Does anyone have access to Jigsaw PSHE lesson plans?

[LittleCabbage]

I posted earlier today on a thread from earlier this year, which came up when I searched for threads about Jigsaw, a company providing PSHE resources for schools. But I think it is less confusing if I just start a new thread.

I have just seen that my child's school is planning to use the Jigsaw PSHE curriculum this year, and the thread I found here discussed concerns re encouraging secrecy, and also a mention of possible concerns with the teaching of equality.

I plan to contact the school and ask to see the lesson plans for these areas. I have looked on the Jigsaw website but they only give subject areas rather the the specifics of what is included in lesson plans.

Before I email the school, can anyone offer any insight into what is being taught, and their opinions on the subject matter? Thanks.

That whole thing about secrets is so dodgy.

Does anyone have info about Jigsaw at secondary level? The RSE Review website (part of the Values Foundation - faith and family in education) has excellent reviews of the provision out there but unfortunately, the Jigsaw provision is "currently under review".

I can't see that Transgender Trend looked at Jigsaw but they did research a range of other organisations offering SRE resources to schools and came up with some horrifyingly inappropriate examples of queer theory and porn being pushed at children. Here's the link just in case other schools are using any of these organisations:

www.transgendertrend.com/launch-rse-guide-schools/

I am determined to find out what that detail is.

Good for you OP, very interested to see what you find.

The Jigsaw PSHE lesson that my older child had on Equal Rights was in the Celebrating Difference section for Yr 6. I have not seen the lesson plan for this but I will try and describe what my son says he was taught.

My son said that they were first shown a slide of people and the class was asked to find the similarities and differences between the people. They were then told that they were going to talk about equal rights. They were then shown a second slide with words such as sex, race, transgender, homosexuality (gay and lesbian), disabilities and pregnancy on. They discussed discrimination of someone who uses a wheelchair and who wants to get a job in an office without wheelchair access. They then learnt about Pride events and Rainbow days and about countries where people can be arrested for being gay. The focus of the rest of the lesson was then on transgender people.

My son told me that they were told that transgender is where somebody turns into the opposite sex (he said that he definitely remembered this because the class laughed - at the use of the word sex, I think). The teacher also said that a male becomes a female and a female becomes a male. My son said that the teacher also told them that some people have no gender. They were told about Caitlyn Jenner and told that CJ used to be a boy called Bruce and Sam Smith. they were told that it is respectful to use the pronoun 'they' when talking about Sam Smith.

The third slide was the story of Roberta Cowell and they learnt that Cowell was the first transgender person in Britain and that RC was a female in a male body. At one point the teacher started to talk about the surgery and then stopped herself and said they were too young and would learn about it in secondary school. The children were asked how the wife and children might have felt about Roberta's transition, one child answered that he thought they would be 'happy' for her. The teacher did not confirm or deny this. Another child said that he had heard that we all start off as girls and that some change in their Mum's tummy to be a boy and then said something about all boys are transgender and the teacher said that this may be true. They didn't talk about equal rights any more and the teacher said that they would return to the topic, although they never did because of Covid.
My son was confused about whether you could change sex or not and whether a girl could be inside a boy's body and also about whether all boys change from females to males.

I am not sure how much of the lesson was exactly what was written on the lesson plan or how much the teacher strayed from the plan. My son said that the three slides were definitely Jigsaw slides. It would be worth trying to get the plan for this lesson @LittleCabbage, although I think that it is an optional one and your child's school may choose not to give it.

Following this with interest as my DC’s primary school have emailed to say they’ll be using Jigsaw. They sent a link for parents to ‘have a look’ but it didn’t show any materials just the topic areas.

I’d recognised the name Jigsaw from previous comments online so I’m concerned. I was only concerned about gender identity stuff but now I’m concerned about the whole thing having read that awful Secrets lesson description.

Breathe are you able to send the school a response to ask why Jigsaw was chosen and point them to the government guidance?

I think any plans to use outside organisations should be halted completely and a full consultation with parents undertaken before proceeding, especially now there is finally very clear guidance from. Dept of Ed.

Thanks for your detailed descriptions Chickenonamug. More very concerning stuff. I wonder how much the Jigsaw lesson plans have changed or will change as a result of the new guidance.

I did not get a response from the school today, but I think the PSHE teacher may be part time. Will update when I do hear.

’Breathe’ are you able to send the school a response to ask why Jigsaw was chosen and point them to the government guidance?

