Relationship and Sex Education (RSE)

All primary schools are now required by the government to teach Relationship and Health Education.

Relationship Education is designed to help children have positive and safe relationships with family, friends and online.

Health Education will help children to make good decisions about their health and well being and enable them to know how to seek support.

At Yarborough, we have been delivering Relationship and Health Education for years through our PSHE, Personal Development and Secrets of Success curriculum. However, there is now a clear structure with curriculum objectives that must be taught.

The Sex Education element will still be delivered by Big Talk Education in their yearly visits to us and we will always inform you when this will be happening and invite you to an information session with an opportunity for you to ask any questions.

Why is RSE needed at Yarborough Academy?

When the Government announced the RSE requirements, we researched the local statistics to see how high the need is for schools in North East Lincolnshire. Below are our findings. I am sure you will agree that the statistics are shocking and it highlights just how important this education is for our young people so we can improve life chances, relationships and their futures.

In order to understand the statistics:

*NE Lincs comparisons are against the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber. This includes the 15 regions of: Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Doncaster, East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull, Kirklees, Leeds, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Rotherham, Sheffield, Wakefield, York.

+All other Statistics are taken from Public Health England, Government’s Office for National Statistics, NSPCC, Ofcom, Government’s Chief Medical Officer data,  BUPA, Women’s Aid.

Why do we need Relationship Education?
Families and people who care for me, Caring friendships	NE Lincs* is the 2nd worst area for children achieving the expected level in personal-social skills in 2-2.5year olds	NE Lincs* has the 1st worst percentage of marital break ups	NE Lincs* has the 2nd highest percentage of children in care	There are 52,260 children in England who were the subject of a Child Protection Plan in March 2019. 49% of these were due to neglect	The majority of looked after children and young people aged 10 to 17 are looked after due to abuse or neglect in England
Respectful relationships	Humberside Police area rank 4/42 in domestic abuse-related crimes recorded by the police, in comparison to all of England and Wales	Domestic violence is very common with 1 in 4 women experiencing it in their lifetime and 2-3 women dying every week at the hands of violent partners (UK)
Online relationships	19% of 10-15 year olds in England and Wales experience online bullying – that’s 1 in every 5!
Being safe	There were 99,139 recorded physical abuse offences against children and young people aged 11 to 18 in England in 2018/19	In 2018/19, there were 43,078 recorded sexual offences in England committed against 11 to 18 year olds
Why do we need Health Education?
Mental wellbeing	19% of 10-15 year olds in England and Wales live in a family with substance misuse, domestic abuse and mental ill health	NE Lincs* is the 4th highest for hospital admissions for self-harm for 10-14 year olds	There were 16 suicides of 10- to 14-year-olds and 2471 suicides of 15- to 19-year-olds registered in the UK in 2018	1 in 8 of 5-19 year olds had at least one mental disorder in 2017
Internet safety and harms	Young children use a device to go online so are exposed to dangers (49% of 3-4 yr olds, 63% of 5-7 yr olds, 72% of 8-11 yr olds)	18% of 8-11 year olds said that they have seen online content but not many report it that they found worrying or nasty
Physical health and fitness	NE Lincs* rank as the 4th lowest of physically active adults	NE Lincs* are the 2nd worst area for children achieving the expected level in fine motor skills in 2-2.5year olds	NE Lincs* are the 3rd worst area for children achieving the expected level in gross motor skills in 2-2.5year olds	Only 17.5% of children are achieving the Governments guidelines of 60 minutes physical activity a day	Physical inactivity leads to 37,000 premature deaths in England alone
Healthy eating	NE Lincs* have the 2nd highest rate of obesity in Reception age children	NE Lincs* have the 3rd highest rate of year 6 children with excess weight	The UK has one of the highest rates of childhood obesity in Europe
Drugs, alcohol and tobacco	NE Lincs* has the highest rate of mums smoking at the time of delivery	NE Lincs* has the 2nd highest smoking prevalence at age 15	NE Lincs* is the 4th highest area for hospital stays for alcohol related harm	NE Lincs* has the 2nd highest estimated prevalence of opiate and crack cocaine use
Health and prevention	NE Lincs* has the highest for admissions for 0-9 year olds for diabetes	NE Lincs* is the 4th highest area for decayed, missing and filled teeth in 12 year olds	NE Lincs* has the 2nd lowest male life expectancy of 77.6 compared to 80.6 in other areas	NE Lincs* is the 4th highest for deaths from coronary heart disease	NE Lincs* is the 2nd highest area for deaths from causes considered preventable
Basic first aid	NE Lincs* is ranked the highest in emergency admissions for falls in children 0-4 years
Changing adolescent body	NE Lincs* is the 2nd highest area for under 18 conception rates	NE Lincs* is ranked the worst for under 25 repeat abortions	NE Lincs has the 2nd highest rate of chlamydia in males and females aged 15-24

At Yarborough Academy, we are committed to high quality RSE!

Due to the fact that this has become statutory, a policy has been written which details everything that has to be taught and how it will be delivered.

The full  policy can be found here 

Sex and Relationship Education 

The original policy was under consultation with parents, staff and governors for two months.

Feedback - parents welcome the information they receive and the parent meetings from BIG TALK.

                 - to increase parental engagement, could RSE activities be added to Google Classroom as part of homework so families can work on these together.

Amendments - 3 statements have been added to the policy to reflect this feedback.

   1 - In 'Procedures' - They will also be included in homework activities.

   2 - In 'Home/School Partnership' - RSE activities will be set as homework to encourage this home/school partnership.

   3 - In 'Staff Responsibility' - Working closely with parents and carers and involving them to help support their children.

The policy is now approved and published.