Primary School Relationship and Sex Education Conference

Following the new RSE guidance from the government that all primary schools will be required to teach compulsory relationship education and are encouraged to build an age appropriate sex education programme into their school curriculum, our Head of PSHEE offered to host a conference and we invited all local primary school Heads and Heads of PSHEE to attend. The programme included:

Presentation of the new guidance, including policies, content and resources.

Discussion: Sharing of good practice in PSHEE.

Presentation: Age- appropriate sex education.

Presentation: Embracing diversity in relationship education.

Q & A time

Aims

The conference came about as a result of the new regulations on compulsory relationships and sex education in Primary Schools. It was a chance to bring schools together to discuss good practice and cover the new guidelines that local primary schools may not have had the time or resources to cover yet.

Background

Our Head of PSHEE identified the opportunity to share her expertise on the subject with local Primary Schools and offered to lead the conference. It was intended to be a one-off event to familiarise the Head teachers and Heads of PSHEE with the material and new guidlelines and to explore further opportunities to collaborate and share good practice.

Resources

The Conference was organised by our Head of Partnership and led by our Head of PSHEE. The conference venue was provided by the school and was supported by our Catering and Facilities managers. There was no charge for the event, and we provided refreshments and study packs.

Impact

After the conference we asked for feedback via a survey sent to all who attended. The Conference involved 18 local Primary Schools, including most of our Partnership schools and out of this event some other schools asked to become Partnerships schools in the future. 

Frequency

This was originally intended as a single event but since the conference took place there have been several follow-up meetings and opportunities for sharing further good practice including speaking at the St Albans Primary Heads Consortium meeting.

The Head of PSHEE has also subsequently been asked to advise on a number of Partnership schools' RSE policies and to give talks to primary school parents.