We are currently piloting new free-of-charge primary relationships education sessions and are looking for London schools to take part. Please contact Rachel at rachel@acet-uk.com if your school would like to participate.
The statutory guidance for Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) acknowledges the value of schools using external speakers to complement the RSE delivered by school staff. Point 5.1 of the guidance states, “Working with external organisations can enhance delivery of these subjects, bringing in specialist knowledge and different ways of engaging with young people.”
We know that schools want to provide the best possible RSE for their students but that many teachers lack sufficient confidence or knowledge to deliver the full range of topics. Using experienced, specialist external speakers as well as school staff to deliver this important subject enriches students’ learning by bringing in different perspectives and expertise into the classroom.
Additionally, studies carried out in the UK have reported that students greatly appreciate some of their RSE being provided by outside expert speakers (Pound et al. 2016) and working with external speakers may be “associated with better sexual health outcomes, including remaining sexually inactive, later age of first intercourse, and condom use” (Young et al. 2018).
Using external experts also contributes to the wider development of the RSE curriculum in the school, by building the school’s capacity to deliver high-quality RSE, meet the requirements of the statutory guidance, and engage with parents and carers.
Schools should most definitely be in control of their RSE curriculum design and delivery, but there may be areas where external visitor input can improve RSE provision. The schools we work with take different approaches: in some, we deliver a full range of RSE topics; in others, we deliver key RSE topics that the school has highlighted as needing extra expertise; and, in a few, we have provided staff training in RSE and are now supporting the school as a member of our Esteem network of RSE educators.
All our sessions are delivered by experienced and accredited RSE trainers. Please contact info@acet-uk.com to arrange a call back to discuss your school’s requirements. Click the button below for our current prices.