Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)

Working together to support our pupils

We recognise that parents and carers have the primary role in helping their children understand relationships, growing up, personal health and staying safe.

Our aim is to work in partnership with families to provide pupils with accurate, age-appropriate and carefully sequenced education which complements the conversations and guidance they receive at home.

We want parents and carers to have a clear understanding of what we teach, why we teach it and when it is taught.

For this reason, we have made our RSE curriculum openly available on this page, including:

an overview of the programme for each year group;

the topics covered in each year;

the individual lesson titles;

examples of the teaching resources used with pupils; and

information about how the programme reflects the Department for Education's statutory guidance.

Parents and carers can also contact the school at any time if they would like to discuss the curriculum or view the resources being used with their child.

Why has the RSE curriculum changed?

The Department for Education has published revised statutory guidance for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education.

The revised guidance came into effect on 1 September 2026. Schools are required to have regard to this guidance when planning and delivering their curriculum.

As a result, we have reviewed our existing programme and developed a more detailed and carefully sequenced curriculum.

The revised programme reflects the changing experiences and challenges faced by young people, including the increasing influence of digital technology and social media on relationships.

The curriculum now provides greater opportunities for pupils to develop their understanding of:

healthy and respectful relationships;

communication, boundaries and consent;

online relationships and digital safety;

sexual harassment and harmful behaviour;

coercion, exploitation and abuse;

pornography and its potential harms;

image sharing, sextortion and deepfakes;

sexual and reproductive health;

contraception and STI prevention;

pregnancy and pregnancy choices;

fertility and parenthood; and

maintaining healthy relationships as young people move towards adulthood.

This represents an increase in the detail and progression of the programme, rather than simply teaching sexual health content earlier.

A carefully sequenced programme from Year 7 to Year 11

We do not teach all aspects of RSE to all pupils at the same time.

The curriculum is designed to become progressively more detailed as pupils become older and more mature.

Year 7 – Foundations

Pupils establish the foundations for healthy relationships, friendship, respect, puberty, personal hygiene, emotional wellbeing and staying safe.

Year 8 – Relationships, Identity and Safety

Pupils develop their understanding of identity, healthy and unhealthy relationships, boundaries, consent, online behaviour, sexual harassment, harmful attitudes and sexual health.

Year 9 – Relationships, Sexual Health and Risk

Pupils explore relationships, power and influence, sexual health, contraception, STIs, consent, exploitation, pornography, drugs, alcohol and the ways in which risk can affect relationships and wellbeing.

Year 10 – Intimate Relationships and Decision-Making

Pupils consider more complex aspects of relationships and growing independence, including domestic abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour, sexual readiness, contraception, STI testing, pregnancy choices, sexual harassment, pornography, exploitation and harmful uses of technology.

Year 11 – Preparing for Adulthood

Pupils consider relationships and intimacy as they move towards adulthood, including online dating, digital relationships, fertility, pregnancy, parenthood, reproductive health, exploitation, independence, personal safety and emotional wellbeing.

The intention is that pupils build knowledge over time rather than being presented with complex issues before they have the foundations needed to understand them.

What will my child learn?

We have provided the curriculum for every year group below.

For each year group, you can view:

1. Year-group overview

A summary of the key knowledge and skills pupils will develop.

2. Topics

The different areas of learning covered during the year.

3. Lesson titles

The individual lessons within each topic, giving parents and carers a clear picture of the content being taught.

4. Sample resources

Examples of the materials used in lessons so that parents and carers can see the style, language and approach used in our teaching.

View the curriculum

Please use the links at the bottom of the page to the curriculum overview for each Year group and the whole school overview.

How do we make sure the content is age appropriate?

Age and developmental appropriateness are central to our curriculum planning.

A topic appearing in the Year 10 or Year 11 curriculum does not mean that the same content is taught to younger pupils.

Instead, concepts are introduced in stages and revisited as pupils mature.

For example:

Respect → boundaries → consent → healthy relationships → sexual decision-making → sexual health → intimate relationships → preparation for adulthood

Similarly, online safety develops from basic privacy and safe sharing in younger years towards more complex issues such as exploitation, sextortion, pornography, image-based abuse and AI-generated content in older years.

We consider:

the age and maturity of pupils;

their developmental needs;

the statutory requirements;

safeguarding considerations;

the experiences and risks young people may encounter;

the language and examples used;

the level of detail appropriate for each age group; and

the need for pupils to be able to access reliable information and seek help.

The purpose of teaching these subjects is to help pupils understand, recognise, prevent and respond to situations that may affect their health, safety and relationships.

For further guidance an age-appropriate content, please use this link

What resources do we use?

Please use this link which will direct to further information about the resources we use and why they are used.

