FAQs
England
All primary schools must:
- teach Relationships Education
- have a Relationships and Sex Education policy
- consult with parents about their Relationships Education teaching
- Allow parents to withdraw from non-statutory sex education classes upon request
Parents have a right to withdraw from sex education classes throughout their child’s primaryWithdrawal requests must be made in writing and in accordance with the school’s Relationship and Sex Education policy. You can use this handy template to withdraw your child from non-statutory sex education classes in your child’s primary school.
Most policies state that the school will arrange a meeting with parents before executing a parent’s withdrawal request. There is no requirement in law to attend such a meeting or for your request to be conditioned on such a meeting. This does not mean you should not attend but you should know your attendance is voluntaThe school will seek to talk you out of your decision. If you are certain you would prefer to withdraw you should state this at the meeting. The school may ask you to provide a reason for withdrawal. You can say use some of the following options that reflect your stance:
- I would prefer to teach my child about matters relating to sex and relationships myself according to my own faith values.
- I believe the role of educating my child about sex and relationships is my responsibility.
You should not see withdrawal as the solution in and of itself. When you withdraw you must commit to taking control of the responsibility to talk to your children about sexual matters. All Muslim parents whether they exercise their right to withdraw or not must take control of this responsibility.
No, they don’t. The government has recommended teaching in primary schools, but it’s not statutory. Primary schools can decide not to teach it. In reality most schools do. The government has recently clarified this. “Primary schools are not required to teach LGBT content but can choose to teach it in an age-appropriate way.” (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/630932) A minority of primary schools have chosen not to teach about same-sex families. But it’s important that schools know when they do teach it, that is a choice, not the fulfilment of a statutory requirement.
Yes. All secondary schools must teach RSE. .
Parents can withdraw from the sex education element of RSE, but not from Relationships Education.
Parents can withdraw up until their child turns 15. After which their child gets to decide whether they’re withdrawn or not. You can use this handy template to withdraw your child from non-statutory sex education classes in your child’s primary school. SECONDARY SCHOOL WITHDRAWAL LETTER SEX EDUCATIONYes. The school is legally required to consult you when reviewing its policy.
A policy review provides you with the opportunity to feedback on how a school teaches RHE/RHSE. A policy may be reviewed annually or every 2-3 years. Although you need not wait until your school’s policy is reviewed, it provides an opportunity to communicate concerns and feedback.Most RHE/RHSE policies lack detail. Aim to ensure the policy contains detail on:
- The name of resources/materials.
- What is taught in different year groups.
- Whether a school teaches non-statutory sex education.
- Clear guidance for teachers to ensure factual, objective and critical treatment of RSE topics.
- Clearer information on how consultation takes place and how parents are included in meaningful consultation.
- How the school takes into account the religious background of pupils when choosing appropriate resources.
- How a school teaches the subjects: There are no central resources that schools must use. So, if parents consider some of the resources inappropriate, they can reasonably ask for these to be changed.
- When a school teaches the topics: The statutory topics for primary schools must be taught by the end of primary schools and the statutory topics for secondary must be taught by the end of secondary school. If a school is adamant it must teach the sexual body parts in year one or same-sex families in year two, you must remind schools that the year groups are not set in stone and can be changed.
- Parent power: When parents work together in numbers schools are more likely to listen. Schools can often side-line a few parents but when there’s 30, 40 or 50, this becomes more difficult.
- Be clear, consistent and persistent: Be clear about what you want to change and then take part in consistent actions to communicate these. Although it shouldn’t be the case, but often schools expect a flurry of activity to fizzle out over time and so it’s important to recognise that change does not always happen straight away. Parents need to be consistent in communicating the changes they want and persist.
- Be polite but firm: It’s important not to approach schools in an antagonistic way as though you’re waging battle. This approach inevitably results in defensive reactions, creating a metaphorical boxing ring where parents and teachers find themselves on opposing sides. This doesn’t mean parents should accept to be treated as an annoyance. You should be confident in expressing your views. You are the primary stakeholder in schools after all. It’s also important that you focus on the changes you are seeking and not get distracted by side issues.
Scotland
Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenting is a subject taught in all Scottish primary and secondary schools.
You have the right to withdraw your children from the sexual health element of RSHP.
You need to ask the school to clarify which areas fall under sexual health topics.
The current guidance does not set an age. It claims that children have ‘evolving capacity’ to make decisions as they get older. Schools can therefore insist that children are included in the decision to withdraw as they get older.
Although the government has funded a central curriculum, schools are not obliged to use it prescriptively. They can choose to use some resources and not others. It’s important that parents provide feedback on the resources a school uses and make reasonable suggestions for changes. So, if some of the resources expose children to sexual messages far too early, they should feed back that a particular worksheet, or visual aid is inappropriate.
The law makes it clear that teaching must not veer into indoctrination. Teaching must be objective, critical and pluralistic. In law, teachers must not present their own personal opinions on relationships and ‘LGBTQ’. They must also ensure that different views are not only reflected in teaching but that if a child expresses their religious perspective on a particular relationship or identity, such as saying ‘same-sex sexual relationships are sinful in Islam’, they should not be penalized for expressing such a view, as faith and belief is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act.
