1.  Vision and Guiding Principles

At Carshalton Boys Sports College, Personal Development and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) are central to the school's mission, preparing young men for healthy relationships, emotional resilience and modern life. Our RSE provision is built on five guiding principles:

• Knowledge that liberates.  Providing students with real, accurate knowledge about health and relationships to empower informed choices and resist exploitation.
• Character that endures.  Developing essential inner qualities — empathy, integrity, grit and civic responsibility — through every aspect of the programme.
• Equity at the core.  Designing the entire programme with the most vulnerable students in mind, so that disadvantage does not dictate outcomes.
• Community and belonging.  Acknowledging the specific context of the South London community while expanding students' horizons beyond it.
• Preparation for life beyond school.  Supporting students from Year 7 onward to navigate long-term relationships and their futures with confidence and integrity.

These principles sit alongside the guiding principles set out in the DfE statutory guidance (2025): meaningful engagement with pupils; engagement and transparency with parents; positivity; careful sequencing; relevance and responsiveness to local needs; skilled delivery of participative education; and a whole-school approach supported by our behaviour and safeguarding policies.

2.  Statutory and Legal Framework

This policy is written to meet the school's statutory duties under the following legislation and guidance. The school must have regard to the DfE statutory guidance and, where it departs from anything the guidance says it should or should not do, must have good reasons for doing so. The table below provides a direct mapping between each statutory requirement and the section of this policy that fulfils it.

Statutory Requirement	How This Policy Complies
DfE statutory guidance: Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education (July 2025; in force from 1 September 2026)	This guidance replaces the 2019 statutory guidance (first implemented in 2020). The curriculum is designed to cover all statutory secondary content for Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education by the end of Year 11. All statutory content areas are mapped to year-group delivery in Section 3.
Children and Social Work Act 2017 and the Relationships Education, RSE and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019	RSE is delivered as a statutory entitlement to all pupils receiving secondary education, and Health Education is compulsory. The programme satisfies all legislative requirements mandated for secondary schools. This policy is published on the school website and a copy is provided free of charge to anyone who asks for one.
Equality Act 2010	Protected characteristics, discrimination awareness and the Public Sector Equality Duty (s.149) are explicitly embedded throughout Key Stages 3 and 4. RSHE topics are taught in a way that does not discriminate against pupils or amount to harassment, and pupils learn about the law relating to all nine protected characteristics by the end of their secondary education. Content is inclusive of all backgrounds, family types and identities.
Keeping Children Safe in Education (2026)	KCSIE 2026 came into force on 1 September 2026. The policy links directly to safeguarding duties by addressing online safety, county lines, domestic abuse, sexual violence and abuse, harmful sexual behaviour, the sharing of nude and semi-nude images (including AI-generated images) and upskirting. The Designated Safeguarding Lead is involved in curriculum review.
Online Safety Act 2023	Digital literacy, data rights, online harms and critical media literacy are addressed explicitly in each year group. Age-appropriate content on harmful online behaviours is included, and the relevant law is taught factually.
Prevent Duty (Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015)	Radicalisation awareness and critical media literacy form part of the Living in the Wider World strand. Staff receive Prevent training as part of their RSE CPD.
Right to request withdrawal from sex education	Parents and carers have the right to request that their child is withdrawn from some or all of the sex education delivered as part of RSE (but not the relationships elements of RSE, Health Education or the science curriculum, which are statutory and cannot be withdrawn from). From three terms before their 16th birthday, a pupil may choose to opt back into sex education. The procedure is set out in Section 5.

 

3.  Curriculum Architecture and Spiral Sequencing

The RSE curriculum uses a spiral design mapped to the three PSHE Association Programme of Study core themes — Health & Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World. Topics are systematically revisited across five years in an age-appropriate, progressive manner, ensuring no student encounters content before they have the foundation knowledge to engage with it meaningfully, and that pupils are equipped with knowledge to navigate experiences safely before they are likely to occur.

