Relationships, Sex and Health Education: An update

As you are most likely aware, from September 2020, Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Health Education will be mandatory for all schools. 

The DfE Covid-19 related update states that the requirement for schools to provide this aspects of education is still in place from September, and schools should prepare for this date wherever possible.  The DfE does recognise that a minority of schools might not be in a position to fully implement the guidance from September and some leeway is being offered. 

The PSHE association suggests that PSHE needs regular curriculum time like any other subject, and that ‘drop down days’ or ‘off timetable’ days should be used to enhance a regular timetabled programme rather than replacing one.

The DfE suggest that if your school has been unable to implement RSHE from September, a phased approach should be adopted with teaching of the content starting as soon as possible.  They have provided a deadline of Summer 2021 to fully implement the guidance, at the very latest.

The Department have also suggested that schools should consider prioritising mental health and wellbeing content as learners start to return to school following events earlier this year. The last few months are bound to have taken an emotional toll on pupils and protecting their wellbeing should always be a priority.

iAchieve’s RSHE online programme is assisting schools throughout the country, to implement the new statutory guidance around Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education (HE), with confidence, and the package has just been shortlisted for a Teach Secondary Award in the ‘Health and Wellbeing category’.

We know that implementing anything new can be daunting, especially when it’s mandatory, so iAchieve’s comprehensive online programme has been developed to help you to meet the new requirements in full. 

It can be challenging for schools to nurture a consistently high-quality approach towards teaching RSHE because of; the lack of subject specialists and dedicated teaching time, the often challenging and uncomfortable subject matter, and the subjectivity around what is considered ‘age-appropriate’ sometimes leading to inconsistency.

The framework offered by iAchieve will support a whole school approach to relationship, sex, and health education, allowing for consistency from year to year and teacher to teacher, whilst significantly reducing any additional workload associated with implementing new statutory guidance.  This is likely to be particularly useful this academic year, given the added pressures that teachers are facing, not only with restrictions caused by Covid-19 but also due to the increased emotional and academic support that learners are likely to require.

iAchieve’s framework ensures that schools are 100% compliant with the new mandatory content, which in turn affords them space to augment, emphasise and enhance areas of the curriculum that are pertinent to their individual learners, context, and local community.

The rich resources revisit topics year upon year, building in complexity at an age-appropriate time and reinforcing previous learning.  The framework’s endorsement by leading awarding organisation CACHE adds an additional level of quality assurance, and an added benefit is that the workbooks learners complete not only evidence the impact that the curriculum is having, but can even lead to a nationally recognised qualification – the CACHE Level 2 Certificate in Relationships, Sex and Health Education.

iAchieve’s online platform not only houses this complete solution in one easy-to-access place, it also breaks the content down into small, manageable chunks of teaching and learning which is hugely beneficial when dedicated teaching time is tight.

If implementing the new RSE and HE statutory guidance is still on your to-do list, we really believe iAchieve could be the solution.


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