Sex Education

[Noraise]

Is Sex Education in primary school ( Y5) mandatory?
Can anyone please advise me if it is? School is an academy by the way.

I always think this must be much less of an issue in rural areas. Us farm kids know EXACTLY where babies come from 😂

What exactly do people think their children are 'too sensitive' to know?

Going in what I read on here I have my doubts. Worse I would question how balanced it is.

No you don't own human beings. They are your children. They have the capacity and right to autonomy.

The children have rights which outrank your ownership" claim. for example where unfit care is identified by authorities then their rights to a safe home outstrips your so called "ownership".

They are your children you are their parents. You don't own them that concept is flawed in so many ways. Not least the recognition of them being individuals.

Fear, ignorance and somehow the idea that knowledge of sex takes away innocence.

My mother was a farm girl so we weren't raised precious, I don't remember not knowing. I did the same with my children. None of us exploded.

My son is year 6 and I have found it helpful to start to talk about sex and puberty before he hits adolescence as he is not embarrassed to talk about it with me. He probably will be by the time he starts to get sexual feelings.

Its so much easier to talk about at this age. And all his friends are talking about this now anyway. Its good he feels able to ask me about the things he hears from them.

If you opt her out she'll gear a garbled version in the playground afterwards.

I do agree that is terrible. We should not be normalising acts popularised by porn. Girls are under enough pressure without schools adding to this.

My year 6 son has just had these lessons and they were separated by boys and girls and I fully agree this is the right approach. It doesn't mean boys don't learn about menstruation too. It just means it is done in a way which causes less discomfort and embarrassment and makes it easier for the children to ask any questions they have. Boys had a male teacher for this and girls a female teacher.

So then we just cover heterosexuals and avoid homosexuality? Anal sex is probably most likely what teenagers engage in due to avoiding pregnancy and yes the link to porn.

Do 9 year olds need to know , no.

But at secondary yes they need to know and should be informed. The worst thing to do is not provide factual information of the full sex subjects.

I am assuming a lot of parents won't discuss and just say don't do it. Newsflash that doesn't work. Teens need information and they need it before they are in the situation.

By teaching them facts hopefully 4/5 years before they engage they have had a chance for the facts sink in and make consensual informed choices.The reality is they will be engaging in sexual exploration in some cases younger and they deserve information.

Information has been proven time and again doesn't increase sexual activity but it does reduce ignorance informed choices.

You are absolutely correct. Boys and girls are taught together - I've literally just delivered the puberty lessons to my Year 3 class (menstruation and 'sperm + egg = baby') I have to be honest...I was so impressed by how clued up some of them already were, so kudos to all those wonderful parents who already realise how important this knowledge is! Also, my class exceeded all my expectations for the way they handled the subject...so mature and curious to know more. Children are much better than we think at handling these things...and my class are only Year 3! So in Year 5/6 they are more than able to cope. And as some posters have already mentioned, it's vital for safeguarding that we give them the power that this knowledge brings.

At many secondary schools RSE is contracted out to external agencies who are unlikely to be teachers and are likely to have their own agenda, such as the euphemistically self-named sex positivism (pro porn) and queer ideology. They are essentially lobby groups and I don't think they should be teaching RSE. They are not inspected by Ofsted or Estyn or whoever the regulator is in Scotland.

@twentysevendresses as I said upthread the extra "girls only" session was basically telling the girls how to dispose of pads properly (apparently after someone was leaving some used ones open in the waste bin in the toilets) and which member of staff was best to go to if they needed a pad.
Everything else was taught together.

No schools should not be teaching this and the idea that girls are engaging in anal sex to avoid pregnancy is laughable. Girls are having anal sex because boys expect it from watching porn. Porn has mainstreamed what was once a niche act.

Girls and boys should be given porn critical messages, as porn harms boys and girls, and girls should be given support to have strong boundaries.

Its really not the job of schools to teach the mechanics of sex acts - should we be teaching them the rules of consent in S&M too? - IMO its their job to teach healthy boundaried relationships, how to navigate a porn saturated culture critically and safely, as well as the biology of reproduction.

How to you give support to have strong boundaries if you're not prepared to explain what it is that you may want to have boundaries about?

Girls were having anal sex when I was that age to avoid pregnancy i doubt if we were that unique.

Your way leaves them absolutely screwed. Information is power. Yes they should be informed and able to ask questions and be given factual answers.

I am in Ireland I have seen exceptional practice. I saw a school bring in staff from a std clinic, a nurse talked about physical checks, a man came in from a gay representative group discussion on safe sex, another person discussed very early teen pregnancy.

They had an ex footballer who has qualified as a teen counselor discussion porn and the changes it can make in a young brain. They had psychchologist and I think a piece about abortion, a piece about FGM, religious practices and rules about sex etc.

It should be mandatory element of all schooling. Because if they don't provide factual information you can bet you they will look for information off the internet and who knows what crap they will be told as facts.

Have you asked the school for the details of what material they will be covering? By year 5 nothing the school cover should be new to them as parents should have already discussed it at home.

I am in Ireland I have no issue with what is taught here. I am a firm believer in very open discussions.

My issue is with the pearl clutching posters who say they are going to remove their children. Well there is another load of teens ignorant of biology and sex.

I hate that children and teens are not getting access to information that is vital to ensure they can make informed consent decisions.

Because I doubt it the parents withdrawing are going to give specific information about why anal sex may not be the right decision form them. Or be given information on choices if they do engage. If these parents believe that simply directing the teen not to engage is sufficient- well we all know how well that goes in teens.

I wouldn't disagree with anything you outlined there in the practice your describe, so not sure what you think ' my way' is.

You literally said "schools should not be teaching this[anal sex]" ?

Yes, I do not think schools should be teaching the mechanics of anal sex or strangulation or golden showers or slapping girls or spitting on them or S&M or anything like that. That's not their role and providing that information is normalising acts that girls are already being pressurised to do from pornography. If you are teaching children how to do these things, you are saying they are normal acts that most people should do and that makes it harder for girls to say no. Anal sex was not a normal practice till porn popularised it. And its not really for schools to be teaching the mechanics of these sex acts, or any other sex acts.
There have been providers going into school with 'activities' such as dice with different orifices and objects written on them and the children are asked to role two dice and then describe a sex act that could be done with the two things that come up. That is absolutely not something that should be happening in schools.

But these sort of lessons are not what you outlined in the sex education practice you described.

So you want a teacher to cover the risks without information on the practice or the context. So basically don't do xyz because of ABC.

That doesn't work. They need information for those that will choose to consent to any sex act and to those that choose not to consent.

That's the distinction between other posts and yours. You can't say don't do something because your value system is one way, you need to teach from a neutral position Detroit facts only.

I'm not really sure what you think e.g. the man from the gay representative group discussing safer sex would have talked about (this was not from me btw, but from Marblessolveeverything)? You can't have these discussions and enable teenagers to make safe decisions if you're not teaching them the basics of sex in all its variants. Just because you think the icky stuff is all the fault of porn (which it may or may be) the reality is that they will be confronted with it.

may or may not be

Is this more about you then your child?

Ok, so you think boys should be taught how to 'safely' strangle girls.

I don't.

I am happy with that being the difference between my position and yours. And I am confident in the values underpinning mine.