Key Stage 3 Foundations

• Year 7  focuses on foundational relationship literacy: relationship boundaries, different family types, friendship skills, managing peer pressure, bullying and discrimination. Online safety, digital footprints and media literacy are introduced. Mental health, emotional regulation, nutrition, exercise and sleep are addressed in Health Education; puberty is taught in Year 8.
• Year 8  deepens relationship knowledge by introducing the relationship spectrum, early warning signs of unhealthy relationships, power dynamics and coercive control. Content covers puberty, physical and emotional changes, menstrual health, drugs and alcohol, personal safety (including knife crime and county lines awareness), digital consent and grooming tactics — including how to report via CEOP.
• Year 9  applies knowledge to situations requiring moral maturity. Lessons explicitly cover gang exploitation and county lines, enthusiastic consent, personal boundaries, readiness for intimacy, harmful stereotypes and the impacts and media distortions of pornography. This year bridges KS3 foundations into the more explicit content of KS4.

Key Stage 4 Deepening

• Year 10  explores healthy sexual relationships, personal boundaries and communication, building on the KS3 consent framework. A dedicated programme covers safe, responsible and informed sex, contraception, STIs (including HIV prevention through PrEP and PEP) and how to access local sexual health services.
• Year 11  content is concentrated from September until Easter to avoid disruption to examinations. It addresses fertility, conception, pregnancy options and associated emotions, the effects of substances on sexual decision-making, and explicit content on preventing a culture of abuse, sexual violence and sexual coercion.

Content introduced by the 2025 guidance

The 2025 guidance adds new secondary content. These topics are integrated into existing lessons and taught factually, sensitively and in line with the law:

• Year 7  the legal status of marriage and civil partnership.
• Year 8  stalking; sextortion and the law on sharing images, including AI-generated indecent images; AI chatbots and fake intimacy; gambling-like features in gaming; vaping, nicotine pouches and illicit vapes; menstrual and gynaecological conditions such as endometriosis and PCOS, and the menopause; and basic first aid, including CPR and the use of defibrillators.
• Year 9  misogyny and the influence of online sub-cultures (including so-called "incels") and online influencers; suicide prevention and online content promoting self-harm or suicide; gambling harms; and conspiracy theories.
• Year 10  the law on strangulation and suffocation; FGM, virginity testing and hymenoplasty; forced marriage and the law on marriage under 18; PrEP and PEP; Gillick competence and consent to medical treatment; and misogyny and conspiracy theories revisited.
• Year 11  sextortion and stalking revisited; vaccination, antimicrobial resistance and the role of pharmacists; blood, organ and stem cell donation; folic acid, miscarriage and pelvic floor health; the "common-law marriage" myth; drink spiking and methanol poisoning; and reporting routes for FGM and sexual violence.

Statutory Content Coverage Map

The table below maps the secondary content areas of the DfE statutory guidance (2025) across the five-year programme.

DfE Statutory Content Area (2025)	Year Groups
RSE: Families	Y7, Y10, Y11
RSE: Respectful relationships	Y7, Y8, Y9, Y10, Y11
RSE: Online safety and awareness	Y7, Y8, Y9, Y10, Y11
RSE: Being safe	Y8, Y9, Y10, Y11
RSE: Intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health	Y9, Y10, Y11
Health: Mental wellbeing	Y7, Y8, Y9, Y10, Y11
Health: Wellbeing online	Y7, Y8, Y9, Y10, Y11
Health: Physical health and fitness	Y7, Y9, Y10, Y11
Health: Healthy eating	Y7, Y9, Y10, Y11
Health: Drugs, alcohol, tobacco and vaping	Y8, Y9, Y10, Y11
Health: Health protection and prevention, and understanding the healthcare system	Y7, Y10, Y11
Health: Personal safety	Y8, Y9, Y10
Health: Basic first aid (including CPR and defibrillators)	Y8
Health: Developing bodies	Y8, Y11

 

4.  Delivery, Resourcing and Specialist Provision

Standard Delivery

RSE content is integrated into fortnightly Personal Development lessons (50–60 minutes) delivered by form tutors. This is reinforced by weekly 25-minute tutor-time sessions. All tutors delivering RSE receive structured lesson materials, knowledge support and the CPD described in Section 8.

Specialist Delivery

To address sensitive statutory content at the point of greatest developmental need, the school uses extended specialist-led provision. In Year 10, there is a dedicated RSE Drop-Down Day, delivered by the Science Department to provide focused instruction on relationships, consent, sexual health, online safety and fertility. Post-session evaluation by pupils informs future delivery.

