Teaching RSE in schools

[Oceangirl20]

Has anyone seen any Relationship and sex ed related resources in schools as it is going to be implemented soon?
Especially relating to gender and external genitalia. Also, has anyone had any experiences with their primary children on how kids understood these lessons? I saw my 5-year-old being very imaginative even with counting in twos just last week! Innocent imagination of course but with other topics...

May edit this question once/if I am able to put my finger on what it is that's bothering me about the vagueness some curriculum contents.
Share yours please.

I'd check the anti bullying stuff too, that was w'c 16th and it also leaks into assemblies etc.

Have you checked your school policies as if they use gender in place of sex it's a sign.

Personally I'd ask for the lesson content as all schools are different and you need to know want you're school it doing.

Personally I'd ask for the lesson content

Seconded. My school’s RSE policy is perfectly reasonable, but what’s actually being taught is anything but.

Hiptight you should report. I think organisations like Safe Schools Alliance or transgender trend. Not really sure which ones are best. Also MP. Due to government issuing guidelines, I expect any school going against will be breaching some sort of code.

highame you are absolutely right. I am currently challenging it within school and the government guidance is key.

I have received an email from my MP, in response to my letter, containing a letter he received in response from Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP
Minister of State for School Standards.

“Schools are required to consult with parents when developing and reviewing their policies for relationships education and RSE, which will inform schools’ decisions on when and how certain content is covered. Schools should ensure that parents know what will be taught and when, and clearly communicate to parents their right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education delivered as part of statutory RSE. Schools should also ensure that, when engaging with parents, they provide examples of the resources they plan to use. The statutory guidance is available at: tinyurl.com/Y5sP3PLe.
With regard to teaching materials, the statutory guidance sets out clear advice on choosing resources. Schools should assess each resource they intend to use, to ensure that it is appropriate for the age and maturity of pupils, and sensitive to their needs. These resources must also be factually accurate. We also expect schools to consult with parents on these matters and to make reasonable decisions about the content of their curriculum.

The Department has published a package of support for all schools to support
elationships, sex and health education curriculum. A one-stop page for teachers on GOV.UK, brings
together all existing information available to schools, including the mental wellbeing teacher training module published on 8 June 2020, the statutory guidance, guides for parents and guidance on parental engagement on relationships education. This is available at: tinyurl.com/Y2uwPk2P.
The page also provides links to the non statutory implementation guidance ‘Plan your Relationships, Sex and Health Education Curriculum’ and a further nine teacher training modules, developed with subject matter experts and
teachers. Additional content will be added in the coming months.

Agree re using the guidance. Challenge directly using that.

Longer version: Given the number of young, inexperienced teachers who are in charge of RSE and baring in mind now that LEAs are not the central point of contact for curriculums anymore and subject leaders look around for resources they can buy in, I would absolutely read the newest RSE guidance around all this and use it, challenge the school over it.

I need to highlight the fact that ofsted now have an enhanced scrutiny of subject leaders in primary schools to make sure foundation subjects are not being forgotten.

Young teachers are given a subject to lead in with little support. They go off and join Facebook groups who are often the led by and contributed to by people who run various charities with varying opinions over the whole issue of trans. (You also have the issue that some teachers truly believe in the full ideology).

They buy into schemes and dole them out and staff follow them verbatim.

Heads should be looking at it all in detail; mine hasn't a clue what I've personally written for my own subject.

Heads and many assume all this is ticketey boo safeguarding wise. But there is no safeguarding rule around the issues associated with gender identity in schools; the only guidance we currently have is what the government recently issued.

So absolutely challenge anything and contact Safe Schools Alliance U.K., transgender trend and share it here for advice.

The PSHE association is completely captured. The Key which offers training for governors is completely captured. Don't rely on an ofsted inspector to have a clue either. (I work with one.)

Yes, schools are meant to consult parents on their policies and as part of this, I would definitely ask to see the materials being used, and also ask whether any external organisations are being used, either to come in and teach, and/or to provide resources and materials, and if so, which ones, so you can check them out.

The other thing is that the new Government guidance came out in I think September (??), which contains some important new points about not teaching that clothing/activity preferences may indicate being transgender (I'm paraphrasing but that's the gist ) or that children's bodies/personality might be "wrong" and need changing, and not using any people/resources from external orgs that give these messages.

As this was only published around the time schools were meant to be starting to teach the new curriculum, I suspect many of them would have been planning to use materials that were contrary to the new guidelines, so will need to rethink what they use before they can start - assuming they are aware of the new guidelines and that someone is making sure they are followed!

I have just written to our school - they were planning to hold a parents' meeting about this, which has obviously not happened due to Covid, but we hadn't had any update on what would happen instead and what they would be teaching/when it would start. So I emailed them to ask all the above, including mentioning the new guidelines and asking whether the materials/organisations they were using were in line with those. If you do this they can't later claim they didn't know about the new guidance, and hopefully any materials that breach it should be replaced before they start teaching it!

@EyesOpening I've just tried that link in the letter you've posted and tried searching. Could you post the link again please?

Have x-posted with some of the others above, so apologies if I've repeated some of the same points!

Thank you ladies for the responses

I agree with the points made and will take the advice as I'm meant to attend a consultation and can see how signposting children to harmful websites, resources and even concepts is a real danger...

I have also found another older thread asking about Christopher winter project. Their website is seemingly innocent.
Then i find this

rsereview.org
Please check it out.

I think it's time for parents to put their foot down and be firm at consultation.

But the sad reality is no one is allowed to say anything against rse. Especially if it comes from a religious parent they straightway bullied into silence by being labelled as not wanting equality and inclusivity. Have seen it happen over the past two weeks on twitter and else where. Really offensive comments.

Any ideas to deal with this.? Much appreciated. So may be try and help fellow parents who are worried about family values ,faith on top of unsafe content.

I think the starting point is that you are partners with the school for your child's education. You both have shared goals. Outline what you have in common before you talk about what you're worried about.

[quote MammothMashup]@EyesOpening I've just tried that link in the letter you've posted and tried searching. Could you post the link again please? [/quote]
@MammothMashup so sorry, I didn’t see your tag!
The first link tinyurl.com/Y5sP3PLe is
www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education
And the second tinyurl.com/Y2uwPk2P is
www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health