Viewing our resources

We want parents and carers to feel confident about what their children are being taught.

We have therefore provided examples of resources from across Years 7–11 on this page. Please use the links at the bottom of the page to sample resources for each Year group.

Parents and carers can also request to view the resources being used with their child at any time.

If you would like to see a particular lesson or resource, please contact Paul Rhodes – Assistant Headteacher, and we will arrange an opportunity for you to view it and discuss the content with a member of staff.

Challenging and Sensitive Topics:

We understand that the new statutory guidance from the DfE means that schools now must explore many challenging and sensitive topics and issues at all ages.

For example, pupils may learn about:

• sexual harassment;

• grooming and exploitation;

• coercive and controlling behaviour;

• domestic abuse;

• pornography;

• sexual violence;

• sextortion;

• non-consensual image sharing;

• deepfakes and AI-generated sexual images;

• forced marriage;

• Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

• strangulation and suffocation;

• contraception and STI prevention;

• pregnancy and pregnancy choices; and

• fertility and parenthood.

We understand that some parents and carers may feel that a particular topic is strong, uncomfortable or difficult to discuss with their child.

This does not necessarily mean that the content is inappropriate.

In some cases, the fact that a subject is difficult is precisely why pupils need carefully planned, age-appropriate education about it.

Our responsibility is not to avoid every topic that might make a pupil or parent uncomfortable. It is to ensure that difficult topics are approached carefully, sensitively, accurately and at the appropriate stage of a pupil's development.

What can parents and carers withdraw their child from?

There is an important distinction between Relationships Education, Health Education, Science and Sex Education.

Parents and carers have the right to request that their child is withdrawn from some or all of the sex education delivered as part of statutory RSE.

However, there is no right to withdraw pupils from:

Relationships Education;

Health Education;

statutory Science lessons; or

safeguarding education which forms part of Relationships or Health Education.

This means that a lesson may contain information about relationships, boundaries, consent, online safety, harassment, abuse or staying safe which is not classified as sex education and therefore cannot be withdrawn from.

Similarly, pupils cannot be withdrawn from statutory Science content, including content relating to puberty or sexual reproduction.

If you wish to request withdrawal

If you would like to request that your child is withdrawn from sex education, please contact the Headteacher directly.

The Headteacher will discuss the request with you and, where appropriate, with your child. The purpose of this discussion is to understand the request, explain the nature and purpose of the curriculum and consider the potential benefits and implications of withdrawal.

In secondary schools, the Headteacher can refuse a withdrawal request in exceptional circumstances, for example where there are safeguarding concerns or particular vulnerabilities which mean that receiving the education is in the pupil's best interests.

If a pupil is withdrawn, the school will provide appropriate and purposeful education during the relevant lessons.

There is also an important safeguard for pupils: from three terms before their 16th birthday, a pupil can choose to receive sex education even where their parent or carer has previously requested withdrawal.

Why do we teach these subjects?

High-quality RSE is not simply about teaching pupils facts about sex.

It is about helping young people to develop the knowledge, language and skills they need to:

form healthy and respectful relationships;

communicate effectively;

understand and respect boundaries;

recognise consent;

recognise unhealthy or abusive behaviour;

understand and respond to pressure;

stay safe online and offline;

understand risks and consequences;

access reliable health information;

seek help when something is wrong;

respect themselves and others; and

make informed decisions as they move towards adulthood.

The revised statutory guidance places a strong emphasis on healthy, respectful relationships and on helping pupils to understand and respond to the challenges young people may encounter in both the physical and digital world.

Working with parents and carers

We understand that some of the topics within RSE can feel sensitive.

Parents and carers may have different experiences, values, beliefs and expectations about when particular subjects should be discussed.

Our role as a school is to provide pupils with an accurate, age-appropriate and carefully sequenced education which meets statutory requirements and supports their health, wellbeing and safety.

We also recognise that the most effective education happens when school and home work together.

We therefore encourage parents and carers to:

look through the year-group curriculum;

discuss appropriate topics with their child at home;

use the lesson titles to begin conversations;

look at the sample resources provided;

Have a question about something your child is learning?

If you have a question about a particular lesson, topic or resource, please contact:

Paul Rhodes – Assistant Headteacher

Rhodes_p@ucc.rutland.sch.uk

We are happy to discuss the curriculum and explain why particular content is included at a particular point in the programme.

Further information

The school's RSHE Policy sets out our approach to Relationships, Sex and Health Education in more detail.

The Department for Education's statutory guidance can be found here:

Department for Education: Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education

The revised statutory guidance came into effect on 1 September 2026.

We hope that making our curriculum, lesson titles and sample resources available will give parents and carers a clear understanding of what we teach and provide opportunities for open and constructive conversations between home and school.