Safe Learning Environment

Ground rules, strict confidentiality protocols and clear safe-disclosure procedures are established at the start of each academic year. Students are reminded of these at the beginning of any sensitive topic, and are told how confidentiality will be handled and what may happen if they make a report about themselves or a peer. Staff follow the school's safeguarding policy and KCSIE 2026 when any disclosure is made: confidentiality is never promised to students in a way that conflicts with the duty to protect.

Positive, Non-Stigmatising Teaching

In line with the guidance, staff avoid language that might normalise harmful behaviour or stigmatise boys, including gendered language suggesting that boys or men are always perpetrators. Pupils have opportunities to develop positive conceptions of masculinity and to learn from positive male role models. Where misogynistic ideas are expressed, staff challenge the idea rather than the person. When teaching about harmful online content, staff do not signpost specific content or content producers. The law is taught factually so that pupils understand their rights and responsibilities.

Especially Sensitive Topics

Suicide prevention, self-harm and eating disorders are taught only with qualified support, reliable high-quality materials and evidence-based staff training, and after consulting mental health professionals where suicide is addressed directly. Staff do not discuss instructions or methods and avoid emotive language, videos or images. Any concern about a specific pupil is handled through the school's safeguarding procedures.

Sex, Gender and LGBT Content

Content on same-sex relationships is integrated throughout the programme rather than delivered as a standalone lesson, and sexual health content is relevant to all pupils. Pupils are taught the facts and the law about biological sex and gender reassignment, including that people with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment are protected from discrimination and should be treated with respect. In line with the guidance, the school does not endorse any particular view on contested questions or teach such views as fact, and avoids resources that oversimplify this topic or reinforce gender stereotypes.

Resources and External Providers

Lesson resources are drawn from the PSHE Association resource bank, the Sex Education Forum and the school's own materials, reviewed annually for accuracy, age-appropriateness and statutory compliance. Resources involving external speakers are subject to the school's Visiting Speakers Policy. The school remains responsible for all content, checks the credentials of any visiting organisation, reviews materials and lesson plans in advance, and agrees beforehand how any safeguarding concern will be handled. The school will not agree to any contractual restriction on showing parents the materials used.

Answering Pupils' Questions

Pupils may ask questions about topics that go beyond the sex education the school covers, or that relate to sex education from which they have been withdrawn. In line with the DfE statutory guidance (2025), teachers will handle these questions with an emphasis on supporting the pupil, recognising that pupils whose questions go unanswered may turn instead to inappropriate sources of information, including online.

• Questions beyond what the school covers.  Teachers will acknowledge every question respectfully and will not dismiss or shame the pupil. Where a question goes beyond the content planned for that year group, the teacher may explain that it will be covered in a later lesson, answer briefly and factually at an age-appropriate level, or speak to the pupil privately rather than in front of the class.
• Questions from pupils withdrawn from sex education.  Teachers will not deliver the content of lessons from which the pupil has been withdrawn, but will respond supportively. This may include encouraging the pupil to speak to his parents or another trusted adult and signposting to reliable support. Pupils will also be reminded that, from three terms before their 16th birthday, they can choose to opt back into sex education.
• Signposting to reliable support.  Where appropriate, teachers will direct pupils to trusted adults in school, medically accurate sources of information and confidential support services, such as their GP, local sexual health services or Childline.
• Anonymous questions.  Question boxes allow pupils to raise questions anonymously. Teachers review these before the lesson and decide which questions are suitable to answer with the whole class.
• Safeguarding.  If a question suggests that a pupil may be at risk of harm, or a pupil makes a disclosure, staff will follow the school's safeguarding procedures and report to the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
• Staff support.  Staff receive support and training in handling questions, including those that are better not dealt with in the classroom.

 

5.  Inclusion, Accessibility and the Right to Request Withdrawal

Supporting Pupils with SEND

Lessons include adaptations that remove sole reliance on extended writing. Assessment tasks use accessible formats — card sorts, visual representations, scenario discussions — with TA support or adjusted expectations where required under EHCPs. Ground rules explicitly normalise neurodiversity and physical differences. Staff are aware that pupils with SEND may be more vulnerable to harmful sexual behaviour, abuse, exploitation and bullying, and teaching is planned to prepare them for adulthood in line with the SEND Code of Practice.

