Relationships, Sex and Health Education policy
Christian values
The specific Christian Values of Love, Respect and Courage underpin, and are intrinsic to the ethos and belief of Saint James Church of England Primary School.
Our vision
At Saint James we accept challenges, take risks and work to make to make positive change in ourselves and our community.
Focusing on building resilience and compassionate relationships allows everyone to flourish.
Using our Christian values to guide us, we develop skills to navigate rough seas and transform our world.
Be strong and courageous and do it.
1 Chronicles 28:20
Introduction
The greatest commandment Jesus taught was to love God and to love your neighbour. Within this commandment is the foundation of the Christian view of relationships. At Saint James Primary School our relationship education seeks to live out this command and explore how we can 'love our neighbour' through what we say and do. Our school focuses on the importance of relationships and the qualities and character needed to sustain the best relationships that honour each other whether within a friendship, family relationship or romantic relationship.
Each child is a unique being, a child of God, loved and accepted. As such, our school seeks to enable children to develop through an inclusive programme of teaching that is based on Christian principles, which both respects the human body and seeks to ensure health and wellbeing.
The Philosophy of the School
The school’s philosophy aims to provide a stimulating and caring environment in which each child may experience high standards of education and preparation for the future, working in partnership with parents and the local community. The policy for Sex & Relationships Education (SRE) is written in accordance with this philosophy.
“To embrace the challenges of creating a happy and successful adult life, pupils need knowledge that will enable them to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships and to build their self-efficacy. Pupils can also put this knowledge into practice as they develop the capacity to make sound decisions when facing risks, challenges and complex contexts. Everyone faces difficult situations in their lives. These subjects can support young people to develop resilience, to know how and when to ask for help, and to know where to access support..” Sex and Relationships Education Guidance, DfEE, July 2020.
What is Sex and Relationships Education?
Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) is lifelong learning about physical, moral and emotional development. It is about the understanding of the importance of marriage for family, stable and loving relationships, respect, love and care. It is also about the teaching of sex, sexuality, and sexual health. It is not about the promotion of sexual orientation or sexual activity – this would be inappropriate teaching. Please read the SRE policy for further information. (Sex and Relationships Education Guidance, DfEE, Sept 2021).
Rationale
SRE is integral to PSHE and as such we believe it is important to help children learn to respect themselves and others, develop fulfilling relationships and lead confident, healthy lives. The programme we offer in school will compliment and build on that offered by parents.
Aims
As well as our generic aims for PSHE our aims for SRE are to help pupils:
- respect themselves and others and move with confidence through childhood to adolescence
- learn the value of love, care and empathy for others
- gain an appreciation of the variety of cultural, religious, ethnic and social viewpoints
- appreciate the qualities and values of family life, marriage and stable, loving relationships for the nurture of children
- learn and understand physical development at appropriate stages, under-stand human sexuality, reproduction, sexual health, emotions and relation-ships
- acquire accurate information and develop the understanding they need to live confident, happy and independent lives
- develop critical thinking in order to make responsible and well-informed deci-sions about relationships
- empower themselves to make informed choices about sexual matters
- learn how to avoid exploitation and abuse
- prepare themselves for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life
- learn the importance of values and individual conscience and moral consider-ations
- explore, consider and understand moral dilemmas; and
- develop critical thinking as part of decision-making.
Outline of SRE programme YR-Y6
At St James, we follow the Coram Life programme (SCARF) for PSHE and SRE, which ensures our children are introduced to the different aspects of growing and changing in an age-appropriate manner and time. The objectives of our SRE programme are broken down into year groups and can be found below.
Reception
Children will be able to:
- Understand that there are changes in nature and humans;
- Name the different stages in childhood and growing up;
- Understand that babies are made by a man and a woman;
- Use the correct vocabulary when naming the different parts of the body;
- Know how to keep themselves safe.
- Name the different seasons and describe their differences;
- Explain the changes that occur as seasons change;
- Talk about how they have grown in resilience.
- To understand that animals and humans change in appearance over time;
- Use relevant vocabulary such as egg, seed, baby, grow, change, old, young (and the names for young animals);
- Make observations and ask questions about living things.
- Retell a story and respond to questions about it.
- Use the language and describe the different life stages of: baby, child, teen-ager, adult, older age.
- Talk about their own experience of growing up.
- Explain that a baby is made by a woman and a man, and grows inside a mother’s tummy.
