So another academic year draws to an end, and we look back on all the relationships and sex educations sessions we have run this year with the young people of Southwark. It's been another amazing year spent with amazing young people!
1462 students from year seven right through to sixth form attended at least one of our sessions. Sessions were run on a range of topics including friendships, self-esteem and body image, puberty, relationships and sex, and consent.
We continued to develop our Girl's Project over the year, including a new lesson entitled 'Consent & Intimacy', and we delivered sessions from our Boys Project to positive response from students and teachers. Teachers expressed that the students engaged very well in the sessions and were encouraged to reflect on the ways they respond to different situations.
We also piloted a lesson called ‘Worth it?’ which explores intimacy, healthy personal boundaries, and aims to give students an understanding of the viewpoint of the opposite sex in a relationship. The feedback has been excellent: one PSHCE coordinator felt we addressed an issue that has been a concern for many years and would hope to see the lesson transformed into a fully-fledged project. We shall be exploring further developing the project in the future.
Here's some of the brilliant feedback we received from students and teachers over this most recent summer term.
“I learnt that there should be trust and respect in a relationship and that abuse in a relationship is not good.” Year 9 student
“I learnt that you shouldn’t let anyone put you down because we are all equal in worth.” Year 7 student
“I understood from the lesson that you should never use your body to please anyone and to speak out if someone is abusing or controlling you.” Year 8 student
“This lesson helped me understand that the images of celebrities portrayed in the media often do not reflect reality.” Year 9 student
“Any school would benefit from these sessions. All children should know these things! Parents are not always comfortable with having these discussions.” Class Teacher
“I think that all schools in Southwark will benefit from these sessions. The entire borough historically has problems in this area.” Head of House
“These sessions allow young people to think, about how their actions impact others.” Teaching Assistant