Sex education policy

Background:

Under DES guidelines the school governors are now responsible for the school's sex education policy. They have decided that sex education is to be provided for all.

A staff working party, made up of members of staff who all have specialist training in sex education, elaborated throughout the course of a full year programme of sex education covering years 7-11. The programme takes very full account of the level of maturity and the feelings of the girls and is both developmental and cyclical. New topics are broached as the girls pass through the school, but old ones are returned to, so that they can be reconsidered in the light of new knowledge and maturity.

The following policy statement was presented by the working party to the Governors and accepted by them. The policy statement forms part of a slightly larger document that is available from the Head or through Mrs Beard, Deputy Head.

Policy Statement:

The Governing Body of Plumstead Manor School have decided that Sex Education is part of the individual development of each child and should be taught in Plumstead Manor School.

Sex Education is to help each pupil understand her own sexuality and should enable her to make rational choices based on sound knowledge and helpful discussions with adults and peers. For our purposes, sexuality is regarded as a personal feeling and as sexual identity (Who am I? What signals do I give out?).

Sex Education is a right of all young people, and should embrace all aspects of relationships, love and growing up. The physical, emotional, personal and social aspects should be taught in a developmental way throughout the years of compulsory schooling - and should be responsive to the needs, age, maturity and perception of the pupils.

Most Sex Education is part of the pastoral curriculum and should be taught in tutorial lessons, but significant input is made by many departments in the course of the syllabuses, and this should continue. A receptive and honest response should be given to questions, however precocious, though answers need not be elaborated. Tutors and teachers should negotiate amongst themselves how best to organise the teaching in their own classrooms, and the deployment of resources.

Consideration will be given to the needs of pupils and teachers who may wish to opt out of parts of the programme for personal or religious reasons: special arrangements are available for groups with male form tutors if required. Cognisance will be taken of the various legal requirements with regard to sex education and to the authorities directives on handling controversial issues.

Periodically, the school will evaluate the work in this area, not as a test for pupils, but rather an assessment of the methods, content, and skills of the course.

Updated: October 2, 2008