Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) & Health Education

What is RSE?

RSE stands for 'Relationships and Sex Education' and is part of the now statutory, 'Relationships and Health Education' that all primary schools must provide. This became statutory from September 2020, following the 'Relationships Education, RSE, and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019 which made Relationships Education compulsory in all primary schools.  Sex education is not compulsory in primary schools. 

For more information, click here to read DfE guidance on RSE.

Our 'Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education Policy' provides a thorough overview of how Applecroft School meets its statutory Relationships and Health Education requirements as well as how we deliver the non-statutory Sex Education. We would strongly advise all parents and carers to read this policy to ensure you are informed about this area of our curriculum.  

Relationships and Health Education:

Relationships and Health Education comprises of five distinct areas:

• Families and people who care for me
• Caring friendships
• Respectful, kind relationships
• Online safety and awareness
• Being Safe

We ensure that our curriculum is both:

• Appropriate for children's ages and development stage and
• Sensitive to the needs and religious backgrounds of our school community.

The Relationships and Health Education curriculum is designed to:

• Teach the foundational skills and knowledge for forming positive, respectful relationships from an early age

• Equip children to manage emotions and behaviours in friendships, laying the groundwork for handling more complex relationships later in life

• Promote understanding and respect for all family types, ensuring no child feels stigmatised based on their home circumstances

• Help children recognise healthy and unhealthy behaviours, including emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and understand concepts like boundaries, privacy, and consent

• Ensure pupils know how to report concerns and understand that abuse is never their fault

• Introduce sensitive topics, like online safety and peer pressure, in an age-appropriate way that is informative but not alarming

Teaching Relationships in Primary Education:

The relationships part of our RSE curriculum teaches the children what they need to learn to build positive and safe relationships with:

• Family
• Friends 
• Online

It encourages and supports children to consider:

• What is a relationship?
• What is friendship?
• What is family? 
• Who can children look to for support?

Health and Wellbeing:

Health and well being Education comprises of nine distinct areas:

• General wellbeing
• Wellbeing online
• Physical health and fitness
• Healthy eating
• Drugs, alcohol, tobacco and vaping
• Health protection and prevention
• Personal safety
• Basic first aid
• Developing bodies

To see an overview of when these topics are taught at Applecroft please see our 25-26 Long Term Plan below.

Can parents/carers withdraw their children from the RSE Curriculum?

Parents and carers cannot withdraw their child from any part of the Relationships or Health Education aspects of the RSE Curriculum. It is important for ALL children to be taught the content on such essential matters as friendships and keeping safe. 

There are separate rules on Sex Education which is separate from the Relationships and Health Education curriculum. Therefore, parents and carers can withdraw their child from this aspect of the curriculum.

At Applecroft, we strongly believe that knowledge is power. It is knowledge that empowers and protects children, as long as it is age-appropriate. At secondary school, Sex Education is statutory and we believe that primary schools should prepare children with accurate knowledge about puberty and human reproduction before they transfer to secondary school. For more information on withdrawing your child from Sex Education please read our 'Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education Policy' and make your request known to the Headteacher in writing. 

More Information on the Curriculum:

At Applecroft, we use a scheme of work called 'EC Publishing' to deliver both our puberty and Sex Education curriculum. For more detailed information on this please click here to go to our PSHE Curriculum page.