Sex Education - What is it like now?

[Unorganisedchaos2]

I have DD6 so very early to be posting in pre teens but seemed more appropriate.. prompted by the schools change to IT system we've been asked to sign a ream of consent forms online, one was consenting to sex education.

I was shown the (apparently infamous) beach volleyball videos in the early 1990's - thankfully I had a very open minded Mum who was happy to have a chat afterwards and answer any questions I had. She was also very laid back over the years and impressed being safe and ensuring both partners respected each other, consent etc, her attitude was much that once I was 16 and both partners were responsible enough to use contraceptive it was a bit naive to assume that teenagers wouldn't be having sex if they wanted too.

Just had a chat with DH (again prompted by the consent form) it transpires we had different upbringings. When I asked if his Mum or Dad had spoken to him about safe sex it apparently was just one conversation when he was 17 when his Mum said "you be careful with girls", the conversation was at least a year late to my knowledge and didnt go into any further specifics. 😂

I have always been very matter of fact about bodies and answered questions from DD in an age appropriate way, she has only asked twice as two mums of her class mates have been pregnant.

DD goes to a CoE school, so my main concern is that the only contraceptive they recommend is abstinence before marriage (which I appreciate is many Christian beliefs)

Also curious as to what sex education is like now many years after I received mine?

www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education

I would expect 6 year olds (like your daughter) to be having some kind of sex and relationship education at school.

I would also expect parents to be having such conversations and answering questions straightforwardly, perhaps when asked ‘where do babies come from ’ first asking what they know (or think they know) already and starting there.

Subjects like consent can be tackled in all kinds of ways - like if a parent tickles you and you don’t like it you can say so and they should stop.

I went to a CoE secondary, we had sex ed lessons but I would not say it was in-depth compared to my partner's secular school. In Year 9 I think we had about one lesson when someone from family planning came and provided us with contraceptive information / options (and how to access it), and another lesson on consent. The teachers then emphasised go speak to your GP / primary healthcare if you had any further concerns. This would have been 2012/2013, so not that up to date.

Looking back now, I got the impression they taught us the bare minimum (i.e what they had to), so they could tick the box, and then basically we had to fend for ourselves if we wanted more support.