Relationships and

 Sex Education

Policy

CONTENTS

1. Rationale

Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education are a requirement as part of the PSHCE curriculum. Current regulations and guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) state that from September 2020, all schools must deliver RSE and Health education. High quality RSE and Health Education help create a safe school community in which our students can grow, learn and develop positive, healthy behaviours for life.

Why is RSE important for children and young people?

Children absorb ideas, attitudes and beliefs about sex and relationships from their family, friends and community, including the media. RSE ensures that children and young people have a source of reliable information and an opportunity to explore the messages they are receiving in a safe learning environment.

RSE helps children and young people to understand themselves and others and to be prepared for the physical and emotional changes of puberty and adolescence. Young people will be more prepared to take responsibility for and enjoy intimate and emotional relationships, free from exploitation.

RSE makes an important contribution to well-being by supporting children and young people’s ability to learn, achieve and flourish.

2.  What is relationships and sex education?

Relationships and sex education (RSE), is learning about our bodies, health and relationships; with a particular focus on puberty and growing up, managing personal relationships, dealing with emotions, sexual health and sexual intimacy.

RSE is taught as part of a spiral curriculum, so that learning can be built up year-by-year in a way that is appropriate to the age and maturity of each child; responds to the needs they have, and enables them to successfully manage the challenges they face as they grow up.

RSE teaches children and young people to develop principles, values and attitudes, learn personal and social skills, and increase their knowledge and understanding, to enable them to make informed decisions and healthier life choices.

RSE makes an essential and significant contribution to safeguarding children and young people during their school-age years and into the future. RSE supports young people to develop skills and confidence to access professional advice and appropriate health services. It enables children to understand their physical and emotional development and take increasing responsibility for their own health and wellbeing and that of others.

3. Aims

• be accurate and factual, covering a comprehensive range of information about sex, relationships, the law and sexual health, in order to make informed choices
• be positively inclusive in terms of gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, culture, age, religion or belief or other life-experience, particularly HIV status and pregnancy
• include the development of skills to support healthy and safe relationships and ensure effective communication about these issues
• promote a critical awareness of the different attitudes and views on sex and relationships within society, such as peer norms and those portrayed in the media

• provide opportunities for reflection in order to nurture personal values based on mutual respect and care
• be part of lifelong learning, starting early in childhood and continuing throughout life
• reflect the age and level of the learner
• ensure children and young people are clearly informed of their rights, such as how they can access confidential advice and health services within the boundaries of safeguarding
• be relevant and meet the needs of children and young people, and actively involve them as participants, advocates and evaluators in developing good quality provision, this is done through student consultation; student voice, post assessment activities and ‘My Health My School Survey’ and the PASS Survey
• be delivered by competent and confident educators
• be provided within a learning environment which is safe for the children, young people and adults involved and based on the principle that prejudice, discrimination and bullying are harmful and unacceptable
• help students understand on and offline safety, consent, violence and exploitation

4. The RSE programmes of study

At Co-op Academy Priesthorpe the RSE programmes of study are delivered through a spiral curriculum, where key learning opportunities are revisited to enable students to broaden and deepen their knowledge, skills and attributes development, in age and stage-appropriate contexts.

The content of the lessons is selected to ensure it provides information that is realistic and is relevant to our students and which reinforces positive social norms. The themes and issues are used as a context through which to explore the overarching concepts and to develop essential skills and attributes.

An evidence-based approach establishes flexibility in the lessons, so that subsequent learning opportunities can be planned and adapted, continuity, progression and differentiation can be built in, enabling the needs of all students to be met, and integrated within a broad and balanced curriculum.

RSE themes and issues covered are carefully designed, in an age-appropriate way, building knowledge and life skills, to safeguard and support student’s happiness, successes and wellbeing.

5. Working with visitors and other external agencies

Visitors are invited into the academy, such as external agencies or members of the community to deliver sessions and workshops or talk on issues related to RSE. Working with external organisations enhances delivery of RSE bringing in specialist knowledge, which offers different ways of engaging with our students.

This takes place through learning for life sessions, through assemblies and at other pre-arranged times. It may be that the subject under discussion is better being delivered by an expert or experienced health professional, who can challenge students’ perceptions.

When using visitors, the academy’s policy on use of visitors will be used.

Visitors will be given a copy of this policy, and any other relevant policies and are expected to comply with the guidelines outlined within it. Through our partnership with the local community we recognise and value its contribution to the RSE programme.

Teaching delivered by visitors will align with our planned programme and policy. Sessions delivered will be age-appropriate and accessible for our students. Materials visitors must be designed to meet the full range of students’ needs.

