RELATIONSHIPS AND SEX EDUCATION

Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) is the lifelong learning about: relationships, sex, sexuality, and sexual health. It involves acquiring information, developing skills, and forming positive beliefs, values, and attitudes. RSE should empower young people, build self-esteem, offer a positive and open view of sex (and sexuality), and support mutual acceptance and respect of others.

At Darwen Aldridge Community Academy, we believe that providing our students with high quality Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is vitally important. RSE was made statutory by the Department for Education in 2019, as per section 34 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017. Through our RSE curriculum we aim to:

• Provide students with what they need to know to be safe, healthy and manage their lives, academic, personal and social as well as off and online.
• Enable students to be independent and to take care of themselves, as well as empower them to know where to receive support if problems arise.
• Build young people who are resilient, happy, successful, productive, kind, generous and honest.
• Support student wellbeing by providing them with mechanisms to cope during stressful periods and support them in developing their ability to learn and avoid distractions.
• Make our RSE curriculum inclusive of all and ensure that our provision is tailored to every student within the Academy, regardless of their situation and needs.

DEFINITION

We define Relationships Education as learning about the physical, social, legal and emotional aspects of human relationships including friendships, intimate, sexual and committed relationships, and family life.

We define Sex Education as learning about the physical, social, legal and emotional aspects of human sexuality and behaviour, including human reproduction. This includes conception and contraception, safer sex, sexually transmitted infections and sexual health.

POLICY

A copy of our policy can be found on our Policies page or here. 

CURRICULUM

Our curriculum is designed and based on the recommended programme from the PSHE Association. We ensure that the statutory curriculum content found within the Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education guidance (2019) is delivered in a timely way and is age and developmentally appropriate to meet the needs of our students, including those students with SEND.

Controversial topics will be covered with sensitivity and respect for all viewpoints. The curriculum is not aimed to instruct what is right and wrong, but to consider different perspectives and provide students with the information to make their own informed decisions.

An Overview of our Curriculum can be found here.  An alternate version can be found here.

An Overview of the content we must have covered by the time each student reaches the end of Year 11 can be found here. 

DELIVERY OF RSE

At Key Stage 3 (KS3), discrete lessons are timetabled for one hour per week and is used for the Personal, Social, and Health Education (PSHE) studies. Delivery of the RSE curriculum for KS3 is done within this time, and also during students tutor period.

At Key Stage 4 (KS4) and Key Stage 5 (KS5), PSHE and RSE are delivered in tutor times and through drop-down sessions/days spread out during the academic year.  In the drop-down sessions, the content is delivered by a team of dedicated RSE staff.

To support the delivery of the RSE curriculum, some content may also be delivered in other timetabled lessons such as: Science, Computer Science, and Religious Education.

PARENTAL RIGHT TO WITHDRAW

Parents have the right to withdraw their children from the [non-statutory/non-science] components of sex education within RSE up to and until three terms before the child turns 16. After this point, if the child wishes to receive sex education rather than being withdrawn, the school will arrange this.

Requests for withdrawal should be put in writing using the form below and addressed to the Principal. A copy of withdrawal requests will be placed in the student’s educational record. The Principal will discuss the request with parents and take appropriate action. Alternative work will be given to pupils who are withdrawn from sex education.

The Right to Withdraw Form can be found here.