Relationships and Health Education

From September 2021, the DfE requires that all schools teach a programme of relationships and health education. 

In primary schools, the curriculum in these areas will put in place the key building blocks of healthy, respectful relationships, focusing on family and friendships, in all contexts, including online.  It will also teach about mental wellbeing, giving children the knowledge and capability to take care of themselves and receive support if problems arise. 

As parents, it is really important we work closely with you and ensure that you know what will be taught and when within this area of the curriculum, particularly with regard to the relationships and sex education element. 

What and how will we teach about Relationships and Health Education?

We recently held a Teams meeting for parents to share the background around the topic, what we will be teaching across all year groups and how we will deliver this.  We are using some fantastic resources and teaching frameworks from Jigsaw and also working with the Goodness & Mercy resource from the Diocese to put our Relationships, Sex and Health Education programme together.

For your reference, here are some resources we spoke about which highlight some of the ways in which we will deliver this information across all year groups. (due to copyright issues, we can't share the exact presentation we went through but the key information is within these documents).

• RSHE - A Guide for Parents and Carers leaflet 2020
• Jigsaw LGBT Parent Leaflet
• Jigsaw PSHE recommended book list for additional reading

When will we start teaching about Relationships and Health Education?

We will be embedding this work within our existing framework of PSHE lessons and all classes will focus on the same topic each term, using age appropriate learning, language and resources.

In Years 5 & 6, the class teachers will communicate with parents when specific areas around Health & Sex Education will be taught so you will know in advance.

Does my child have to learn about this?

As we explained in the meeting, as with the rest of our curriculum, it is compulsory that we teach the relationships and health elements. There are a few topics, in the later KS2 year groups where parents can withdraw their child if they wish or have concerns. If this applies to you, we’d encourage you to speak to your class teacher in the first instance and they can go through the areas in more detail with you.

The attached document shows the areas taught and highlights (in yellow) those which you may withdraw your child, if you wish. However, as a school, we feel that they are key to a child’s development and understanding.

• RSHE Topic and compulsory sessions

What is the school’s Relationships and Health Education policy?

Now we have shared the detail around how we are approaching this topic, we will finalise our Relationship and Health Education policy which has been approved by the school Governors and it will be available on this page as soon as possible.

If any parents or carers have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email the main school office or the class teachers using your class email address.