At West Yarner/ Seale Hayne, we believe that Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) is an integral part of a child’s education. RSE is about understanding the importance of family life, stable and loving relationships and respect for others, love and care. Providing children with this understanding is vital to help them develop positive relationships both in and out of school. Educating children about their bodies empowers them to understand the changes their body goes through as they grow and gives them confidence to be able to talk about their bodies. We take care to ensure there is no stigmatism of any child based on their home circumstances and we do not use RSE as means of promoting any form of sexual orientation.
In our lessons we aim to:
- Provide accurate and relevant information about the physical and emotional changes that children and young people will experience through their formative years and into adulthood.
- Foster self-awareness and self-esteem.
- Develop a sense of responsibility and respect for themselves and others.
We teach children about:
- The physical development of their bodies as they grow into adults
- The way humans reproduce
- Respect for their own bodies and the importance of sexual activity as part of a committed, long-term and loving relationship
- The importance of family life
- Moral questions
- Relationship issues
- Respect for the views of other people
- How to stay safe online
- How to recognise when they are at risk or when something is not safe
- Challenge and prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender
- Discuss their concerns and correct misunderstandings they may have gained from the media or peers.
We teach sex education through different aspects of the curriculum. Whilst we deliver most topics in our personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum, we also teach some topics through other subject areas (for example, Science and PE), where we feel that they contribute significantly to a child’s knowledge and understanding of his or her own body, and how it is changing and developing.
PSHE: In PSHE we teach children about relationships, and we encourage children to discuss issues. We teach about the parts of the body and how these work.