Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) Policy

Authors:	Lisa Williamson and Simon Milner
Date:	April 2024
To be reviewed:	April 2026

Principles

Effective RSE strives to enhance the emotional, social and cultural development of pupils, and involves learning about relationships, sexual health, sexuality, healthy lifestyles, diversity and personal identity.
RSE involves a combination of sharing information and exploring issues and values through discrete PSHE lessons, assemblies and the wider pastoral curriculum.
RSE is not about the promotion of sexual activity.

Effective RSE helps us to achieve key elements of our vision for our students who:

das Leben in vollen Zügen zu genießen, ihre Freundschaften zu schätzen und ein Gleichgewicht in ihrem Leben zu erreichen
einen positiven Einfluss auf ihre Gemeinschaft und die Welt ausüben wollen
glückliche und bleibende Erinnerungen an ihre Zeit am College haben.

At JCG, we seek to take an empowering and positive approach to relationships and sex education; we recognise that we have a duty to help our young people navigate the world and make safe and informed choices in their future relationships. 

Teaching pupils about relationships and sexual health is a statutory requirement of the Jersey curriculum and the Department for Education (England), outlines that “effective RSE does not encourage early sexual experimentation. It should teach young people to understand human sexuality and to respect themselves and others. It enables young people to mature, build their confidence and self-esteem and understand the reasons for delaying sexual activity. Effective RSE also supports people, throughout life, to develop safe, fulfilling and healthy sexual relationships, at the appropriate time.” 

Our RSE curriculum has been designed in consultation with our students, and is also driven by data from the regular Island Health Survey. The lessons we deliver are a direct response to the information our students feel they need at different stages in their lives. We understand that all students mature at different rates, but it is essential that their RSE education is pre-emptive in order to protect our young people and ensure that they receive the correct, age-appropriate information from trained professionals in a safe classroom environment rather than relying on social media, pornography or other potentially misleading or dangerous sources for their answers. 

The design and delivery of our RSE (and wider PSHE) curriculum is informed by our reading of the Government of Jersey documents ‘PSHE: Curriculum, Teaching and Learning’ and ‘PSHE Content: Non-Statutory Guidance’, both published in March 2024.

Aims

Provide a safe and supportive learning environment where children and young people can develop the confidence to ask questions, challenge the information they are offered, draw on their own experience, express their views and opinions and put what they have learned into practice in their own lives.
Prepare pupils for puberty, and give them an understanding of sexual development and the importance of health and hygiene
Help pupils develop feelings of self-respect, confidence and empathy
Create a positive culture around issues of sexuality and relationships
Teach pupils the correct vocabulary to describe themselves and their bodies

Procedures – College Systems

Statutory Requirements

In accordance with the Jersey Curriculum, we must provide RSE to all pupils in KS3 and KS4 as part of the statutory PSHE provision. The legal requirements for the Jersey curriculum are detailed in section 4 part 16 of the Education (Jersey) Law 1999.  

The Education (Jersey) Law, 1999 does not support parents in removing pupils from aspects of PSHE lessons as the Law does in England. Pupils therefore have the entitlement to access all content as laid out in the Jersey Curriculum.

Delivery of RSE

RSE is taught within the personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education curriculum. Biological aspects of RSE are taught within the science curriculum, and other aspects are included in religious studies (RS). Relevant topics will also be addressed through the wider pastoral curriculum (including assemblies and the tutor programme).

RSE focuses on giving young people the information they need to help them develop healthy, nurturing relationships of all kinds including:

Families
Respectful relationships, including friendships
Online and media
Being safe Intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health

For more information about our RSE curriculum, see Appendices 1 and 2.

These areas of learning are taught within the context of family life, taking care to make sure that there is no stigmatisation of children based on their home circumstances (families can include single parent families, LGBTQ parents, families headed by grandparents, adoptive parents and foster parents/carers, amongst other structures), along with reflecting sensitively that some children may have a different structure of support around them (for example, children looked-after or young carers).

We will also be mindful of the law and legal requirements, taking care not to condone or encourage illegal political activity, such as violent action against people, criminal damage to property, hate crime, terrorism or the illegal use of drugs.

