SRE
Sex and Relationships Education at Castle School
Sex and relationships education at Castle school is an important part of how we meet our aim of promoting both pupil health and wellbeing, and positive and safe relationships.
In Primary, we prepare pupils by giving them the foundations for positive and safe relationships. These relationships include friends, family and online. We give them the information they need to make decisions about their health and wellbeing.
In Secondary and Sixth form, we continue to build on these foundations by equipping our pupils to develop healthy and nurturing relationships. We cover content on what healthy and unhealthy relationships look like and what makes a good friend. We feel it is very important to give your child the appropriate knowledge to enable them to make safe, informed, and healthy choices as they prepare for adulthood.
What is sex and relationships education?
In sex and relationships education, we teach healthy relationships, love, care and family support. We also cover body changes, body image and keeping ourselves safe and healthy. We also teach sex, sexuality and sexual health.
Why is sex and relationships education so important?
Our pupils learn about relationships from a young age, even if we do not talk about it with them directly. We help them to learn positive and safe interactions with a range of people.
We also teach our pupils to build their self-esteem, their confidence and their understanding of the subject.
Statutory Guidance
Statutory Guidance from the Department of Education requires that we teach these subject areas.
You have the right to withdraw your child from Sex and Relationships Education until a pupil is within 3 terms of their 16th birthday. This can be discussed through a meeting with the headteacher. However, given the crucial nature of what is being taught in these lessons for our pupils’ well-being and safety, the school would always strongly encourage parents not to take this course of action.
Pupils cannot be withdrawn from Relationships Education, Health Education or the Statutory Science curriculum.
What do we teach, and when?
We follow a nationally recognised programme of study to make sure that we teach all that is appropriate for our pupils’ age and developmental stage. We also make a judgement about their ability to learn the skills and knowledge. We balance the need to teach them with the need not to overwhelm them with too much knowledge or with issues or concepts that they are not ready to deal with.
The SRE curriculum is taught mainly within our PSHE curriculum, our Life and Living course, and through parts of Science, PE and Computing.
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Relationships education |
Sex and Relationships Education |
Health Education |
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Primary |
Families and people who support me Caring friendships Respectful relationships Online relationships Being safe Consent in friendships |
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Mental wellbeing Internet safety Physical health and fitness Healthy eating
Menstruation Puberty
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Secondary and Sixth form |
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Respectful relationships/friendships Online and media Intimate and sexual relationships Sexual health Consent The Law |
As per primary, plus:
Preparation for adulthood Drugs, alcohol and tobacco awareness and safety Sexual health Gender and identity |
How can parents and school work together?
We know that pupils learn best when parents and school work closely together. Here are some recommendations:
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Talk to your child about what they have been learning and listen to their views
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Listen to their questions and answer them
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Talk to us at school. We are happy to share views, listen to suggestions and share sources of information such as useful websites.
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Any questions, please ask!
Useful websites:
https://www.ceopeducation.co.uk/professionals/guidance/thinkuknow-parents-and-carers/A
Thinkuknow: Parents and Carers
Thinkuknow Parents and Carers is an education program developed by CEOP. Thinkunkow offers parents advice on a range of issues relating to children’s safety and well-being within a digital world.
A range of topics are covered by Thinkuknow including:
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Reporting an incident to social media
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Nude selfies: a parent's guide
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Using parental controls
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Starting a conversation with your child
Thinkuknow Parents and Carers features both reactive and preventative advice and resources to empower parents to respond to their children effectively and help keep them safe whilst online.