lets talk about sex as they are the ones my school is using and I have watched them several times. I have also spoken to the mother named in the article as well as several others in my home town and other parts of the country.

You said in an earlier post that it is not shown to 7 year olds as if that was a fact - now you are backtracking and saying you can't say it has never been shown to 7 year olds. Jockey said it was for the age range 7 to 11 years old yet it clearly states on the DVD 7-9 year olds.

I am not on here to pick a fight with other members merely to point out another side to the story, as a teacher you know what is being taught in your schools and all credit to them. But it is misleading to tell people that "schools don't show that till year 6" as if that is 100% true, mums might read this and be lulled into a false sense of security and not bother checking what their school is doing.

The truth is the how babies are made amongst the others IS being recommended by county councils across the UK, It has not been classified by anyone other than C4, it has an age range of 7 to 9 IN THEIR OPINION, most schools are being conservative and using it in year 6, SOME schools are using it at age 7,8,9.

You would be far better placed as a professional person to advise (rather than attacking me) - we do use this in our school, we use it at year 6, but all schools are different & I would advise you to check with your school so you are happy with the sex ed your child will be receiving.

Harry - I respect your experience as a teacher, however in my recent experiences as a parent I have discovered that not all schools take care over their sex ed, not all schools consult with parents over the sex ed, not all schools bother to inform parents that their child will be seeing explicit videos and some schools are more concerned with getting healthy schools status than what is right for the children of that school, despite the fact that their is a 37 page government document where the emphasis is placed heavily on parents and not showing children innapropriate or explicit images.

Himalaya - I don't know either but I do know that Channel 4 shouldn't be the ones making that decision for our children.

Shakira - I don't think it is Channel 4 making the decisions. It is schools. I agree they should do it carefully, and should invite parents in to see the materials, and curriculum and ask questions and give their views and concerns.

Himalaya - Channel 4 may not be directly making the decisions, but they have made the videos, assigned their own interpretation of what is appropriate at what age, now if a parent queries the school - as I have done - the teacher just held up the copy of the DVD and showed the age range, as if to say, there, I'm not responsible , these dvd's say they are appropriate for this age range therefore they must be and you as a parent don't know anything.

As I said before this range has never been formally classified by anyone other than C4, so I'm sorry but knowing the ethos of channel 4 and the sort of programmes they are responsible for I refuse to accept they are a sensible authority to decide what is appropriate for peoples children and at what age, and yes I agree with the schools should be doing it carefully and listening to parents but in my experience that is not the case and when you have an issue they refuse to take responsibility and try to pass the buck back to the grading on the video, or " the county council recommended them therefore they must be right"

Yes totally agree..my Year 5 Daughter is about to embark on these classes and video and I really think it is information that is not appropriate at such a young age. As long as you openly communicate with your child then they learn in a way that is adapted for that child. They do not have to attend these classes and you are able to refuse. I have two older children in their twenties and I didn'T let them see videos and attend the classes in Primary school. and surprise surprise they are just fine and have had no problems ..have coped just fine children are better off having a childhood.. and not having it taken away at such a young age. It has certainly not worked in this country.

Just wondering: do the posters on this thread have boys or girls, and what ages?

I wish someone would teach adults where the sodding clitoris is.

issynoko

issynoko you stole my line! Is everyone aware that 1 in 3 girls start their periods while at primary school? If kids aren't told that they will want to have sex at some future time, won't they find those feelings overwhelming? The teen pregnancy rates are lower in eg Holland with very young, explicit, detailed sex ed.That doesn't mean it's good, just that it works to reduce teen preg. Abstinence ed increases teen preg. Choose if you want to call it innocent or ignorant, but you can't choose the results.

We were 'taught' about sex at 15 (!) by our very very embarrassed lesbian biology teacher who couldn't bring herself to say 'penis' and had to refer to 'the er...appendage' all the time. I adored her but those lessons were excruciating. And one of her pupils - daughter of a Tory MP - was pregnant at the time. A little too late... My children already know quite a lot. We have lots of gay friends (some with children) so they know it isn't as simple as men and women make babies. And when you have girls and boys who bath together they are intrigued by the differences early on. We do the answer the questions asked and don't give them info overload thing. So far it hasn't come up at school (oldest one is 7). But my 3 year old girl would like a willy when she's older. She might have to borrow one. (Willy is their word - they think penis sounds silly.)

I was wondering if Sex education is taught in Catholic schools as well? I know that it is taught in Anglican Church schools but what about Catholic schools?