25 November 2011

Statement by Sex Education Forum on teaching of SRE in primary schools

The Sex Education Forum, the national authority on sex and relationships education (SRE), based at leading children's charity the National Children's Bureau, is concerned about the recent challenges to SRE in primary schools centering on media coverage of a school in Sheffield.

SRE in primary schools serves to protect children from harm. It gives them an important knowledge of their own bodies, and it helps them to identify inappropriate or unsafe behaviour or experiences, and encourages them to get help from a trusted adult should they need to.

Through covering topics like parts of the body and where babies come from in a planned and age-appropriate way, SRE prepares children for puberty, helps them to understand the physical and emotional side of growing up, teaches them the difference between boys and girls and develops their understanding of different types of families and safe and unsafe relationships.

The Sex Education Forum supports Department for Education recommendations that primary schools should teach age-appropriate SRE. We also believe in the need for schools to engage and consult with parents in the preparation of their SRE programme. Parents retain the right to withdraw their child from SRE classes should they choose to - a right the government has made clear it will retain.

The Sex Education Forum believes the vast majority of parents in this country understand the importance of SRE for their children's health and well-being and we call on the education, health and children's sector to support schools in the teaching of quality SRE.

Notes

1. The Sex Education Forum, based at leading children's charity the National Children's Bureau, is a consortium of over 50 member organisations and 500 practitioners, with representatives from health, education, faith, disability and children's organisations. The Sex Education Forum believes that all children and young people have a right to quality sex and relationship education and works with it broad membership to achieve this.
2. The National Children's Bureau's (NCB) mission is to advance the well-being of all children and young people across every aspect of their lives.  As the leading national charity which supports children, young people and families, and those who work with them, across England and Northern Ireland, we focus on identifying and communicating high impact, community and family-centred solutions. We work with organisations from across the voluntary, statutory and private sectors through our membership scheme and through the sector-led specialist networks and partnership programmes that operate under our charitable status www.ncb.org.uk.