Procedures – Roles and Responsibilities

Students should be encouraged to take responsibility for:

Engaging fully in RSE and, when discussing issues related to RSE, treat others with respect and sensitivity
Seeking further guidance and support where necessary
Taking opportunities for student voice and student leadership to promote the provision of RSE in college

Parents have responsibility for:

Working in partnership with the College to promote a positive approach to RSE
Giving due consideration to advice, from the College, about how to discuss sensitive topics with their children in an age-appropriate manner
Providing feedback to the College on any elements of the RSE curriculum in which their child may find challenging a head of lessons RSE

Teachers have responsibility for:

Delivering RSE in a sensitive way
Modelling positive attitudes to RSE
Monitoring student progress in relation to the curriculum
Responding to the needs of individual pupils
Promoting a culture of wellbeing, safety and belonging across throughout RSE lessons
Ensuring students are able to safely exit a lesson should they become distressed or agitated due to the content, and ensuring that appropriate follow-up for wellbeing/safeguarding reasons takes place
Reporting any Safeguarding and Child Protection concerns to the DSL (in line with the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy)

Head of PSHE has responsibility for:

Ensuring that the RSE curriculum (11-18) empowers all students to actively understand how to maintain positive relationships and their own sexual health and to seek support when required
Ensuring that parents are informed of the content of RSE lessons and have access to PSHE curriculum maps
Liaising with parents to address any concerns they may have about RSE content
Liaising with Heads of School and parents to identify students with vulnerabilities or experiences that might make particular lessons distressing; ensuring such students have options to exit or not attend specific sessions
Liaising with the Assistant Headteacher (Student Guidance) to ensure that the RSE curriculum addresses the students’ emerging needs
Monitoring delivery of RSE through learning walks, department meetings and pupil voice feedback
Liaising with external agencies to ensure any materials used are age appropriate, adapted to the Jersey Curriculum and comply with this policy
Contributing to the review of this policy

Assistant Headteacher (Student Guidance) has responsibility for:

Supporting the Head of PSHE to achieve the aims of this policy Informing and advising the Senior Leadership Team on matters relating to this area of the College’s work
Serving as the College’s Designated Safeguarding Lead
Contributing to the review of this policy

Principal has responsibility for:

Overseeing the application of this policy

Links to other policies

Internal policies

CYPES policies

Appendix 1 – RSE Curriculum Map (KS3 & KS4)

Relationships and Sex Education Curriculum Map

Please also refer to the PSHE Curriculum Maps on our website: https://jerseycollegeforgirls.com/pages/academic/subjects/pshe

RSE in the Sixth Form is delivered primarily through the Life Skills and Choices programme.

Details of when content is delivered – and which partner agencies support the delivery of RSE – are subject to change on an annual basis. During the lifetime of this version of the policy, the table below can be taken as indicative of how the curriculum is structured to provide an appropriate progression of the content and skills over time.

YEAR GROUP	TERM	TOPIC/THEME DETAILS
Jahrgangsstufe 7	N/A	RSE will be taught to each class as part of the PSHE Rotation. Pupils will cover: - Building Positive Relationships - Puberty - Sexting - Child Exploitation
Jahrgangsstufe 8	Spring 2	- Relationship Values - Relationship Expectations - Consent - Positive Parenting - LGBTQ+ Terminology - Introduction to Sexual Health and Wellbeing (Brook Jersey)
Jahrgangsstufe 9	Spring 2	- Relationship Expectations - Sexual Harassment - Child Sexual Exploitation (Jersey Youth Service) - Ready for Sex (You Matter) - Capacity to Consent - Ending Relationships - Period Health and Wellbeing (Human Kind Jersey) - Contraception (Brook Jersey) - Sexually Transmitted Diseases (Brook Jersey)
Jahrgangsstufe 10	N/A	- Periods and Fertility - Pregnancy Choices - Sexual Health and Wellbeing - Contraception - Challenging expectations and myths in relation to RSE
Jahrgangsstufe 11	N/A	- Reproductive Health - Marriage and Family Choices - Healthy relationships (FREEDA)