Relationships and Sex Education at Longdendale High School
At Longdendale High School we aim to educate the whole child spiritually, physically, intellectually, morally, socially, culturally and emotionally and we believe that relationships and sex education [RSE] is an integral part of this education. RSE is delivered as part of our core curriculum to all students by form tutors.
Teaching & Learning in RSE
The teaching and learning in RSE is sensitive, age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate for all students at Longdendale High School including those with SEND and reflects the values of our school community. The curriculum is intended to:
- Provide students with knowledge, skills and understanding to prepare them to play a full and active part in society. The curriculum is designed to support the development of the school’s values, alongside British values.
- Provide a spiral curriculum that builds on themes of British values, democracy, government, politics and law. To take into account age appropriateness to provide students with knowledge that will enable them to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships. To take full account of the government’s statutory guidance on RSE and Health Education.
- Develop independent, resilient thinkers through high quality debate and discussion. Knowledge and vocabulary is explicitly taught across units and lessons so that students build on what they know and develop powerful knowledge.
Parents & Carers
RSE incorporates three main elements: Relationships and Sex Education; Health and Wellbeing and Living in the Wider World.
Parents are able to access the curriculum content in the PSHE Curriculum Overviews on the website. Parents have been consulted on the content of the RSE curriculum and are able to get in touch with school in the usual way should they wish to discuss any aspect of the RSE curriculum in further detail. DfE statutory guidance states that from September 2020, all schools must deliver relationships and sex education. The parental right to withdraw pupils from RSE remains in secondary education, for aspects of intimate relationships education which are not part of the Science curriculum.
If parents wish to carry out further reading around RSE, the following document may be of use: click here
Curriculum Content
Our RSE curriculum provides students with the information they need to help them develop healthy, nurturing relationships of all kinds. It enables them to know what a healthy relationship looks like and what makes a good friend, a good colleague and have successful marriages or other types of committed relationship. We define ‘relationships and sex education’ to involve the forming and maintenance of family, friendships and more intimate relationships both online and in person with consideration of boundaries and health. We believe relationships and sex education is important for our students and our school because it supports students throughout life, to develop safe, fulfilling and healthy relationships, at the appropriate time.
Teaching reflects the law (including the Equality Act 2010) as it applies to relationships, so that young people clearly understand what the law allows and does not allow, and the wider legal implications of decisions they may make.
Our RSE policy fulfils our school ethos by giving students the information to challenge stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination, as well as being able to tackle difficulties life may bring with resilience and an awareness to the wide range of support available to them. We aim to help students to realise the nature and consequences of bullying (including cyber-bullying) as well as developing healthy coping mechanisms which will enable them to build and maintain strong relationships throughout their life.
For curriculum guides for PSHE, please visit Curriculum Guides
Cross-curricular Dimension
RSE is a whole school priority at Longdendale High School and a broad range of SMSC topics are also covered in other subjects. For example:
- British Values, the Magna Carta and parliament in Year 7 History; cultural and historical information around different continents of the world through transactional and non-fiction writing in English; the cultural significance of Samba in music and the exploration of political and personal expression and culture through Art.
- In science there are ethical debates around topics such as Stem Cell treatment and students learn about the physical changes during puberty, human reproduction and fertility.
- Culture and identity of various nations are explored through Geography (including threats to the tropical rainforest, extreme environments and the impact of climate change) and MFL (Francophone and Spanish speaking countries).
- Online Hate Speech and Harassment is covered through Computing. Through drama, students are exposed to a variety of playwrights and topics such as protected characteristics through “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” and crime and gang culture.
Staff CPD
Following the publication of the new RSE guidelines by the DfE, staff at Longdendale High School have taken part in training on the delivery of RSE lessons. The training updated staff on the statutory requirements, the expected curriculum content, the effective planning and delivery of RSE as well as the evolving language and terminology used by young people to refer to sex and relationships.
Recent Activities
- We have recently purchased some brand-new books for the library which are available to any student wishing to deepen their knowledge on RSE topics.
- Y9 attended a presentation on relationships by YouThink as part of their PSHE programme.
- All year groups had an age-appropriate assembly from Andrew Bernard on domestic abuse and sexual harassment.
