âHaving a healthy mind is just as important as having a
healthy bodyâ
As from September 2020 all primary school
children will learn about relationships and health.
Relationships and Health Education is a new
compulsory part of the school curriculum, which
comprises two distinct areas:
⢠Relationships
⢠Physical health and mental wellbeing
Schools will have a lot of freedom to decide how to
teach the new curriculum but must teach in a way
that is:
⢠Appropriate for your childâs age and development
stage.
⢠Sensitive to the needs and religious backgrounds of the children in your childâs school.
The current curriculum has not been updated for 20
years. So much change has happened since then.
Children need to learn what is relevant to them and
the world they are growing up in.
The new Relationships and Health Education
curriculum is designed to:
⢠Help all children grow up healthy, happy and safe.
⢠Give all children the knowledge to make informed
decisions about their wellbeing, health and
relationships.
⢠Support all children to manage the challenges and
opportunities of modern Britain.
⢠Prepare all children for a successful adult lives.
The Relationships part of the new curriculum will
teach the children what they need to learn to build
positive and safe relationships:
⢠With family.
⢠With friends.
⢠Online.
Your school will teach in a way that is appropriate
to your childâs age and will look at these questions:
⢠What is a relationship?
⢠What is friendship?
⢠What is family?
⢠Who can your child look to for support?
By the time your child finishes primary school,
they will have been taught about the following in
Relationships Education:
⢠Family and people who care for them.
⢠Caring friendships.
⢠Respectful relationships.
⢠Online relationships.
⢠Being safe.
The physical health and mental wellbeing part of
the new curriculum will teach the children how to:
⢠Make good decisions about their own health and
wellbeing.
⢠Recognise issues in themselves.
⢠Recognise issues in others.
⢠Seek support as early as possible when issues arise.
By the time your child finishes primary school,
they will have been taught about the following in
Physical health and mental wellbeing:
⢠Mental wellbeing.
⢠Internet safety and harms.
⢠Physical health and fitness.
⢠Healthy eating.
⢠Facts about drugs, alcohol and drugs and the risks
associated with them.
⢠Health and prevention of illness.
⢠Basic first aid.
⢠Changes to the adolescent body.
If you want to know more about what will be
taught as part of the new Relationships and Health
Education curriculum, then please take a look at the attached document regarding what the new currciulum looks like for your child at Dunn Street Primary.
You can also look online at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/
relationships-sex-and-health-education-guidesfor-
schools
Some schools may have already started to
teach Relationships and Health Education and all schools will be required to teach the curriculum from September 2021.
As a parent, you teach your child important lessons
about:
⢠Healthy relationships.
⢠How to look after themselves.
⢠Staying safe.
The new curriculum respects and values what you
teach your child.
What your childâs school teaches will complement
and reinforce what you teach. To make sure this
happensâŚ
⢠We, as your childâs school, must teach in a way that
reflects the age and religious background of the
pupils.
⢠We must consult you as a parent when developing and
renewing their policies on Relationships and Health
Education.
⢠We must publish our policies on Relationships and
Health Education online, and make them available to
you free of charge.
You can express your opinions as a parent.
You cannot withdraw your child from any part of the
Relationships and Health Education curriculum.
It is important for ALL children to be taught the
content on such essential matters like friendships
and keeping safe.
There are separate rules on withdrawing a child
from Sex Education.
Sex education is separate from the Relationships
and Health curriculum.
You can withdraw your child from some or all of the
lessons on Sex Education. The head teacher must
grant your request to withdraw your child.
But before making a request, please:
⢠Ask your childâs school about what will be taught in
Sex Education, and when.
⢠Remember that the science curriculum in all
maintained schools includes content on human
development, which includes human reproduction.
There is no right for a parent to withdraw their child from the science curriculum.
We are asking that you attend our RSHE virtual question and answer session on Monday 24th May 2021 at 9.30AM VIA ZOOM. A parenthub will be sent out with all of the details for joining, so please look out for this letter.
For now we ask you to take a look at our overview of the changes at Dunn Street Primary School by viewing the documents below.
