St Mary Magdalene Catholic Primary School

Relationship and Sex Education (RSE)

RSE is part of the mission of Catholic schools to educate the whole person. It should be carried out as part of the holistic education which seeks to form as well as inform young people in preparation for adult life.  (Catholic Education Service)

Please find below, guidance issued by the Department of Education on Relationships education, relationships and sex edcation (RSE) and health education.  The DfE guidance can be found here.  Catholic schools are required to deliver RSE in accordance with the teaching of the church. This approach is compatible with the guidance issed by the DfE.

At St. Mary Magdalene, we use the Ten:Ten programme for Catholic primary schools, Life to the Full, to teach Relationships Education and Health Education within the context of a Christian understanding of human sexuality rooted in the wisdom and teaching of the Catholic Church. 

We deliver this teaching through the prism of Catholic RSHE. The framework of our programme is taken from the Model Catholic RSE Programme by the Catholic Education Service, which has been highlighted by the Department of Education as a work of good practice.

Life to the Full is a fully resourced Scheme of Work in Relationships and Health Education (RHE) for Catholic primary schools which embraces and fulfils the new statutory curriculum. Taught with a spiral approach to learning, in which pupils will revisit the same topics at an age-appropriate stage through their school life, the programme includes teaching about personal health, physical and emotional wellbeing, strong emotions, private parts of the body, personal relationships, family structures, trusted adults, growing bodies, puberty, periods, life cycles, the dangers of social media, where babies come from, an understanding of the Common Good and living in the wider world. The entire teaching is underpinned with a religious understanding that our deepest identity is as a child of God - created chosen and loved by God. The programme is fully inclusive of all pupils and their families.