Brill Church Of England School

Dear Parents/Carers,

As a part of your child’s educational experience at Brill CE Primary, we aim to promote personal well being and development through a comprehensive taught programme of Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education that gives children and young people the knowledge, under-standing, attitudes and practical skills to live healthy, safe, productive and fulfilled lives, both now and in the future.
As you may already be aware, the Department for Education has announced changes to relationships and sex education following nationwide consultation. These changes will come into effect from September 2020 and all schools will be required to comply with the updated requirements. The statutory guidance can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education

The new guidance focuses on healthy relationships and keeping children safe in the modern world. It also covers a wide range of topics relating to physical and mental health, wellbeing, safeguarding and healthy relationships.
Learning about the emotional, social and physical aspects of growing up will give children and young people the information, skills and positive values to have safe, fulfilling relationships and help them take responsibility for their own well-being.
Consequently, from September 2020, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), along with Health Education, will be statutory, and form part of the National Curriculum.
This means that we have been reviewing our RSE curriculum and policy so we can be sure our RSE provision is appropriate for our pupils based on their:

• Age
• Physical and emotional maturity
• Religious and cultural backgrounds
• Special educational needs and disabilities

Whilst I am sure that there will be differences of opinion about this, we hope that consulting with you will help to inform our schools’ decisions on when and how certain content is covered, and enable us to reach a general consensus. Consequently, as part of our curriculum review we would your views on:

• Our draft policy for Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)
• When and how certain content within this subject is covered.

What is taught, and how, is ultimately a decision for the school and consultation does not provide a parental veto on curriculum content as schools are legally required to teach the National Curriculum. The right to withdraw children from some lessons is explained in the FAQs which is on our website (see below).

As school community ,we are currently in unprecedented times which make it a little more challenging to consult with you. To help you understand the curriculum requirements, I have placed information on our website which I would encourage you to read. Part of this is a Presentation for Parents which I would ordinarily have shared with you in person, and another sheet which aims to respond to the questions that I anticipated might be asked. On our website, I have included:

• A summary of what all pupils are expected to know by the end of primary school,
• A powerpoint presentation for parents (also saved as a PDF)
• FAQ sheet,
• Our proposed draft Policy for Relationships, Sex and Health Education
• DfE guidance that outlines statutory requirements

This can all be found on our school website in the Parents Section (Relationships & Sex Education (RSE) Consultation)

Brill CE Primary School will be starting their consultation process on Wednesday 19th August 2020, the consultation will close on the 2nd September 2020.

Your views are very important to us, please send any thoughts, views or feedback directly to headteacher@brillschool.org.uk and we will respond to you on the outcome of this process within the Autumn term. Once we have considered all the feedback, the finalised Relationships and Sex Education Policy will be uploaded to the school’s website which will also set out the proposed curriculum.

I hope this letter and the attached information goes some way to answer any questions you may have. If you have any queries or concerns regarding the consultation process, please do not hesitate to contact the school.

Kind regards,