RSE Regulations postponed again!

Apparently, the adage that every cloud has a silver lining may be true.  In the Department for Education’s latest Guidance, issued in February and aimed at minimising transmission of the coronavirus Covid-19 in schools post-lockdown, they appear to have rowed back from the requirement that schools fully implement the RSE Regulations by June this year (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/
attachment_data/file/968401/Schools_operational_guidance_-March-2021-update.pdf).They state instead that, while schools are required to provide some relationships, sex and health education to all secondary age pupils in the academic year 2020 to 2021, and to provide some relationships and health education to all primary age pupils, they  may choose to focus this year’s RSHE teaching on the immediate needs of their pupils, ‘such as health education, introducing a more comprehensive RSHE programme in September 2021’ (Emphasis added).

This is good news indeed as it allows further time for investigation into emerging safeguarding issues arising from ill-thought-out teaching placing children at risk of exploitation and abuse.  It also enables closer examination of overtly politicised resources from campaigning groups such as Stonewall (promoting LGBT rights and inclusion https://www.stonewall.org.uk), Educate and Celebrate (dedicated to smashing heteronormativity https://www.educateandcelebrate.org ), and the Proud Trust (offering explicit teaching on how to perform sexual practices previously classified as illegal https://www.theproudtrust.org) etc, etc.

Thank you again to all out supporters who emailed their MPs asking for postponement of implementation in light of the pandemic.  Following this, we are now requesting that the Government conduct an inquiry into safeguarding issues, acknowledging the very real concern of parents, who feel that such teaching is developmentally and morally inappropriate for the age of their children.
Addressing a range of issues, we highlight such things as:

1.         The danger of suggesting to children at a highly sensitive and suggestible stage of development, when they are still exploring who and what they are, that they might have been born in the wrong body.   This approach is still being promoted, along with inaccurate information, despite the recent ruling in the Keira Bell case that children under the age of 16 cannot give informed consent to hormone or puberty blocking drugs (https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Bell-v-Tavistock-Judgment.pdf).  Such teaching exposes children to harm, and has without doubt led to the massive 2,500% increase in referrals for children identifying with gender dysphoria (https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-qa-how-many-children-are-going-to-gender-identity-clinics-in-the-uk; https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2768726).

2.         The danger to a child’s physical and mental health arising from encouraging them to ‘experiment’ before deciding on their sexual orientation.  This is encouraging promiscuity and has reportedly led to over 16% of teenagers now identifying as bisexual, up from just 2% in 2015 (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/03/young-people-far-likely-consider-bisexual-gay-new-data-reveals/).

3.         The danger of prematurely sexualising children by teaching them from age 6 about ‘self-stimulation’ (https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/what-every-parent-should-know-about-these-sinister-sex-lessons/ ), combined with the suggestion that any kind of sexual activity is fine, provided only that they feel ready.   Such teaching has without doubt contributed to the epidemic level rate of STIs amongst teenagers and young people over the last decade (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/an-sti-is-diagnosed-in-a-young-person-every-4-minutes-in-england).

4.         The danger of giving children detailed information on the performance of unconventional sexual practices, such as anal sex, felching, fisting etc, implying that such practices are ‘normal’, with no health risk, and exactly the same as conventional sexual behaviour.  This teaching is misleading.  Unconventional sexual practices have, in recent years, directly contributed to an increase in STIs, as well as to an increased incidence in anal and oral cancers (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41416-018-0273-9).   To be kept safe, children need to be taught the risks attaching to such behaviours.

Such teaching not only makes children vulnerable to harm, but – since it promotes and normalises behaviours prohibited by the world’s major religions – it violates UK law giving parents the right to have children educated in line with their religious and/or philosophical beliefs (Protocol 1, Art 2 of the Human Rights Act 1998 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/schedule/1/part/II).    By prioritising sex and sexual orientation over respect for religious belief, it also breaches Equality law, which makes it an offence to discriminate against anyone on the basis of: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (emphasis added), sex, and sexual orientation (https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/equality-act/protected-characteristics#age).

We are therefore calling for the immediate reinstatement of the parental right of withdrawal from all such teaching; that it become a mandatory requirement that the views of parents be sought and then respected; and that the Regulations reflect all such views and uphold parental rights.

Please share the petition as widely as possible – and please once again write to your MP, expressing your concerns over safeguarding issues and asking that he or she convey your views to the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson MP.   Please also write direct to the Secretary of State via Royal Mail at this address:

The Secretary for State for Education, the Rt Hon Gavin Williamson CBE
Department for Education
Piccadilly Gate
Store Street 
Manchester 
M1 2WD