Students have the opportunity to learn:
- strategies to manage strong emotions and feelings
- the characteristics and benefits of positive, strong, supportive, equal relationships
- parenting skills and qualities and their central importance to family life (including the implications of young parenthood)
- to recognise when a relationship is unhealthy or abusive (including the unacceptability of both emotional and physical abuse or violence including rape) and strategies to manage this or get help
- managing changes in personal relationships including the ending of relationships
- to develop an awareness of exploitation, bullying and harassment in relationships (including the unique challenges posed by online bullying and the unacceptability of physical, emotional, sexual abuse in all types of teenage relationships, including in group settings such as gangs) and how to respond
- about the concept of consent in relevant, age-appropriate contexts building on Key Stage 3
- about impact of domestic abuse (including sources of help and support)
- the impact of separation, divorce and bereavement on families and the need to adapt to changing circumstances
- about statutory and voluntary organisations that support relationships experiencing difficulties or in crisis, such as relationship breakdown, separation, divorce, or bereavement
- how to access such organisations and other sources of information, advice and support
- about diversity in sexual attraction and developing sexuality, including sources of support and reassurance and how to access them
- how to negotiate the agreement, or withholding of consent, to engage in different degrees of sexual activity
- how to ascertain and respect others’ right to agree or withhold consent to engage in different degrees of sexual activity
- to recognise the impact of drugs and alcohol on choices and sexual behaviour
- to manage unwanted attention in a variety of contexts (including harassment and stalking)
- to understand and respect others’ faith and cultural expectations concerning relationships and sexual activity
- to assess readiness for sex
- about accessing and the correct use of contraception, negotiating condom use, reinforcing and building on learning in Key Stage 3
- to understand the consequences of unintended pregnancy and of teenage parenthood (in the context of learning about parenting skills and qualities and their importance to family life)
- the reasons why parents choose to adopt or to place children for adoption
- about abortion, including the current legal position and the range of beliefs, opinions and myths about it
- the pathways available in the event of unintended pregnancy, the possible physical and emotional reactions and responses people may have to each option and who to talk to for accurate, impartial advice and support
- that fertility decreases with age
- to understand the role of sex in the media and its impact on sexuality (including pornography and related sexual ethics such as consent, negotiation, boundaries, respect, gender norms, sexual ‘norms’, trust, communication, pleasure, orgasms, rights, empowerment, sexism, feminism)
- the role peers can play in supporting one another (including helping vulnerable friends to access reliable, accurate and appropriate support)
