Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) Policy Consultation

Click here to view our RSE Policy

Background

1. This consultation seeks your views on our RSE Policy, which will apply across all BMAT Schools from September 2020, in line with requirements from the Department for Education (DfE).

2. In June 2019, the DfE published “Relationships education, relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education” (June 2019). This guidance:

  1. Makes it compulsory for all schools to have an RSE Policy and to consult parents and carers in the development of that policy;
  2. Sets out the topics that need to be taught to students by the end of secondary schools; and
  3. Makes changes to the right of parents or carers to withdraw their child from the elements of sex education that are not taught as part of the compulsory national science curriculum.

3. These and other topics are covered in our RSE Policy and RSE Curriculum. The new requirements formalise expectations but don’t make significant changes to what we teach our students. many of the topics required by the DfE were already taught as part of our Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) curriculum, and in other subjects.

4. In addition to consulting parents and carers on our RSE Policy, we have met good practice recommendations from the DfE by consulting parents and carers in the development of our RSE Curriculum, via a parent focus group March 2020. All parents and carers were invited to apply to take part and we selected a diverse range of parents and carers, to represent the diversity of BMAT and its schools. Our staff and students have also been engaged in the development of our RSE Policy and Curriculum, as appropriate and in line with good practice recommendations.

5. We’ve worked hard to make sure that our new curriculum reflects:

  1. Our values of equality, inclusion and respect for all students and communities;
  2. Our students’ age and maturity levels, as well as their cultural and religious backgrounds;
  3. Every students’ learning needs; and
  4. What students need to know to be healthy and safe in school, in their personal relationships and in the wider world

6. This consultation has been published on the BMAT website and the websites of its constituent schools. Parents and carers have been invited to submit responses to the consultation questions to RSE@beaconacademytrust.co.uk or to their child’s school office, for the attention of their School Principal.

7. The deadline for responses is 24th April 2020.

8. We will consider responses to the consultation by 24th June 2020 so that our RSE Policy can be published before the start of the 2020/21 Academic Year, in September 2020.

Click here for our RSE Survey