Supporting EAL Students

Core PSHE and RSE terminology is supported by glossaries and key vocabulary is explicitly introduced at the start of each unit. Structured discussion tools — pair talk, sentence stems and visual prompts — support communication, and topics are delivered with cultural sensitivity and awareness of diverse family and community backgrounds.

Supporting High Prior Attainers

Discussion tasks and scenario analyses offer open-ended challenges, prompting high-attaining students to engage with moral complexity, competing ethical perspectives and nuanced real-world scenarios.

Right to Request Withdrawal from Sex Education

In line with the DfE statutory guidance (2025), parents and carers have the right to request that their son is withdrawn from some or all of the sex education delivered as part of RSE. This right does not extend to the relationships elements of RSE or Health Education, which are statutory and cannot be withdrawn from, nor to content taught as part of the National Curriculum for Science, including puberty and sexual reproduction.

At Carshalton Boys Sports College, the lessons classed as sex education are: the Year 10 lesson "Safe, Responsible & Informed Sex" (summer term); the sexual health elements of the Year 10 RSE Drop-Down Day; and the elements of the Year 11 lessons "Fertility, Pregnancy & Starting a Family" and "Pregnancy Options & Emotions" (spring term) on fertility, conception and pregnancy options that go beyond the science curriculum. Pupils who are withdrawn will still be taught any relationships or health education content covered in these lessons, as this cannot be withdrawn from. Parents are informed of sex education content in advance.

Parents or carers wishing to exercise this right should contact the Co-Principals. Before a request is granted, the Co-Principals will discuss it with the parent or carer (and with the pupil where appropriate) to understand the request, explain the nature and purpose of the curriculum, and discuss the benefits of sex education and any detrimental effects of withdrawal — including the likelihood that the pupil will hear peers' possibly inaccurate accounts of lessons. A record of this discussion and the decision will be kept. The school will respect the request except in exceptional circumstances, for example where there are safeguarding concerns or because of a pupil's specific vulnerability. Where a request is agreed, the school will ensure the pupil receives appropriate, purposeful education during the period of withdrawal.

From three terms before his 16th birthday, a pupil can choose to opt back into sex education, even if his parent or carer has requested withdrawal. For example, a pupil who turns 16 during the autumn term of Year 11 can opt back in at any time from the start of the autumn term of Year 10. For most pupils, this point falls during Year 10. The school will make sure pupils know they have this option.

6.  Consultation, Transparency and Pupil Voice

Parent and Carer Consultation

The school has consulted parents and carers in developing this policy, in line with the statutory duty set out in the DfE statutory guidance (2025). A summary of curriculum content is available to parents and carers on the school website and in hard copy on request. The school shows parents a representative sample of the resources it plans to use, and parents may view all curriculum materials used to teach RSHE on request by contacting the school office. Materials are shared via a parent portal or presentation where possible, or as take-home copies, subject to a statement that parents will not copy or share them further except as copyright law allows; copyright will never be used as a reason to refuse to share materials. Parents cannot veto curriculum content, but the school will respond positively to requests to see materials and will inform parents in advance of any shift away from this policy. The policy is reviewed annually, and parents and carers are invited to contribute to that review through the school's consultation process.

Contextual Risk Factors

The curriculum is directly shaped by the local contextual risk factors facing young men in Carshalton and South London:

• Masculinity and male identity.  The programme addresses pressures placed on young men regarding risk-taking, emotional expression, physical appearance and sexual behaviour, working to support a healthy, confident and respectful sense of masculinity, and equips pupils to recognise and challenge misogynistic content and influencers without stigmatising boys.
• Digital risk.  High levels of urban social media use are countered with targeted lessons on algorithmic manipulation, digital consent, online safety, deepfakes, sextortion and pornography awareness.
• Safety risks.  Relationship education is designed to reduce the likelihood of students becoming involved in abusive relationships, gang activity or exploitation networks such as county lines. Knife crime content relates to the local context and avoids using fear as an educational tool.

Pupil Voice

The curriculum remains responsive through an annual cycle of pupil consultation. Student perspectives are collected via year-group surveys, student focus groups, the school council, post-session evaluation forms for the RSE Drop-Down Day, and Year 11 leavers' feedback. Anonymous question boxes are used during sensitive sessions to allow students to ask questions they might otherwise be unable to raise openly. Past pupil voice has directly led to content updates. Students are told how their feedback has shaped the programme.

