One of the campaigns that we have been working on is Sex and Relationships education within South Gloucestershire which is abbreviated to SRE. It is not only one of South Gloucestershire's campaigns but also a national one. We sent out questionnaires to schools and youth centres and received over 200 replies. From these we have written a report and have taken it to the Children and Young People's Select Committee meeting. This report is available below.
We are planning on continuing with this campaign with the South Gloucestershire Youth Forum.
The national SRE report is available under the "Other websites" section of this page.
Conclusions from our SRE survey
(Compared to the national recommendations of the UKYP SRE report)
1) The UKYP report says that all children and young people are entitlement to a ‘statutory provision’ of SRE.
a) Some pupils missed out completely because they were absent.
b) One school stopped because a parent complained.
2) The report state that ‘no school should be able to opt out’ of teaching SRE.
a) We did not send out questionnaires to faith schools, but personal experience tells us they focus on relationships, and teach nothing about sex.
3) The report also says that SRE should be ‘taught throughout’ a pupil’s education.
a) Lots of pupils missed lessons.
b) Many pupils said that their SRE did not continue into KS4. Everyone how said this, also said they wanted it too.
4) The Youth Parliament report says that schools need ‘specialist teachers’ to teach a SRE, or teachers with ‘specific training’.
a) Several pupils wanted to be taught by someone form outside school. (Some schools already do this successfully.)
5) The report states that ‘relationships should be taught as part of SRE’.
a) We found that many schools concentrate more one area than on the other.
6) Though none of our questions reflected this issue, we strongly agree with the Youth Parliament report, that teenage pregnancy and its implications should be taught in SRE.
7) Also, though no questions were asked about this, we also believe that OFSTED should inspect PHSE more carefully.
8) The report says that all young people should have access to a ‘confidential Sexual Health Service’.
a) Most YP know where to get more information, but we are dubious about whether they have the confidence to go to the facilities, or if the facilities are accessible.