Relationships and Sex Education
At Castlefort JMI, Relationships and Sex Education is taught in accordance with the whole school policy. Where possible, it is integrated into other areas of the curriculum such as PSHE, Religious Education and Science. Any questions that pupils ask are answered sensitively and in a caring manner. 

It is important that parents/ carers are fully aware that Relationships Education is a compulsory subject for all pupils. Sex Education is taught in Year 6 only and is optional but highly recommended.

Rationale and Ethos

Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is a lifelong learning process of acquiring information, developing skills and forming positive beliefs and attitudes about sex, sexuality, relationships and feelings.

Effective RSE can make a significant contribution to the development of the personal skills needed by pupils if they are to establish and maintain relationships. It also enables young people to make responsible and informed decisions about their health and well-being. This has been identified by our Health Survey 2018 in our top three priorities: mental health and emotional well-being, childhood obesity and exclusions.

What are the key principles?

At Castlefort JMI School, we believe that Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) should be set in the context of clear values, including the value of family life, marriage and of loving and stable relationships in bringing up children. It should teach children and young people to develop values, attitudes, personal and social skills, and increase their knowledge and understanding to make informed decisions and life choices. RSE is important to ensure that children grow up with the ability to enjoy the positive benefits of loving, rewarding and responsible relationships. We want them to be informed, comfortable with the changes during puberty and to feel emotionally safe. We teach pupils to be digitally safe with e-safety being a vital message throughout the school.

Partnership with Parents/ Carers

Effective RSE at Castlefort JMI School is dependent on partnerships at many levels - between our parents and carers, the children and young people, and at a more strategic level, between the local authority, local faith communities, health professionals, partners in children’s services and the voluntary community.

At Castlefort JMI School, we aim to achieve an effective Relationships and Sex Education programme through building on these partnerships and the continued professional development of staff.  Staff will feel confident to deliver a developmental, planned programme that is integrated into the curriculum and delivered over an extended period. 

What do we want our pupils to learn?

As a result of our curriculum planning, Relationships and Sex Education should empower the children at our school to:

• Develop confidence in talking, listening, and thinking about feelings, emotions and relationships
• Mature, build up confidence, self-esteem, emotional wellbeing and the knowledge and skills needed to deal with the conflicting pressures of young people, to be able to lead confident, healthy, independent lives
• Know about their bodies and be able to describe the parts and functions
• Protect themselves and ask for help and support
• Be prepared for puberty, and move with confidence from childhood to adolescence, and on into adulthood
• Learn about the nature and importance of marriage/civil partnership, stable, loving relationships for family life and bringing up children and as key building blocks of community and society
• Make good academic progress - children who feel safe and supported are more likely to achieve higher standards
• RSE can assist and support parents in the difficult and changing role of educating their children about relationships and sex education

Our Topics

Our Relationships and Sex Education curriculum is split into topics. Each topic contains a set of aims which are listed below.

Families and people who care for me

Pupils should know:

• that families are important for children growing up because they can give love, security and stability.

• the characteristics of healthy family life, commitment to each other, including in times of difficulty, protection and care for children and other family members, the importance of spending time together and sharing each other’s lives.

• that others’ families, either in school or in the wider world, sometimes look different from their family, but that they should respect those differences and know that other children’s families are also characterised by love and care. 

• that stable, caring relationships, which may be of different types, are at the heart of happy families, and are important for children’s security as they grow up.

• that marriage represents a formal and legally recognised commitment of two people to each other which is intended to be lifelong.

• how to recognise if family relationships are making them feel unhappy or unsafe, and how to seek help or advice from others if needed.

Caring Friendships

Pupils should know:

• how important friendships are in making us feel happy and secure, and how people choose and make friends.

• the characteristics of friendships, including mutual respect, truthfulness, trustworthiness, loyalty, kindness, generosity, trust, sharing interests and experiences and support with problems and difficulties.

• that healthy friendships are positive and welcoming towards others, and do not make others feel lonely or excluded.

• that most friendships have ups and downs, and that these can often be worked through so that the friendship is repaired or even strengthened, and that resorting to violence is never right.

• how to recognise who to trust and who not to trust, how to judge when a friendship is making them feel unhappy or uncomfortable, managing conflict, how to manage these situations and how to seek help or advice from others, if needed.

Respectful Relationships

Pupils should know:

• the importance of respecting others, even when they are very different from them (for example, physically, in character, personality or backgrounds), or make different choices or have different preferences or beliefs.

• practical steps they can take in a range of different contexts to improve or support respectful relationships.

• the conventions of courtesy and manners.

• the importance of self-respect and how this links to their own happiness.

• that in school and in wider society they can expect to be treated with respect by others, and that in turn they should show due respect to others, including those in positions of authority.

• about different types of bullying (including cyberbullying), the impact of bullying, responsibilities of bystanders (primarily reporting bullying to an adult) and how to get help.

• what a stereotype is, and how stereotypes can be unfair, negative or destructive.

• the importance of permission-seeking and giving in relationships with friends, peers and adults.

Online Relationships

Pupils should know:

• that people sometimes behave differently online, including by pretending to be someone they are not.

• that the same principles apply to online relationships as to face-to face relationships, including the importance of respect for others online including when we are anonymous.

• the rules and principles for keeping safe online, how to recognise risks, harmful content and contact, and how to report them.

• how to critically consider their online friendships and sources of information including awareness of the risks associated with people they have never met.

• how information and data is shared and used online.

Being Safe

Pupils should know:

• that people sometimes behave differently online, including by pretending to be someone they are not.

• that the same principles apply to online relationships as to face-to face relationships, including the importance of respect for others online including when we are anonymous.

• the rules and principles for keeping safe online, how to recognise risks, harmful content and contact, and how to report them.

• how to critically consider their online friendships and sources of information including awareness of the risks associated with people they have never met.

• how information and data is shared and used online.

If you want further information about the curriculum content your child is covering please call the school office to arrange an appointment to see the subject leader.