Bishopston Comprehensive School
Ysgol Gyfun Llandeilo Ferwallt
Developing our Health & Well-Being/RSE Curriculum
All settings should embed a rights-based approach in the curriculum, including RSE.
Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) at �Bishopston Comprehensive School
Our school curriculum embraces the RSE Code as part of our Health and Well-being Curriculum. Our RSE provision will have a positive and empowering role in our learners’ education and will play a vital role in supporting them to realise the four purposes as part of a whole-school approach. Helping learners to form and maintain a range of relationships, all based on mutual trust and respect, is the foundation of RSE. These relationships are critical to the development of emotional well-being, resilience and empathy.
Bishopston Comprehensive School ensures that all resources and information is developmentally and age appropriate. In accordance with Welsh Government legislation, there is no right to withdraw from RSE.
Influences on our Curriculum
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Health and Wellbeing
What Matters?
Strand 1 - Relationships and identity
Strand 2 – Sexual health and well-being
Strand 3 – Empowerment, safety and respect
New Curriculum for Wales
Health and Wellbeing
What Matters?
New Curriculum for Wales
What is RSE?
We want education to help our children to develop as healthy, confident individuals, ready for the next chapter in their life after school. The Curriculum for Wales was rolled out to pupils in Year 7 in schools in September 2022.
It has a key role to play in helping children and young people navigate the world safely. ‘Sex and Relationships Education’ (SRE) changed to ‘Relationships and Sexuality Education’ (RSE) in the new curriculum. The change of title was deliberate – with a renewed focus on Relationships.
Parents have a central role to play in supporting their children. There is also a crucial role for schools - especially in a world where there is so much inaccurate and misleading information and harmful materials, circulating online. RSE plays an important role for the safeguarding and protection of all learners in Wales.
Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) is a mandatory element of the Curriculum for Wales – so that every child has a right to access the full curriculum. It includes learning on anti bullying, violence against woman and online safety as part of a whole school approach.
RSE provision helps to ensure learners develop a positive understanding of relationships and sexuality and to recognise misconceptions. RSE aims to empower learners in line with their needs, experiences and wider development. Through discussion and by responding to learners’ questions and needs, it can provide safe and empowering environments that enable learners to reflect on and express their views and feelings on a range of issues.
RSE in the curriculum focuses on three broad strands:
fulfilling relationships with others and helping them to make sense of their thoughts and feelings.
reproductive health and well-being, allowing them to make informed decisions throughout their lives.
abuse and neglect and enabling them to recognise unsafe or harmful relationships and situations, supporting
them to recognise when, how and where to seek support and advice.
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Strand 1 - Relationships and identity�
This strand focuses on:
Learners need to develop the understanding and behaviours that will support them to develop and maintain healthy, safe and fulfilling relationships throughout their lives. Learners need to be supported to recognise and value different types of relationships, including families and friendships, as well as the diversity within different types of relationships, including LGBTQ+ diversity, and that these can change over time. Developing empathy, compassion and communication skills are critical to learners’ relationships now and the relationships they will form in the future. This will also support respect, understanding and equitable treatment for others, whatever their sex, gender, sexuality, faith or belief.
Learners also need to develop both their sense of self and their sense of everyone being unique. Over time, learners can explore how relationships, sex, gender, romantic and sexual attraction and personal experiences may shape and inform a person’s identity and individuality. This supports learners to understand how identity, relationships and sexuality are informed by biology, technology and social, cultural and religious norms and that these may change over time. By engaging with these aspects, learners can recognise both positive and harmful behaviours and norms and have the confidence to speak up for themselves and to speak out and advocate for the rights and respect of others.
This strand also recognises how rights can support and underpin equitable, respectful relationships, as well as a fair and inclusive society.
Strand 2 - Sexual health and well-being�
This strand focuses on:
In early development, learners need to experience contexts for understanding the importance of maintaining personal health and well-being, including hygiene, and how this impacts on themselves and others. This progresses to applying broad principles of health and hygiene within sexual health.
As learners develop, teaching and learning needs to include focus on exploring how physical changes have an impact on well-being and relationships ensuring the representation of LGBTQ+ experiences and lives. Learning also focuses on menstrual well-being and conditions which can affect the reproductive system; as well as developing understanding of the possible outcomes of the decisions made relating to sexual health and relationships. All of this learning will focus on recognising the diversity of human body types, how perception and understanding of the human body is shaped by society, the law, science and technology and the impact of this on well-being.
Strand 3 - Empowerment, safety and respect�
This strand focuses on:
This strand builds on the positive behaviours and skills of healthy relationships. It reinforces the requirement to support learners to develop empathy, kindness and compassion towards each other and empowering them with the confidence to draw upon available support if they are concerned about their own safety or that of others.
They should be supported to understand that exercising their right to be free from all forms of discrimination, violence, abuse and neglect is enabled by trusted adults who can support their safety. This includes through a number of legal protections that exist for all. Criminal law makes such behaviours unlawful and there are criminal sanctions for those found guilty of committing such offences.
Learners need to develop an understanding of the social, emotional, physical and legal nature and impact of harmful behaviours, including all bullying, and LGBTQ+ based bullying, sexual violence and gender-based violence in a range of contexts, including online.
How do I know what my school will be teaching in RSE?
It is a legislative requirement that RSE must be developmentally appropriate for learners and this includes all materials and resources and manner of teaching. RSE is also legally required to be objective, critical and pluralistic: meaning schools and settings must provide factual information and on questions of values, a range of views on a given subject, commonly held within society.
The RSE Code sets out learning at developmentally appropriate phases. It has been published to give parents and carers clarity and transparency about what their children will learn and when. This helps parents and carers see exactly what schools are required by law to include in RSE.
You can access it here:
Cross-cutting themes for designing your curriculum –
Hwb (gov.wales)
Year 7 Content
Year 8 Content
Year 9 Content
Year 10 Content
Year 11 Content
Bishopston Comprehensive School
Ysgol Gyfun Llandeilo Ferwallt
Developing the Curriculum through Pupil Voice
Public sexual Harassment
Black lives Matter
Gender Identity
Identified three main themes to address:
Resources
Pupil Voice
Initial pupils
Senior Prefects
School Council
Feedback from pupils to address
Bishopston Comprehensive School
Ysgol Gyfun Llandeilo Ferwallt
If you have any other queries please do not hesitate to contact the school via the following email address:
bcs@swansea-edunet.gov.uk