Relationship and Sex Education

Mission Statement commits us to the education of the whole child (spiritual, physical, intellectual, moral, social, cultural, emotional) and we believe that RSE is an integral part of this education. Furthermore, our school mission states that we will endeavour to raise pupils’ self-esteem, help them to grow in knowledge and understanding, recognise the value of all persons and develop caring and sensitive attitudes. It is in this context that we commit ourselves in partnership with parents, to provide children and young people with a “positive and prudent sexual education” which is compatible with their physical, cognitive, psychological, and spiritual maturity, and rooted in a Catholic vision of education and the human person.

The RSE curriculum covers EYFS, KS1 and KS2 and is based on three core themes within which there will be broad overlap. It is adaptable to the age and ability of the pupils. The themes include:

•  Created and loved by God (this explores the individual) The Christian imperative to love self, made in the image and likeness of God, shows an understanding of the importance of valuing and understanding oneself as the basis for personal relationships.
•  Created to love others (this explores an individual’s relationships with others) God is love. We are created out of love and for love. The command to love is the basis of all Christian morality.
•  Created to live in community – local, national & global (this explores the individual’s relationships with the wider world) Human beings are relational by nature and live in the wider community. Through our exchange with others, our mutual service and through dialogue, we attempt to proclaim and extend the Kingdom of God for the good of individuals and the good of society.

Each theme begins with a statement of the virtues which are necessary to living well in relationship with others and these virtues should underpin the teaching but also should emerge because of it. Virtues are habits, which are learned from experience and are gained through imitation, the same virtues being modelled by those who teach. They express the qualities of character that our school seeks to develop in our pupils, through our exemplification by the whole community of which the pupils are a part. These virtues reflect our Christian tradition but they are also, of course, fundamental human virtues, which are universally shared. The learning reflects each stage of the development of the pupil and is appropriate to the age and stage of development of children during the different phases of their education. Following a process, which is planned from beginning to end with one phase of education, informing the work of the next so that children can be led to a deeper and fuller understanding, which corresponds to their maturing.

As a Catholic school, we are committed to the education of the whole person, teaching about relationships and sexuality needs to be reflected in each relevant part of the  curriculum. Whilst, for example, some aspects of RSE will be more appropriately explored in science lessons and some more appropriately explored in RE lessons, each should be informed by the other. Each discipline should speak with consistency about the meaning of human love and the virtues that are enshrined in the Church’s teaching on human love.