Ask the networks!
Torbay is full of excellent teachers and allied professionals with experience, knowledge and top tips. Join the Personal Development Professionals Network which runs termly.
Quality assure your speakers
Messages about sex and relationships can be powerful. This is exciting and a wonderful topic to teach, full of values, facts, and feelings. We all want young people to have great quality, accurate and unbiased information. This excellent guide from the SEF will guide you through some ideas and tips when selecting an external speaker or teacher.
*top tip* There are some providers who might want to offer services for low cost or free, but might not be accurate, credible or safe. Here is some helpful free guidance from SEF on external agencies and RSE> External agencies and RSE | sexeducationforum.org.uk
Local Sexual Health Services
...are not able to be locally funded to deliver education sessions to young people in schools, but here are some other solutions and ideas.
- Scaffold an inclusive year-round curriculum, age appropriate for each year group – drop down days or one off PSHE lessons have a limited impact as a stand-alone[1].
- Find excellent programmes, some companies have done this work for you and quality assured ones can be found on the PSHE Association website – these are quality assured through their process, meaning you can be confident in giving out accurate information.
- Engage parents and governors – most parents and governors want to be assured of high quality, age-appropriate relationship, and sex education. The PSHE association also offer these handy guidance briefings with lots of ideas.
- Engage students in what they need from relationship and sex education – they can tell you a lot about the issues they are facing and by engaging and communicating well with students, this can help to tailor the curriculum, support prevention and improve outcomes. Ideas could be involving student councils, student surveys, or the ‘My health, my school’ survey, run by the local 0-10 service details here: My health my school – 0 to 19 Torbay
Look at the Guidance page for more information for schools, parents and governors.
[1] ASCL - Three steps to RSHE Success: plan your relationships, sex and health education curriculum
The excellent PSHE Association (PSHE Association | Charity and membership body for PSHE education (pshe-association.org.uk) ) have produced a programme of study covering Key Stages 1-5 and cover core themes:
- Health and relationships
- Relationships
- Living in the wider world
Using this free resource will support long term planning and embedding quality relationship education into your curriculum. Programme of Study (pshe-association.org.uk)
Membership of PSHE Association will unlock a full range of lesson plans, resources, films, parent guides, teacher training opportunities, guidance and more. Individual membership is £55, school membership is £135.
We encourage your setting considers this due to the high quality of resources and rigour they are tested with.
Update your knowledge
Update your knowledge about sex, relationships, the law, STIS and contraception, sex and relationships in the digital age - do you really know the facts?
What is effective RSE education?
Check the What is effective RSE education? page and ensure you visit the Guidance page where you will find guidance for your school staff, governors and parents.