As a part of your child’s educational experience at Wilbury Primary School, we aim to promote personal wellbeing and development through a comprehensive taught programme of Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education that gives children and young people the knowledge, under-standing, attitudes and practical skills to live healthy, safe, productive and fulfilled lives, both now and in the future.

As you may already be aware, the Department for Education has recently updated it’s guidance relating to relationships and sex education. These changes came into effect from September 2026 and all schools will be required to comply with the updated requirements. The statutory guidance can be found here.

Following parental consultation in Summer 2026, we have reviewed our RHE (Relationship and Health Education) curriculum and policy so we can be sure our RHE provision is appropriate. 

Changes include:

• Greater transparency with parents – parents are able to view, in school, any RHE materials that will be used in school
• Emphasis on boundary setting – teaching pupils to set and respect boundaries, recognise unsafe online/offline relationships, and when and how to seek help.
• Developing bodies (including puberty)  specificity of vocabulary taught and menstruation taught before pupils are likely to experience it.
• Online safety – including being a critical consumer of online information, age limits for social media, risks around image sharing and online pressure, privacy and location settings.
• Personal safety and first aid – including rail and water safety, peer influence and pressure.

These changes are designed to better prepare our children to make wise decisions about their health and relationships. Our RHE programme aims to foster respect for others, understanding of healthy relationships and positive self-esteem. By the end of their primary education, pupils should be able to recognise and manage emotions, understand choices and respect differences between people.

The Department for Education has stated that sex education is not compulsory in primary schools and following our consultation, we have decided not to teach this at Wilbury.

However, the national curriculum for science includes subject content in related areas, such as the main external body parts, the human body as it grows from birth to old age (including puberty) and reproduction in some plants and animals. This is compulsory for schools and therefore children cannot be withdrawn from these lessons.

It is essential from a safeguarding perspective for children to know the correct names of their body parts and which parts are private. This keeps your child safe from harm.

The statutory guidance is clear that children must have the vocabulary to name their bodies accurately, and this shared language plays an important role in ensuring that if a child needs to talk to a trusted adult, they are able to do so clearly and be understood. Be reassured that while correct terminology is used in school, they remain free to use whatever language they are comfortable with at home.