The Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019 make Relationships Education compulsory for all pupils receiving primary education and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) compulsory for all pupils receiving secondary education. They also make Health Education compulsory in all schools except independent schools. The regulations also set out the rights of parents/carers to withdraw pupils from Sex Education but not from Relationships or Health Education. The DfE statutory guidance on Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education can be found here.

You may find the following resources useful:

• Church of England Education Office RSHE Guidance and Resources
• Goodness and Mercy (resources to support effective RSHE in church schools)
• NSPCC guidance and resources
• Ofsted Review of Sexual Abuse in Schools and Colleges

This Lincoln Diocesan Board of Education guidance document will support you to produce a policy document relating to the delivery of Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) in your church school setting. For the purposes of this document, we refer to RSHE to cover all elements referred to in the DfE’s statutory guidance; where elements (e.g. Sex Education) are not relevant to all primary settings, this will be clearly stated. This guidance document has been produced using guidance and exemplar policy documents produced by The Key, North Lincolnshire Services for Education and Katy Staples (Schools’ Adviser, Diocese of Bristol).