Has anyone challenged their children's school over the company they use for their RSE lessons?

[GoodEggy]

Following a recent email from Glinner I sent my children's primary school the suggested email and they replied. They use Jigsaw to teach pretty much all their PSHE stuff. It doesn't seem too bad, particularly when looking at some of the others. I've previously contacted Safe School Alliance for guidance on whether Jigsaw was to be trusted and they gave me the info they had but again, it's not too bad but Jigsaw was specifically mentioned in the email. Am I missing the bad bits? Do they supply materials for secondary schools too, does it get worse? Anyone else challenged their school over Jigsaw?

Has anyone challenged their school over another provider?

I do t think Jigsaw is particularly bad compared to some others. I teach secondary and we use some Jigsaw stuff and it's decent, but we don't use it for sre. There have been revious threads about Jigsaw if you do a search. I have no idea what dd's school uses. Thanks for reminding me to look into it!

I spoke to primary school about Jigsaw + another provider. Jigsaw seemed mostly ok but had a bit on getting kids to keep secrets which I challenged and Head agreed they'd just tell staff to ignore that bit.

Other provider was way dodgier and school dropped them - yay!

Now talking to secondary about the Genderbread person

A search is a great idea. Thank you. I'll do that now.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who thought Jigsaw wasn't so bad.

@ShoppingWomble

I spoke to primary school about Jigsaw + another provider. Jigsaw seemed mostly ok but had a bit on getting kids to keep secrets which I challenged and Head agreed they'd just tell staff to ignore that bit.

Other provider was way dodgier and school dropped them - yay!

Now talking to secondary about the Genderbread person

Oh, Ginger Bread person in Secondary school? Thought that was just aimed at primary. Which provider is that? 🙏

Hi GoodEggy this thread might help. as it includes some explanations about a couple of Jigsaw PSHE lessons that my children have had. Somewhere in the thread the OP c & p a post of mine where I explained about the lesson that my then 8 year old had which taught him to keep things confidential or secret from his parents. I was deeply unhappy with this message to my son. Later in the thread I have explained what my then 10 year old son was taught about transgender and about how males can change to females etc.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4036363-Does-anyone-have-access-to-Jigsaw-PSHE-lesson-plans

WeeTorag I don't know the provider yet - just email chain so far, no face to face with school because Covid. Could just be teacher googling for resources? It's Year 10.

I tried to point out the sexism and the stereotypes in the Genderbread resource but teacher says it's ok as they've already "done" stereotypes further down the school - so kids are expected to use their earlier knowledge to say "this is rubbish, Miss!" ??

My school has "Stonewall Championship" on its website. When I emailed the head she couldn't remember when it had been taken out or by whom. Interesting. Still she was sympathetic to my email. I feel the more parents raise the issues the better really. Like many things the teaching professionals need parental input in order to make guided decisions.

GoodEggy The best option when you can is to ask to see the resources - especially ask for Year 6 as I think that's when they learn about transgender issues. I was sent the conception and birth stuff which was all fine but didn't see more because of lockdown. Then ask questions about it.

I originally asked the school about the "born in the wrong body" narrative which they were shocked by (legacy from previous teacher which others hadn't thought through). Sometimes I wonder if it's about making teachers think about what they are teaching as well as trying to get them using good resources? I think a lot of them don't have time to think it through and just end up parroting stuff they haven't really understood - no disrespect to teachers, they just don't have time to spend hours researching all this. When they understand what it means they are horrified!

Jigsaw? The scary puppet from the Saw movies?

My children's school use Jigsaw. I have been asking to see the materials for nearly a year but they have delayed, then Covid hit and they now refuse to email copies for Copyright reasons. It seems outrageous that it is so difficult to have sight of the teaching materials shown to our children.

redglobox Especially outrageous for it to be difficult to have sight of teaching materials shown to our children on this subject when these days we see everything they get taught online! Can you use that as leverage?
‘Why is there no transparency over your PSHE resources when between January and March 2021 I was able to see exact lesson plans/ resources downloaded during remote learning?’

Thank you everyone for more helpful replies. I'm so out of the habit of MN nowadays, sorry it's taken me so long to reply! I'll have a thorough look now.

I got the same reply about seeing the resources but I was told I could come into school to see them. Not sure how they'd wangle that with Covid, probably an empty gesture and expected me to not say yes please.

Hi op. I'm from ssauk. We think jigsaw is pretty bad and cover them on our guide to pshe providers.

safeschoolsallianceuk.net/resources-2/factsheets/

Like precious posters ha e said ask to see the materials they will be using

@2fallsagain there is no information available on your website about Jigsaw?

@Doro45
Yes there is;
safeschoolsallianceuk.net/resources-2/factsheets/#Parents_Guide_to_PSHE_and_RSE_Providers