What we stand for

What we believe in

We believe that all schools should teach sex and relationships education to their students

Sex and relationships education should consist of:

accurate biological and health information including helping young people to understand their own bodies and how they work, and giving them information that will help them to stay safe and healthy as they move into adulthood

discussion and exploration of relationships including: looking at healthy and unhealthy relationships, keeping safe in relationships; developing the skills to make informed positive choices; understanding consent; learning communication skills for talking to parents, partners, health professionals; developing media-literacy and the ability to distinguish between helpful and unhelpful messages; knowing how to recognise and resist coercion…and more

We believe that sex and relationships education is consistent and compatible with a range of different faiths and belief systems

Good sex and relationships education should acknowledge that there are a range of different views and beliefs about family life, about sexuality, sex and contraception. Students themselves often bring this range of views into the classroom and good SRE aims to manage discussion of these in a way that ensures all students feel included in the process of teaching and learning.

See our blog and information pages for more  discussion of what good SRE is and should be.

What we don’t believe in:

• the idea that parents and children will always be most comfortable talking to each other about sex and relationships. We all aim to build the kinds of relationships where our children talk to us openly and can ask us anything. The reality is that many young people feel more comfortable talking to someone outside of the family about some things, and many parents are grateful they don’t have to do it all.
• the view that parents are all naturally equipped to teach their children everything they need to know about sex and relationships. Parents have a vital role in this and we hope our website will give everyone more ideas, and resources to take on this task. However, most parents are not experts and will not necessarily have the knowledge to give their children accurate information on every aspect of sexual health
• the view that someone’s faith or the faith of their parents should deter them or prevent them from participating in good quality sex and relationships education. Whatever someone’s background, all young people are entitled to accurate information about their own bodies and health.
• abstinence-only education – because withholding information from young people does not help to keep them safe, protect their innocence, or prevent them becoming sexually active.
• the disgraceful idea that professionals who want to help young people to learn about sex and relationships in preparation for adult life are corrupt, corrupting or even – as some extreme campaign groups have claimed –  paedophiles. See here and here.
• the idea that accurate diagrams of body parts are ‘pornography’. It is an essential part of growing up to understand what the name and function is of your different body parts and to know what changes to expect in your body during puberty.