Context
Woodcraft Folk aims, principles and programme support positive relationship education, specifically our principles of:
- Education for Social Change
- Co-operative approach to life
- Rights of the Child
- Inclusion
- International understanding
Definition
Relationship and sex education is about the emotional, social and cultural development of children and young people and involves learning about relationships, sexual health, sexuality, healthy lifestyles, diversity and personal identity.
Relationship and sex education involves a combination of sharing information, and exploring issues and values; relationship and sex education is not about the promotion of sexual activity.
Purpose
Any relationship or sex education offered at a Woodcraft Folk group or camp complements that provided by schools and focuses on:
- Different types of relationships, including friendships, family relationships, intimate relationships, dealing with strangers
- How to recognise, understand and build healthy relationships, including self-respect and respect for others, commitment, tolerance, boundaries and consent, and how to manage conflict, and also how to recognise unhealthy relationships
- How relationships may affect health and wellbeing, including mental health
- Healthy relationships and safety online
- Personal and sexual health
Education may be delivered by group leaders, peers or external agencies. Educational outcomes and learning aims include:
- Improving communication skills
- How to manage changing relationships and emotions
- Recognising and assessing potential risks
- Understanding how to ask, gain and give consent
- Assertiveness
- Seeking help and support when required
- Informed decision-making
- Self-respect and empathy for others
- Recognising and maximising a healthy lifestyle
- Managing conflict
Principles
All relationship and sex education activity will be delivered within the following principles:
- Will be age and developmentally appropriate and led by the group’s needs
- Open and inclusive of all children and young people, recognising young people of different gender identities, sexual orientations, faiths, cultural and family backgrounds and those with physical or learning disabilities
- Should celebrate diversity and explore international and cultural differences
- Challenge bullying, stigma and stereotypes
Parents’ Right to Withdraw
Parents and carers have the right to withdraw their children from relations and sex education activities. Parents should be informed when relationship and sex education is being covered through the termly programme.
Relationship and sex education conversations may organically take place within a group setting responding to the needs or questions of group members. When this occurs outside of planned relationship and sex education sessions group leaders should inform parents and carers that such discussions have taken place if they involved the whole group and took up a substantial amount of the group time. For example, a leader responding to a direct question from one participant will not be reported to a parent, but an unplanned group discussion in response to a young person’s question will be shared. Woodcraft Folk believes that relationship and sex education should be timely and therefore will be led by the needs, concerns and interests of group members.
Safeguarding
At the heart of relationship and sex education is a focus on keeping children safe and the role that schools and youth organisations can play in preventative education. Youth workers should be aware of the risks in teaching about sensitive subjects such as self-harm and suicide and give particular considerations to planning around these issues and ensuring material is focused on prevention
rather than being instructional.
Good practice allows children and young people an open forum to discuss potentially sensitive issues. This in turn can lead to an increase in children and young people disclosing abuse, or of group leaders becoming aware of concerns about an individual’s wellbeing. Group leaders should all understand how to respond to disclosures of abuse and report any concerns they may have,
following Woodcraft Folk’s safeguarding procedures
Nature of Activities
In a Woodcraft Folk setting, relationship and sex education activities will include:
- Discussions on relationships, families, gender identify, sexuality
- Activities exploring consent, self and mutual respect
- Personal safety
- Personal and sexual health
- Sharing concerns and seeking help
- Providing contraception at large scale events
Approval Date: November 2022
Review Date: November 2024