Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSE)
Over the years, we have accumulated a wide variety of resources which help us to delivery this very sensitive topic in a child-friendly way. We use the BBC Operation Ouch videos to help explain the more 'sensitive' bits.
Up to Year 5, the majority of the material focuses on ensuring that we educate the children as to relationships, families and correct naming of body-parts. In Y5 and 6, this extends to teaching about sex and more complex biological information.
As the 'S' in 'RSE' is not statutory, you have the right to ask us to remove your child from these parts of the lesson. With respect, I would urge you not to do this, as it is important that these aspects are covered, and to do so in the same room, at the same time as their peers, adds an element of comfort (together with a large dose of giggling). It also means that after the lesson, you child is part of the inevitable conversations that will take place.
The material for The Y5 and 6 sessions can be found in the Y6 section below.
CHANGES IN 2026
What new content will you need to be aware of? Here are five important examples.
There’s a greater focus on online safety and wellbeing. For example, pupils will learn about online financial harms such as gaming, video game monetisation, scams and fraud – as well as the reasons for age restrictions on online content such as gambling websites and social media. The new guidance also includes content on helping pupils to critically engage with what they see online and recognise their rights – for example in relation to privacy, consent and personal data (with new learning around the importance of location settings for instance).
Within health education, there’s still an emphasis on helping pupils understand their bodies and the changes they might experience — and now, this includes learning the correct names for body parts (including genitalia). This reflects established best practice when it comes to giving children the knowledge and understanding they need to stay safe, including the ability to identify and report signs of abuse, while reducing stigma. We have been teaching this effectively for years as part of their approach to safeguarding, but this addition to the statutory guidance brings welcome clarification and reassurance.
There is an addition of ‘personal safety’ to the statutory content, with an emphasis on recognising and reducing risk, in the context of fire and travel safety — for example around water, roads and railways.
There’s new learning around change and loss, including bereavement; recognising that this can cause a range of feelings, and that everyone grieves differently.
The guidance also includes an increased emphasis on skills as well as knowledge. For example, within relationships education there’s new learning around communicating effectively, and developing the ability to be assertive and to express needs and boundaries.
There’s also an emphasis on skills for managing difficult feelings in the context of relationships, such as disappointment, frustration and loneliness — and these skills are highlighted in online contexts too. For example, pupils will now learn strategies for resisting pressure to share information or images online. And the guidance states that some schools may decide to cover image sharing or online sexual content in late primary, if this is something they know is affecting their pupils.
The DfE emphasises that if schools choose to cover these topics, teaching should be “age appropriate and respectful of all children, including those who may have no familiarity with the topics under discussion”. This is a really important point.
As a school we use the PSHE Association material.
Further details can be found here:
https://pshe-association.org.uk/news/the-new-statutory-rshe-guidance-whats-changed-and-what-does-this-mean-for-primary-schools
RSHE Consultation 2025
This policy was sent out to parents for consultation via Parenthub.
No objections, amendments or suggestions were received.
Minor policy changes have been made to add clarity only.