In September 2020, the Department for Education (DfE) introduced statutory relationships education and health education for all primary school pupils. They also issued guidance on non-statutory sex education for primary school pupils. Despite being non-statutory, the DfE continue to recommend that all primary schools should have a sex education programme as part of their PSHE curriculum, which is tailored to the age and the physical and emotional maturity of the pupils. Where schools do provide sex education at key stages 1 and 2, parents will have the right to withdraw their child from the sex education aspects of RSE but not from the statutory relationships education, health education or what is taught in the Science national curriculum.

Our RSE policy can be found on our policies page.

As part of this, all schools are required to consult with parents when developing and reviewing their policies for relationships and sex education, which will inform decisions on when and how certain content is covered.

Effective engagement gives the space and time for parents to input, ask questions, share concerns and for the school to decide the way forward. School leaders will listen to parents’ views, and then make a reasonable decision as to how they wish to proceed. When and how content is taught is ultimately a decision for the school, and consultation does not provide a parental veto on curriculum content.

Please click here to give your views on our RSE policy and curriculum here.

This consultation is open all year round and will be used to inform the new RSE policy in September 2025.

Knowledge Organisers for PSHE and RSE can be found below