- Understand that every family is different.
Year One
Children will be able to:
- Understand that the body gets energy from food, water and air (oxygen).
- Recognise that exercise and sleep are important parts of a healthy lifestyle.
- Identify things they could do as a baby, a toddler and can do now.
- Identify the people who help/helped them at those different stages.
- Explain the difference between teasing and bullying.
- Give examples of what they can do if they experience or witness bullying.
- Say who they could get help from in a bullying situation. Explain the difference between a secret and a nice surprise.
- Identify situations as being secrets or surprises.
- Identify who they can talk to if they feel uncomfortable about any secret they are told or told to keep. Identify parts of the body that are private.
- Describe ways in which private parts can be kept private.
- Identify people they can talk to about their private parts.
Year Two
Children will be able to:
- Demonstrate simple ways of giving positive feedback to others.
- Recognise the range of feelings that are associated with losing (and being reunited) with a person they are close to.
- Identify different stages of growth (e.g. baby, toddler, child, teenager, adult);
- Understand and describe some of the things that people are capable of at these different stages.
- Identify which parts of our body are private.
- Explain that our genitals help us make babies when we are older.
- Understand that we mostly have the same body parts but how they look is different from person to person.
- Explain what privacy means.
- Know that you are not allowed to touch someone’s private belongings without their permission.
- Give examples of different types of private information.
- Identify how inappropriate touch can make someone feel.
- Understand that there are unsafe secrets and secrets that are nice surprises.
- Explain that if someone is being touched in a way that they don’t like they have to tell someone in their safety network so they can help it stop.
Year Three
Children will be able to:
- Identify different types of relationships.
- Recognise who they have positive healthy relationships with.
- Understand what is meant by the term body space (or personal space);
- Identify when it is appropriate or inappropriate to allow someone into their body space.
- Rehearse strategies for when someone is inappropriately in their body space.
- Know that our body can often give us a sign when something doesn't feel right; to trust these signs and talk to a trusted adult if this happens.
- Recognise and describe appropriate behaviour online as well as offline.
- Identify what constitutes personal information and when it is not appropriate or safe to share this.
- Understand and explain how to get help in a situation where requests for images or information of themselves or others occurs.
- Define the terms 'secret' and 'surprise' and know the difference between a safe and an unsafe secret.
- Recognise how different surprises and secrets might make them feel.
- Know who they could ask for help if a secret made them feel uncomfortable or unsafe.
- Recognise that babies come from the joining of an egg and sperm.
- Explain what happens when an egg doesn’t meet a sperm.
- Understand that for girls, periods are a normal part of puberty.
Year Four
Children will be able to:
- Describe some of the changes that happen to people during their lives.
- Explain how the Learning Line can be used as a tool to help them manage change more easily.
- Suggest people who may be able to help them deal with change.
- Name some positive and negative feelings.
- Understand how the onset of puberty can have emotional as well as physical impact.
- Suggest reasons why young people sometimes fall out with their parents.
- Take part in a role play practising how to compromise.
- Identify parts of the body that males and females have in common and those that are different.
- Know the correct terminology for their genitalia.
- Understand and explain why puberty happens.
- Know the key facts of the menstrual cycle.
- Understand that periods are a normal part of puberty for girls.
- Identify some of the ways to cope better with periods.
- Define the terms 'secret' and 'surprise' and know the difference between a safe and an unsafe secret.
- Recognise how different surprises and secrets might make them feel.
- Know who they could ask for help if a secret made them feel uncomfortable or unsafe.
- Understand that marriage is a commitment to be entered into freely and not against someone's will.
- Recognise that marriage includes same sex and opposite sex partners.
- Know the legal age for marriage in England or Scotland.
- Discuss the reasons why a person would want to be married, or live together, or have a civil ceremony.
Year Five
Children will be able to:
- Use a range of words and phrases to describe the intensity of different feel-ings.
- Distinguish between good and not so good feelings, using appropriate vo-cabulary to describe these.
- Explain strategies they can use to build resilience.
- Identify people who can be trusted.
- Understand what kinds of touch are acceptable or unacceptable.
- Describe strategies for dealing with situations in which they would feel uncom-fortable, particularly in relation to inappropriate touch.
- Explain how someone might feel when they are separated from someone or something they like.
- Suggest ways to help someone who is separated from someone or something they like.
- Know the correct words for the external sexual organs.