Parents can make the case for particular resources to be changed if they assess they are inappropriate and does not take into account the faith perspective of their child. Parents can also make the case that certain approaches, such as teaching children the name of sexual body parts from early years is exposing children to adult topics far too early. This particular approach is based on the mistaken belief that teaching the ‘proper names of intimate body parts’ is essential to safeguarding children. Schools are encouraged to cover human conception, sexual intercourse and giving birth in P6/P7 (10–12-year-olds). Parents should seek to have these discussions delivered in much later in secondary school and consider using your right to withdraw from sexual health lessons.
- Parent power: When parents work together in numbers schools are more likely to listen. Schools can often side-line a few parents but when there’s 30, 40 or 50, this becomes more difficult.
- Be clear, consistent and persistent: Be clear about what you want to change and then take part in consistent actions to communicate these. Although it shouldn’t be the case, but often schools expect a flurry of activity to fizzle out over time and so it’s important to recognise that change does not always happen straight away. Parents need to be consistent in communicating the changes they want and persist.
- Be polite but firm: It’s important not to approach schools in an antagonistic way as though you’re waging battle. This approach inevitably results in defensive reactions, creating a metaphorical boxing ring where parents and teachers find themselves on opposing sides. This doesn’t mean parents should accept to be treated as an annoyance. You should be confident in expressing your views. You are the primary stakeholder in schools after all. It’s also important that you focus on the changes you are seeking and not get distracted by side issues.
Wales
Relationships and Sexuality Education is statutory in primary schools.
Relationships and Sexuality Education is statutory in secondary schools.
Parents do not have the right to withdraw.
Yes, but not just developmentally appropriate to all children in a class but every individual learner. The RSE Code states: “The Act requires that the RSE schools provide must be developmentally appropriate for learners. This means schools and settings must take account of a range of factors including the learner’s age; knowledge and maturity; any additional learning needs and anticipating their physiological and emotional development. RSE must be developmentally appropriate for each learner, meaning that learners’ needs of similar ages may differ.” If parents can make the case that a particular lesson is not developmentally appropriate for their child, they can argue that either the school needs to change that lesson or remove their child from that class. The school cannot argue that it is developmentally appropriate for all children, as children may differ from children of the same age on account of knowledge, maturity and additional learning needs,
No. The RSE Code is very clear about this and clarifies the law. In all schools and settings, RSE must be objective, critical, and pluralistic as to its content and manner of teaching (see the case of ‘Dojan and Others v. Germany 2011 application no. 319/08’). By pluralistic we mean that that where questions of values are concerned, schools and settings must provide a range of views on a given subject, commonly held within society. This also means providing a range of factual information on RSE issues. In all schools, where they explore specific beliefs or views, this must include a range of other faith and non-religious views on the issue. In all schools and settings, RSE must be objective, critical, and pluralistic as to its content and manner of teaching (see the case of ‘Dojan and Others v. Germany 2011 application no. 319/08’). By pluralistic we mean that that where questions of values are concerned, schools and settings must provide a range of views on a given subject, commonly held within society. This also means providing a range of factual information on RSE issues. In all schools, where they explore specific beliefs or views, this must include a range of other faith and non-religious views on the issue. Where issues of difference are spoken about, teachers must ensure teaching is objective, not biased, critical, not one-sided, and pluralistic, not indoctrinating. Teachers should use the type of language which illustrates that there are a range of moral perspectives about sexual relationships and ‘LGBTQ’. So a teacher may say, ‘some people believe same-sex relationships are morally acceptable, whilst others do believe they are not morally acceptable.’ .
They should complain setting out the basis of their complaint and what they want the school to do to set things right. There is a process for escalation of complaints built in to the RSE Code. Firstly, they should complain to the headteacher. If they do not feel their complaint has been handled correctly, they should complain to the governing body. The next escalation point is to the local authority and then finally the last port of call is to complain to the Welsh ministers. Often parents feel aggrieved and do not complain, even to the school. This is worrying for two reasons. Firstly, when parents feel let down, they tend to lose trust in the school and no longer engage. Secondly, and most importantly, unless complaints are made when the law and the code are not followed, those at the highest level conclude that there the implementation and roll out of RSE are without problems. Parents can either suffer in silence or use the processes established to raise your concerns.
If a school is using inappropriate resources or they’re teaching a topic too early, a parent should ask for changes to be made. Schools have the flexibility to make adaptations to its teaching.
There are no resources that are 100% perfect. There are good and bad bits in all the popular resources. What’s really important is to provide feedback on the aspects of the resources you find inappropriate. Whether this is explicit material or worksheets which promote particular familiar structures. You will have a greater impact if you provide constructive feedback that is reasonable.
- Parent power: When parents work together in numbers schools are more likely to listen. Schools can often side-line a few parents but when there’s 30, 40 or 50, this becomes more difficult.
- Be clear, consistent and persistent: Be clear about what you want to change and then take part in consistent actions to communicate these. Although it shouldn’t be the case, but often schools expect a flurry of activity to fizzle out over time and so it’s important to recognise that change does not always happen straight away. Parents need to be consistent in communicating the changes they want and persist.
- Be polite but firm: It’s important not to approach schools in an antagonistic way as though you’re waging battle. This approach inevitably results in defensive reactions, creating a metaphorical boxing ring where parents and teachers find themselves on opposing sides. This doesn’t mean parents should accept to be treated as an annoyance. You should be confident in expressing your views. You are the primary stakeholder in schools after all. It’s also important that you focus on the changes you are seeking and not get distracted by side issues.
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