7.  Assessment Framework

Core principle:  Assessment in RSE is formative, ongoing and recorded qualitatively. In line with best practice, no numerical grades are awarded for RSE or Personal Development content. Assessment exists to check understanding, address misconceptions and support growth — not to generate academic pressure.

Assessment Structure

• Baseline assessment.  Brief activities — card sorts, knowledge checks or Likert scales — at the start of units gauge prior knowledge and attitudes.
• Formative tutor-time assessments.  Designated low-stakes sessions use knowledge checks and reflection activities to identify misconceptions without generating academic anxiety.
• Distancing techniques.  All assessment tasks use third-person examples, scenarios and case studies, allowing students to demonstrate evaluative understanding without requiring personal disclosures.
• Self and peer assessment.  Reflection journals and structured check-ins build metacognition and track personal growth against learning goals.
• Summative review.  Students complete an end-of-year portfolio or comprehensive reflection task. Year 11 students complete an end-of-provision summative assessment before the Easter break.

8.  Staff Development and Training

All tutors and teaching staff delivering RSE receive appropriate Continuing Professional Development (CPD) before teaching the programme and on an annual basis thereafter. CPD provision includes:

• Training from the PSHE Association, including engagement with Chartered Teacher resources and training on the 2025 statutory changes.
• Whole-school INSET on safe handling of sensitive topics, disclosure procedures and maintaining a safe learning environment, recognising the increased likelihood of disclosures during RSHE.
• Evidence-based training, informed by mental health professionals, before staff address suicide prevention directly, and specialist guidance before teaching about self-harm or eating disorders.
• Prevent Duty training for all staff delivering the Living in the Wider World strand.
• Annual briefing on updates to statutory guidance (including KCSIE, which all staff are expected to read in full at Part One), local safeguarding procedures and any curriculum changes.

The school actively coordinates training opportunities to ensure instructional standards remain high, safe and legally compliant. No tutor is expected to deliver RSE content without adequate preparation and support materials.

9.  Complaints Procedure

Any parent, carer or student who has a concern about the content, delivery or handling of RSE provision should follow the school's standard complaints procedure, available on the school website and from the school office.

In the first instance, concerns should be raised informally with the Head of Personal Development or the relevant form tutor. If the concern is not resolved informally, a formal complaint may be submitted in writing to the Co-Principals. The school will respond within the timescales set out in the Complaints Policy. If a complainant remains unsatisfied after the school's procedure has been exhausted, the matter may be referred to the Department for Education, using the complaint route for academies published on GOV.UK.

10.  Policy Review, Monitoring and Named Responsibility

This policy is reviewed annually, normally in the summer term, and updated to reflect any changes to statutory guidance, safeguarding requirements or pupil needs identified through the consultation cycle. Delivery is monitored through lesson visits, review of pupil work and assessment evidence, pupil voice and parent feedback, overseen by the Head of Personal Development.

Role	Responsibility
Head of Personal Development	Day-to-day oversight of RSE curriculum delivery, staff support, resource review and pupil voice.
Designated Safeguarding Lead	Ensuring RSE content aligns with safeguarding priorities; advising on safe handling of sensitive topics and disclosures; sharing knowledge of local issues and trusted local support services.
Co-Principals	Overseeing parent consultation and withdrawal requests; receiving formal complaints.
Trust Board (Curriculum Committee)	Approving the policy annually, as the body responsible for the school having an RSE policy.
Link Trustees (Personal Development)	Trust Board oversight and scrutiny of the RSE programme; ensuring the Trust Board fulfils its statutory duty to have regard to the DfE statutory guidance (2025), including that curriculum content and materials align with it, teaching is accessible to pupils with SEND, and parents receive clear information on content, materials, external providers and the right to request withdrawal.
All teaching staff	Delivering RSE in line with this policy; attending CPD; following safe disclosure procedures.

 

Policy approved by: Trust Board (Curriculum Committee)

Date of approval: September 2026

Next review date: July 2027

Link trustees: Mr Baron, Chair of Students Trustees, and Mrs S O’Neill, Chair of Curriculum Trustees

Statutory guidance version: DfE Relationships Education, RSE and Health Education statutory guidance, July 2025 (in force 1 September 2026

For our Sixth form RSHE Programme information, please click HERE