I’m planning to go in rather than email, I think, as I’m hoping to catch the Head. I’m going to mention the new guidance definitely. The school is part of a MAT so I’m guessing they might have had a hand in the choice (and so the school might not know exactly why Jigsaw were chosen). Looking at the various PSHE providers, Jigsaw is one of the closest geographically so I did wonder if that was part of the reason.

TBH, just looking at the chart of topics provided above, I’m quite surprised at how much it covers (ignoring the Gender stuff). It makes me a little uneasy.

Neither the Baroness Newman or the DfE have given a list of RSE resource providers to avoid. That list has been generated by a lobby group,

@AltheaVestr1t

Neither the Baroness Newman or the DfE have given a list of RSE resource providers to avoid. That list has been generated by a lobby group,

Actually, it IS Baroness Nicholson (I presume that is who you mean) who has given a list of specific providers to avoid. See attached screenshot from her sample letter for parents to send to schools. Link to full letter here (click on link in first paragraph):

genderdesk.wordpress.com/2020/09/25/uk-schools-backtrack-on-gender-ideology/comment-page-1/?unapproved=92706&moderation-hash=62eeb97e54130f949797ca75787e5ec2#comment-92706

Btw, still not heard back from my child's school. Will give it until Monday, then contact them again.

Well, I've just emailed DD's school to enquire about which alternative provider they'll be using, as Jigsaw clearly falls foul of the the DofE guidelines. Will update if and when they respond.

Our school sent an email with the same slide as Little Cabbage showed above, as they wanted to put parents' minds at rest following 'scaremongering' in the national press.

Not sure what I make of that tbh, I thought our school head was quite sensible, but maybe not

Thanks, Little Cabbage - that pic and link is really useful 😊

I have to give credit for that link to @sultanasofa, who used it earlier in this thread.

Oops - sorry @sultanasofa !

Thank you, I'm glad it was useful! And good luck with your school discussions!

@LittleCabbage it doesn't say that that letter has come from the Baroness and the attached letters from the Baroness only mention Stonewall, not Jigsaw?

My son came home in year 5 and said that people can change sex which i yo jul explained that no they cannot and why not. He understood me thankfully.
His school have a zoom session soon on their RSE topic but I don’t think I’m going to be available to watch it. Am waiting to hear if it’ll be recorded. Will raise any concerns I have then.

Yo jul is quickly 🤦🏻‍♀️

[quote BeautifulandWilfulandDead]@LittleCabbage it doesn't say that that letter has come from the Baroness and the attached letters from the Baroness only mention Stonewall, not Jigsaw? [/quote]
I have realised the letter was written by someone called Emma Palermo, who seems to be working with the Baroness on this issue. It was emailed round to many of us in September, with this message from Baroness Nicholson:

Letter to Friends & Colleagues on behalf of Baroness Nicholson

Emma Palermo
To
Emma Palermo
& 2 more
25 Sep at 10:36

"Dear Colleague and friend,
I attach a letter from Emma Palermo to a long list of parents in which she strongly recommends they access head teachers locally to bring the hugely welcome change of direction on Schools RSE materials to their attention. You can access the letter on this link here

It would be wonderful if you could support this excellent letter in any way you can. The Dept for Education has barred all of the unseemly and in some cases deeply unsettling materials by banning the organisations which have produced these.

However, this complete switch is both sudden and the opposite of all previous instructions given that the materials in question and their producing organisations have been stamped with government approval by financing and by materials‘ endorsement with departmental logos.

Please do all you can to spread the new and highly welcome change of position by DofE.Newspapers,social media,radio and local or national tv can ensure if briefed by you that no more children are forcibly exposed in formal teaching away from parental agreement to materials that seem to myself and many others far from being educational and more closely aligned with the deliberate lowering of a child’s natural and right inclination to maintain personal privacy for intimate matters.

I hope you have time and can make the opportunity to spread the good news.

With my warmest good wishes as we celebrate and move on to the next steps,

Yours,
Emma"

@LittleCabbage can you point to anything that proves that the DfE have barred Jigsaw, Twinkl, Stonewall etc? Because unless the DfE have published that information somewhere, it simply isn't true!

There's a useful template letter and lot of background information here (including on external agencies although not Jigsaw):
lgballiance.org.uk/schools-campaign/

Bumping this thread for any updates. I have a related thread on School Transgender and PHSE policies and am becoming increasingly alarmed that material is being used in school that is totally confusing at best, and more like biologically inaccurate in some cases. Very worrying indeed.

I think that list of orgs not to use is unhelpful and counter-productive because its origin is unclear and it certainly does not come from the dfe or any official source. I have seen a version of the template letter posted on a pshe teachers group and teachers dismissing it as made up as the dfe do not advise against using any specific organisations.