• DfE won't issue guidance on 'exceptional circumstances' for sex education withdrawal

    Headteachers will be left in the “invidious position” of deciding whether they have grounds to refuse parents’ requests to withdraw their children from new sex education lessons. School leaders’ unions have called for clarity after the new guidance confirmed that schools will be allowed to turn down such requests in “exceptional circumstances”. But the Department…

    5.00 Mar. 1st, 2019 | News

  • There's no shortcut to quality relationships and sex education

    Effective relationships and sex education is a partnership, and it needs an appropriate investment from government so that schools can access training, argues Lucy Emmerson Parents should have high expectations for the quality of education their children receive at school in all areas of the curriculum. The new government guidance makes clear that relationships education,…

    9.31 Feb. 27th, 2019 | Opinion

  • Sex education reforms: can someone in the DfE give us a straight answer?

    In Blackadder: Back and forth, our eponymous antihero runs into Shakespeare after an experiment with a time machine goes awry. “This is for every schoolboy and schoolgirl for the next four hundred years!” Blackadder cries, as he punches the Bard in the face. If I had a time machine, I should like to go back…

    5.00 May. 18th, 2018 | Opinion

  • Teachers need proper sex education training, warn experts

    External speakers should not be used as substitutes for trained teachers under plans to make sex and relationships education compulsory in all schools, subject experts have warned. From September 2019 it will be compulsory to teach relationships education in all primary schools, and sex and relationships education in all secondary schools. However, there are concerns…

    7.00 Feb. 11th, 2018 | News

  • Spare our blushes! SRE teacher training needed before 2019

    Funding is available this year for second subject specialism training in maths, physics and modern foreign languages – but sex education is not an option, even though it is due to become compulsory. The lack of options for free sex education training before the policy is implemented is a worry for Caroline Lucas, the Green…

    5.00 Oct. 22nd, 2017 | News

  • Deliver sex education as part of compulsory PSHE say subject leaders

    Subject leaders want the government to implement compulsory personal, social, health and economics education (PSHE) at the same time as sex and relations education, and as part of one, integrated subject. From September 2019, sex and relationships education (SRE) will become compulsory for all secondary schools, while primary schools will have to teach relationships education.…

    5.00 Mar. 27th, 2017 | News

  • Schools need brave teachers for sex and relationships education

    Sex education is now compulsory. But how should schools prepare for its introduction in 2019? One answer is good training for teachers, says Helen Corteen A collective whoop of joy rang across Brook on March 1 when education secretary Justine Greening made sex and relationships education (SRE) compulsory in all secondary schools, and relationships education…

    5.00 Mar. 18th, 2017 | Opinion

  • All you wanted to know about sex education in schools... but were afraid to ask

    The government has announced it will introduce compulsory sex and relationship education for all schools, including academies. What happens next? The policy has been added to the children and social work bill which is currently making its way through parliament. If passed, all the law will do is place a duty on Justine Greening, the…

    5.00 Mar. 14th, 2017 | News

  • Make sex education compulsory to stop spread of STIs, say councils

    Councils across England say compulsory sex education should be extended to academies in order to reduce the spread of sexually-transmitted infections in young adults. The Local Government Association claims the introduction of a statutory duty for academies to provide sex and relationships education could reduce the “thousands of STIs diagnosed in young people later on…

    0.01 Feb. 15th, 2017 | News