- Discuss some of the myths associated with puberty.
- Identify some products that they may need during puberty and why.
- Know what menstruation is and why it happens.
- Recognise how our body feels when we’re relaxed.
- List some of the ways our body feels when it is nervous or sad.
- Describe and/or demonstrate how to be resilient in order to find someone who will listen to you.
- Identify the consequences of positive and negative behaviour on themselves and others.
- Give examples of how individual/group actions can impact on others in a posi-tive or negative way.
- Explain the difference between a safe and an unsafe secret.
- Identify situations where someone might need to break a confidence in order to keep someone safe.
- Recognise that some people can get bullied because of the way they express their gender.
- Give examples of how bullying behaviours can be stopped.
Year Six
Children will be able to:
- Recognise some of the changes they have experienced and their emotional responses to those changes.
- Suggest positive strategies for dealing with change.
- Identify people who can support someone who is dealing with a challenging time of change.
- Understand that fame can be short-lived.
- Recognise that photos can be changed to match society's view of perfect.
- Identify qualities that people have, as well as their looks.
- Define what is meant by the term stereotype.
- Recognise how the media can sometimes reinforce gender stereotypes.
- Recognise that people fall into a wide range of what is seen as normal.
- Challenge stereotypical gender portrayals of people.
- Understand the risks of sharing images online and how these are hard to con-trol, once shared.
- Understand that people can feel pressured to behave in a certain way be-cause of the influence of the peer group.
- Understand the norms of risk-taking behaviour and that these are usually lower than people believe them to be.
- Define the word 'puberty' giving examples of some of the physical and emo-tional changes associated with it.
- Suggest strategies that would help someone who felt challenged by the changes in puberty.
- Understand what FGM is and that it is an illegal practice in this country.
- Know where someone could get support if they were concerned about their own or another person's safety.
- Explain the difference between a safe and an unsafe secret.
- Identify situations where someone might need to break a confidence in order to keep someone safe.
- Identify the changes that happen through puberty to allow sexual reproduction to occur.
- Know a variety of ways in which the sperm can fertilise the egg to create a baby.
- Know the legal age of consent and what it means.
- Explain how HIV affects the body’s immune system.
- Understand that HIV is difficult to transmit.
- Know how a person can protect themself from HIV.
Implementation
The SRE programme will be delivered through a variety of different approaches, in class and/or single sex groups, as appropriate. These may include:
- class based lessons
- group discussion/circle time
- drama/role-play
- videos
- Internet based programmes
- outside agency involvement
- Teaching staff will offer general information and guidance to pupils using ac-cepted language agreed by the school (see below), however teachers will never give individual medical advice.
- Children will have the opportunity to raise any issues or ask any questions they may have. This may involve questions on HIV/Aids. These will be an-swered honestly and sensitively in a manner appropriate to their level of un-derstanding and experience.
- Confidentiality will be respected but should pupil’s questions or responses give staff cause for concern the head teacher and/or CPLO will be informed. (Re-fer to Child Protection Policy for procedures)
Accepted Language agreed by the school
As soon as children enter Saint James Church of England Primary School in Year R, all body parts will be referred to by their scientific name, and children will be encouraged to use these terms. We will explain to children that ‘family’ names for parts of the body are acceptable for home use, but that at school we will use the correct terminology, i.e. penis, vagina, breasts, testicles, etc
Sharing of materials
Should any parent have queries or concerns regarding the materials we use to teach SRE throughout the school, an appointment can be made with your child’s class teacher, or if appropriate the PSHE leader, who will readily share the materials with you and explain how these are used with the context of a lesson.
Right to withdraw
Should any parent have concerns or anxieties about any elements of the programme, they are asked to discuss them with the head teacher so that any misunderstandings can be clarified.
If any parents feel they would prefer to withdraw their child from certain lessons they may do so in writing, however withdrawals may not be made from the National Curriculum Programme of Study. (See section 405 of Education Act 1996). For example, Parents have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education, but not from Relationships Education. Any parents who are considering withdrawing their child should first discuss this with the head teacher. It is important to consider the benefits of receiving this important education and any detrimental effects that withdrawal might have on the child. This could include any social and emotional effects of being excluded, as well as the likelihood of the child hearing their peers’ version of what was said in the classes, rather than what was directly said by the teacher.
Conclusion
The following groups were involved with the development of this policy: teachers, SENco, support staff, parents and governors.