At Yew Tree Community School, we are committed to helping all our pupils to grow up healthy, happy and safe, and to be able to navigate life in modern Britain. Relationships and health education has been incorporated into our curriculum to equip pupils with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their health, safety, and relationships with others, now and in the future.

We aim to deliver relationships and health education which is current, evolving, age- and developmentally-appropriate, and respectful of each pupil’s cultural and religious background.

 

What is relationships education?

Relationships education will give pupils the foundation to build safe, positive relationships with those around them, including online. Your child will be taught what friendships and relationships are, and what family means.

We are committed to teaching relationships education in a positive, age-appropriate way, encouraging all pupils to treat others with kindness, consideration and respect.

Throughout their time with us, pupils will be taught about the following:

• Families and the people who care for them
• Caring friendships
• Respectful relationships
• Online relationships
• Keeping safe

 

What is health education?

We aim for health education to provide your child with the knowledge they need to make positive decisions about their own health and wellbeing. Health education will also help equip your child to recognise when they are experiencing issues, when others are experiencing issues, and when to seek support.

Throughout their time with us, pupils will be taught about the following:

• Mental wellbeing
• Internet safety and harms
• Physical health and fitness
• Healthy eating
• The risks associated with drugs, tobacco and alcohol
• Health and the prevention of ill health
• Basic first aid
• The changing adolescent body

 

What you need to know

The teaching of relationships and health education in school has been designed to complement and reinforce the essential lessons parents teach their children as they grow up. To put this into practice, the school is required to consult with parents when reviewing our policies on relationships and health education. 

We would like to reassure you that the content taught in relationships and health education will be respectful of every pupil’s religious and cultural background.

As relationships and health education is a statutory part of our curriculum, it is not possible for you to withdraw your child from these lessons. 

All pupils must be taught the aspects of sex education outlined in the primary science curriculum – this includes teaching about the main external parts of the human body, how it changes as it grows from birth to old age, including puberty, and the reproductive process in some plants and animals.

The school is free to determine whether pupils should be taught sex education beyond what is required of the national curriculum. However, parents would have the right to withdraw their child from these lessons. 

At our school, we do not teach pupils sex education beyond what is required of the science curriculum.

 

As with all information on the school website including school policies a paper copy is available to parents/carers free of charge on request.