6. Assessment, recording and reporting in RSE

Assessment in RSE is an integral part of effective learning and teaching. Assessment is used to promote learning, to identify students’ progress and ongoing learning needs, to allow them to reflect on their own learning, and to demonstrate the impact the programme is having on them. Assessment can increase students’ motivation and improve learning as their raised awareness of their development illustrates the value of their learning. Assessing learning in RSE uses a combination of teacher assessment and student self and peer assessment.

Assessment methods include:

• baseline or pre-assessment (essential for needs-led RSE)
• needs assessment is used to identify existing knowledge and skills of students
• assessment is built into the RSE programme to inform planning
• summative assessment takes place at the end of each unit
• student self-assessment is used where appropriate
• assessment focuses on knowledge as well as skill development and attitudes
• all class teachers have assessment sheets to support the module to record progress
• identify students who have exceeded or fallen short of the module objectives and those that have achieved it
• students’ achievement in RSE is celebrated and shared
• students’ progress and achievement is reported to parents/carers

Ipsative assessment compares where a pupil is at the end of a lesson or series of lessons against where they were before the lesson(s). The benchmark against which progress is measured is, therefore, the student’s own starting point.

• Pre-assessments establish prior learning, their knowledge and understanding and/or opinions, thoughts and feelings, attitudes and values, morals, ethics and viewpoints, about a given topic or issue.
• Assessment for learning built into lessons using strategies such as structured and hinge questioning, pit-stop activities, rally robin, reflect and respond, mini-plenaries and flipped learning. These gauge learning so subsequent lessons can be adapted to maximise impact and deepen learning and meet the needs of students, closing and bridging the gaps.
• Post-assessment activities facilitate assessment of learning at the end of each unit of work, which measures and evidences progress from students’ starting points and informs future teaching.  

‘I CAN’ statements are used for the RSE units of work. The statements create a framework to support assessment of pupil progress and attainment. They can be adapted for use in a range of contexts, reflecting the breadth of the learning opportunities in the programme of study. An example of these are below.

All PSHE teachers are responsible for recording and reporting progress. PSHE teachers have assessment sheets that include the ‘I CAN’ statements, to support the recording of progress for each of the RSE programmes of study. PSHE teachers will keep a note of students who have missed some or the entire module due to absence from school.

7. Key responsibilities for RSE and CPD

Governors

The governing body as a whole plays an active role in monitoring, developing and reviewing the policy and its implementation in school. When aspects of RSE appear in the Academy Development Plan, a governor will be assigned to reflect on, monitor and review the work as appropriate.

Staff:

• be up to date with school policy and curriculum requirements regarding RSE
• attend and engage in professional development training around RSE provision, including individual and whole staff training/inset, where appropriate
• report back to the PSHE Coordinator on any areas that they feel are not covered or inadequately provided for in the school’s RSE provision, including resources
• encourage students to communicate concerns regarding their social, personal and emotional development in confidence and listen to their needs and support them seriously
• follow the school’s reporting systems if a student comes to a member of staff with an issue that they feel they are not able to deal with alone
• ensure that their personal beliefs and attitudes will not prevent them from providing balanced RSE in school
• tailor their lessons to suit all students in their class, across the whole range of abilities, faiths, beliefs and cultures, gender identity, including SEND
• ask for support in this from the school SEND Leader or the PSHE Leader, should they need it

Students:

• are expected to attend the statutory National Curriculum Science elements of the RSE curriculum and the statutory Relationships Education and Health Education curriculum
• should support one another with issues that arise through RSE by, for example, alerting relevant members of staff to any potential worries or issues
• will listen, be considerate of other people’s feelings and beliefs and comply with the ground rules that are set
• will have the opportunity to talk to a member of staff, in confidence, regarding any concerns they have in school related to RSE or otherwise
• will be asked for feedback on the school’s RSE provision; opinions on provision and comments will be reviewed by the lead member/s of staff for RSE and taken into consideration when the curriculum is prepared for the following year’s students

Parents/carers

The role of parents/carers in the development of their children’s understanding about relationships is vital. They are the first teachers of their children.  They have the most significant influence in enabling their children to grow and mature and to form healthy relationships.

Co-op Academy Priesthorpe recognises that parents/carers are the prime educators for their children and the teaching of RSE aims to be complementary and sensitive to this role. The school seeks to work in partnership with parents/carers, building a positive and supportive relationship through mutual understanding, trust and cooperation.

8. The right to withdraw

Parents/carers have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education delivered as part of statutory RSE. Before granting any such request the Principal/Senior/Subject Leader will discuss the request with parents/carers and, as appropriate, with the student to ensure that their wishes are understood and to clarify the nature and purpose of the curriculum. The school will document this process to ensure a record is kept.

