Relationship and Sex Education
Catholic Schools, like all other schools in England are required to produce a written policy following the guidance issued by the Department of Education on Relationships education, relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education. The DfE guidance can be found here. Catholic schools are required to deliver RSE in accordance with the teaching of the church. This approach is compatible with the guidance issued by the DfE.
RSE is part of the mission of Catholic schools to educate the whole person. It should be carried out as part of the holistic education which seeks to form as well as inform young people in preparation for adult life. (Catholic Education Service)
From September 2020, 'Relationships Education' became a statutory subject for all primary schools and 'Relationships and Sex Education' became a statutory subject for all secondary schools in England. A draft statutory guidance for governing bodies, head teachers, principals, senior leadership teams and teachers was published in February 2019 by the Department for Education.
St Mary’s worked in partnership with TenTen Resources to ensure the school implemented a fully compliant curriculum and RSE Policy for Relationships Education (RSE) from September 2020. TenTen Resources are used widely across many Catholic schools in England. The Catholic Education Service have approved TenTen curriculum content and standard of resources to ensure schools undertake their statutory duty. Teaching staff at our school all undertook training from TenTen (as recommended by the Catholic Education Service) prior to implementation of the new programme and this was updated in January 2023.
The Governing Board and Senior Leadership team at St Mary’s worked with parents to implement the policy. We used the Catholic Education Service Model RSE Policy as a template to develop the vision and curriculum for primary RSE at our school. Parents/Carers and pupil representatives were invited to take part in the consultation process prior to implementation.
Please see key documents below which relate to the intent, implementation and required impact for the teaching of Relationship Education.
Who is responsible for teaching Relationship and Sex education (RSE)?
Guidance from the Catholic Education Service on a model curriculum for RSE