As a secondary academy school we must provide ‘Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education’ (RSE) to all students as per section 34 of the Children and Social work Act 2017.

In teaching RSE, we are required by our funding agreements to have regard to guidance issued by the secretary of state as outlined in section 403 of the Education Act 1996.

At Co-op Academy Manchester, we teach RSE as set out in this policy.

Basic Information

This policy covers our school’s approach to Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). RSE will be taught as part of the planned Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) curriculum programme as part of tutor time. The policy was produced by Mrs Smallwood through consultation with staff, students and governors. Parents and carers will be informed about the policy when updated and it will be available to parents and carers online.

Objectives of RSE Policy

Our school’s overarching aims and objectives for our students are to develop them as individuals, each valued in their own right and promoting for each student a positive self-image.

To help students care about other people, to be capable of forming constructive healthy relationships and to accept responsibility for the welfare of others.
To help students to understand that there are morally, ethically and legally acceptable forms of behaviour.
To deliver factual information relating to safer sex, healthy relationships and contraception advice for life.

Rationale

Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is a statutory aspect of school life and is paramount in the development of young people’s lives. The programme has been developed to address the needs, concerns and anxieties that are brought about by the onset of puberty. It seeks to provide a clear understanding for students within a positive and caring environment. It is positive in promoting responsibility for students’ own behaviour and the consequences of their action.

It is important to address this area of the curriculum from Year 7 through to Year 11 in order to protect our young people by increasing their awareness of RSE issues. Through the PSHE programme students will have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of RSE so they can go on to make informed choices in the future. All students have a right to RSE as it promotes healthy relationships and also enables students to protect themselves from abuse, unhealthy relationships, unintended pregnancies, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) / Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).

Co-op Academy Manchester will ensure the best interests of young people will be maintained during RSE lessons and will encourage students and young people to talk to their parents and carers about any issues they discuss.

RSE topics that will be covered during PSHE lessons

While promoting the aims and objectives above, we will ensure that students are offered a balanced programme. Students will have the opportunity to develop their understanding of their own physical development and to look at the different emotional and physical changes that happen during adolescence. The RSE programme covers the following topics across the year groups:-

Year group	Topic
7	Relationships: friends, families Female Genital Mutilation Body image E-safety and relationships Menstrual cycle Reproduction
8	Sex, gender, sexuality and sexual orientation Social media and its impact Anti bullying including cyber bullying
9	Consent and respect, boundaries, peer pressure Online safety, the law around sharing images Relationships, family, friends, romantic
10	Health services The law, consent, contraception Human trafficking and anti slavery and exploitation E safety and social media
11	Consent, sexual harassment, the law Pornography, what it is and the law Parenting and contraception, choices

Teaching RSE: Roles and Responsibilities

Academy Governing Council

The governing board will approve the RSE policy, and hold the Principal to account for its implementation.

The Principal

The Principal is responsible for ensuring that RSE is taught consistently across the school, and for managing requests to withdraw students from any non-statutory components of RSE.

Staff

Staff are responsible for delivering RSE in a sensitive way:

Modelling positive attitudes to RSE
Monitoring progress
Responding to the needs of individual students
Responding appropriately to students whose parents wish them to be withdrawn from the non-statutory components of RSE
Staff do not have the right to opt out of teaching RSE. Staff who have concerns about teaching RSE are encouraged to discuss this with the Assistant Principal (Pastoral)

Students

Students are expected to engage fully in RSE and, when discussing issues related to RSE, treat others with respect and sensitivity.ext

Delivery

The academy seeks to provide a safe, secure learning environment for RSE that enables students and young people to gain accurate knowledge, develop their own values and attitudes, and develop skills to grow into happy confident successful adults. The academy seeks to ensure members of staff are good role models for positive healthy relationships. All staff must be aware that they are allowed to promote discussion regarding healthy relationships and safer sexual practice however, they must not offer one to one counselling regarding contraception or sexual activity.

Students will need to feel secure and valued. In order to support this group agreements are negotiated with and established during the initial lesson. Students will be taught in form groups by form teachers. The teaching style will support the needs of the students taking into consideration school, home life and friends. This will allow the teacher to provide understanding and support for its students. Due to the sensitive nature of the issues discussed students will be given an opportunity to leave the room if they need to.

Teaching will take into account the ability, age, readiness, and cultural backgrounds of our young people and those with English as a second language to ensure that all can fully access the RSE provision. Where agreed (with the SENCo) students with special educational needs will be supported with careful use of language and working in small groups in a supportive environment.

The school will support members of staff delivering RSE to access appropriate Continuous Professional Development (CPD) delivered by Brook.

Support and Safeguarding

The school recognises the importance for students, young people, families and the workforce of having access to confidential services, including health services to support their physical and emotional needs. Disclosures may occur as part of RSE lessons and staff must follow the school’s safeguarding policy; if staff have any reason to believe a student is at risk, they are required to report this to the Designated Safeguarding Officer. At the same time students will be offered sensitive and appropriate support.

Parents rights to withdrawal from RSE

Parents have the right to withdraw their children from some or all aspects of sex education within statutory RSE up to and until 3 terms before the child turns 16. After this point, if the child wishes to receive sex education rather than being withdrawn, the school will arrange this.

How will we support students withdrawn from RSE?

If a parent requests that their son or daughter be removed from the ‘sex and relationships education’ (SE), the school will provide support by ensuring they have an alternative healthy relationships activity to complete in the library during the PSHE lesson. If a child is withdrawn from SE lessons the staff would be unable to prevent the student from asking their peers what they had learnt in the lesson. Changes to the legislation mean that students who are approaching 16 (three terms before their 16th birthday) have the right to ‘opt in’ to SE despite their withdrawal from parents. .

Monitoring and Evaluation The evaluation and monitoring of RSE takes place continually through learning walks during PSHE, book looks and student voice questionnaires. Students’ learning will be assessed during the RSE lessons using a variety of techniques including baseline tasks in lessons, retrieval practice, quizzes and student questionnaires. In addition to this students will be asked a range of questions about the usefulness of PSHE and given the opportunity to evaluate the benefits of each of the topics including the RSE programme.

Training

Staff are trained on the delivery of RSE as part of their induction and it is included in our continuing professional development calendar.

The PSHE/RSE lead will also invite visitors from outside the school, such as school nurses or sexual health professionals, to provide support and training to staff teaching RSE.

Monitoring and Evaluation of the RSE Policy

The delivery of RSE is monitored by the PSHE/RSE lead through:

Learning walks
Student voice
Half termly questionnaires
Evaluation of safeguarding information

Students’ development in RSE is monitored by class teachers as part of our internal assessment systems.

This policy will be reviewed by the Assistant Principal (Pastoral) annually. At every review, the policy will be approved by the Governing Council.

Dissemination of the Policy

This policy and the programme of learning are available on the academy website and on request to parents, carers and the Local Authority (LA)