The Principal/Senior/Subject Leader will discuss with parents/carers the benefits of receiving this important education and any detrimental effects that withdrawal might have on the student. This could include any social and emotional effects of being excluded, as well as the likelihood of the student hearing their peers’ version of what was said in the classes, rather than what was directly said by the teacher.

Once these discussions have taken place, except in exceptional circumstances, the school will respect the parents’/carers request to withdraw the student, up to and until three terms before the child turns 16. After that point, if the student wishes to receive sex education rather than be withdrawn, the school will make arrangements to provide the student with sex education during one of those terms.

This process is the same for students with SEND. However, there may be exceptional circumstances where the Principal/Senior/Subject Leader may want to take a student’s specific needs arising from their SEND into account when making this decision.

If a student is excused from sex education, the school will ensure that the student receives appropriate, purposeful education during the period of withdrawal. There is no right to withdraw from Relationships Education or Health Education.

9. Responding to Students Questions

Effective RSE needs to be taught in an atmosphere of responsibility and respect, where sensitive issues can be discussed without embarrassment or threat. It is important that students feel able to ask any questions that they wish and that their questions are valued. Establishing a safe, open and supportive learning environment, built on trusting relationships between all members of the class community will create this climate.

We acknowledge that sensitive and potentially difficult issues will arise in RSE. Discussions are guided in a way that reflects the stated school aims and curriculum content for RSE and questions raised by children will be answered honestly and with a degree of detail appropriate to the child’s age and stage of development. While it is essential that lessons are sensitive to a range of views, staff will ensure that students always have access to the learning they need to stay safe, healthy and understand their rights as individuals. This will include clear, impartial scientific information as well as covering the law, particularly in relation to legislation concerning abusive relationships. Staff will use their professional skills and discretion before answering questions and, if necessary, they will deal with questions on an individual basis after the lesson. Where appropriate, teachers will

discuss a child's concerns with their parents/carers. If a member of staff is uncertain about the answer to a question, or indeed whether they should answer it, they will seek guidance from the

RSE leader/ Child Protection Officer. When answering questions, we ensure that sharing personal information by adults, students or their families is discouraged.

10. Safeguarding and Child Protection

Through RSE, we will teach students the knowledge they need to recognise and to report abuse, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse. We recognise that students are capable of abusing their peers and that peer on peer abuse can manifest in many different ways, including on-line bullying, sharing inappropriate images, initiation/hazing (an activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses or endangers them, regardless of a person's willingness to participate) and inappropriate/harmful sexual behaviours.

Students should know how to report concerns and seek advice when they suspect or know that something is wrong. At all stages it will be important to balance teaching students about making sensible decisions to stay safe (including online) whilst being clear it is never the fault of a student who is abused and why victim blaming is always wrong.

When teaching any sensitive issue young people may give cause for concern. All adults are aware of our safeguarding arrangements and procedures. If the school has any reason to believe a student is at risk, advice from Leeds Child Protection Team will be sought. These subjects complement Health Education and as part of a comprehensive programme and whole.

11. Confidentiality and Handling Disclosures

Due to the nature of PSHE education, students’ learning may result in them seeking advice or support on a specific personal issue. Staff in schools can never promise unconditional or absolute confidentiality. The aim is to strike a balance between helping pupils to feel respected, safe and able to participate fully and openly while still protecting privacy and safeguarding welfare. Effective learning and teaching in PSHE actively encourages students to share thoughts and voice opinions, so it is important to establish boundaries and clarify at the outset with students what will happen to any personal information they might disclose in the classroom. If a child makes a disclosure, the teacher will deal with it as a ‘cause for concern’ and matter of child protection, in line with our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy. In any case where child protection procedures are followed, all staff will ensure that the young person understands that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. Staff will explain to the student that the information might need to be passed on to the Principal or designated teacher for Child Protection who may make a record and pursue Child Protection procedures if necessary. The student’s right to privacy will be respected, regardless of the gravity of the incident, so sensitive information will only be shared with relevant staff/agencies. Health professionals in school are bound by their codes of conduct in a one-to-one situation with an individual student, but in a classroom situation they must follow the school's Child Protection policy.

12. Complaints procedure

Parents or carers who have complaints or concerns about RSE.

If a student, parent/carer or member of staff is concerned regarding any aspect of RSE provision at Co-op Academy Priesthorpe, the Principal should be informed. The Principal will respond to the complaint in accordance with the school’s Complaints Policy. If a concern relates to the Principal, contact should be with the Chair of Governors.

13. Links to other School Policies and Areas of the Curriculum