RHSE – Relationship, Health and Sex Education
Dear Parent/Carer,
As many of you will be aware, the Department for Education announced changes to relationships and sex education following a nationwide consultation. These changes were expected to come into effect from September 2020. In light of COVID-19 and subsequent closures, schools have been granted permission to delay the implementation for a short time. By the end of the summer term 2021, all schools will be required to comply with the DfE requirements. This statutory guidance can be found at:
This means that we have reviewed our RHSE curriculum and policy so that we can ensure age-appropriate provision.
The sex education aspect is not statutory in primary schools and the governing body have decided that we will not be teaching sex education lessons at this time.
The statutory requirements in primary schools are that we teach the Health Education curriculum and the Relationship Education curriculum. Many, if not all of these strands, are linked to various other subjects and have therefoe already been taught for a number of years. Our RHSE policy therefore has links to subjects such as science, PHSCE and RE.
Whilst I am sure there may be differences of opinion, we have spent a good amount of time consulting with a selection of concerned parents and other local schools including a local faith school. We also expect that in consulting with you, it will inform us of any decisions on how and when certain content will be covered. This will obviously be finalised with reference to the guidance from the DfE above.
Please take a read of our policy and RHSE curriculum plans. We would greatly appreciate your views on:
- Our proposed policy for RHSE (Relationships, Health and Sex Education).
- When we have proposed for specific vocabulary and content to be taught.
Ultimately, what is taught is a decision for the governing body of the school and although we will do our utmost to support parent/carer requirements, this consultation does not provide a parent/carer veto on the content as schools are required, by law, to teach the National Curriculum.
We have tried to have a face-to-face meeting on two separate occasions during this and the last academic year which, due to COVID-19, have had to be cancelled.
I am therefore sharing the following documents for you to explore, on our school website:
- A summary of what all pupils are expected to know by the end of their time in primary school.
- FAQ sheet
- Examples of resources that will be used during RHSE lessons
- Our proposed RHSE policy
- DfE statutory guidance
This consultation will finish on 12 April 2021, thus enabling us to train staff on the delivery and content of this area of the curriculum.
Your views are very important to us and once we have considered all the feedback and liaised with the governing body, the finalised Relationship, Health and Sex Education policy will be uploaded to the school’s website along with a summary of the curriculum we will teach.
As I have mentioned earlier in this document, a lot of work has already gone into the preparartion or our approach, in order to make it bespoke to Beech Hill Primary School. I look forward to hearing your responses.
Kind regards,
Chris Davidson and the Senior Leadership Team
Guidance for RHSE – Relationship, Health and Sex Education
Parents’/Carers’ Leaflets – Understanding Relationships and Health Education, A guide for parents
DFE guidance and answers to FAQs
Luton guidance and answers to FAQs
relationships and sex education model policy without sex education
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