Latest news with #RSHE
South Wales Argus
5 days ago
- Health
- South Wales Argus
Education training experts back suicide prevention in school
The move comes as the government makes the topic compulsory following the efforts of the 3 Dads Walking campaign, who each lost a daughter to suicide. The successful campaign has led to a change in the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum in England. Dr Richard Anderson, head of learning and development at High Speed Training, said: "This new curriculum will empower young people to have open and honest conversations about mental health. "It is vital to support schools, teachers, and parents in this crucial endeavour." The added curriculum will be introduced in September this year, becoming mandatory by September 2026. Dr Anderson added: "By raising awareness and encouraging open, honest discussion, we can break down the stigma, reduce risk, and ultimately, save lives." The announcement coincides with Samaritans' 24/7 Day, which highlights the charity's consistent support service for those struggling.
Scotsman
6 days ago
- Health
- Scotsman
Education training experts support suicide prevention in schools on Samaritans' 24/7 day
In recognition of Samaritans' 24/7 awareness day, leading e-learning company High Speed Training is highlighting the importance of equipping children and young people with the knowledge to support others in crisis. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The call comes as the government announces that suicide prevention will be a compulsory part of the school curriculum, a landmark victory for the " 3 Dads Walking" campaign. The three fathers, who each tragically lost a daughter to suicide, have campaigned to ensure all young people learn about mental health and suicide prevention in a safe and supportive school environment. Their efforts have resulted in a historic change to the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum in England. Dr. Richard Anderson, Head of Learning & Development at High Speed Training, said: 'On Samaritans' 24/7 Day, we are reminded of the power of conversation and the importance of being there for one another. This new curriculum will empower young people to have open and honest conversations about mental health, and it is vital to support schools, teachers, and parents in this crucial endeavour.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Knowing how to talk to someone who is suicidal can be daunting, but it is a skill that can be learned. Key advice includes knowing your resources, such as Samaritans, creating a safe & private space to talk, not being afraid to ask and express concern directly, and actively listening without judgment. 2 young children hugging Dr. Anderson continues: "The reasons a young person may experience suicidal thoughts are incredibly complex. In school, they face immense pressure to fit in, excel academically, and make life-defining decisions, often alongside pressures at home or with friends. It's easy to see how they can feel overwhelmed. 'That is why access to support and resources is paramount. Educating students on risk factors, showing them where to turn for help, and teaching them how to notice and respond if a peer is struggling are crucial, life-saving skills. By raising awareness and encouraging open, honest discussion, we can break down the stigma, reduce risk, and ultimately, save lives." The new curriculum guidance will be available for schools to implement from September this year, and will be mandatory from September 2026. This move is a significant step towards a future where young people feel able to talk about their mental health and seek help when they need it. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
New Statesman
7 days ago
- Health
- New Statesman
Schools need more sex education, not less
Illustration by Chris Rogers / Getty Images The grand total of my sex education when I was at school in the Noughties went like this: in Year 6, the girls and boys were split up, and the girls were made to watch a graphic birth video; in Year 8, we carried 'flour babies' around school for a week; in Year 9, we received a self-defence lesson in which the male instructor told us not to wear our hair in a ponytail because an attacker could grab it; and in Year 10, the school nurse demonstrated how to use a condom while we all giggled hysterically. It was entirely focused on the mechanics of sex and the risks it posed to our life outcomes and health. There was no discussion of consent, no suggestion that sex could or should be pleasurable. And there was no mention of the internet and the ways it was already shaping our early, faltering romances. My peers and I learned far more about sex outside the classroom – from playground gossip, chat rooms, TV and porn – than we ever did within it. And yet this is the sort of sex education the last government wanted to return to. In May last year, the then education secretary, Gillian Keegan, published draft revised guidance for Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE), which proposed age limits on what children could be taught. Children, it said, would not be informed about puberty before Year 4 (when they are aged eight to nine), sex before Year 5 (nine to ten), sexual harassment or pornography before Year 7 (11-12) or STIs before Year 9 (aged 13-14). There are basic biological problems with this chronology: girls could start their periods before learning what it is (one in four girls already reports that this is the case); pupils could be offered the HPV vaccine before learning what an STI is. But setting all this aside, it is deluded to believe that children are not exposed to everything Keegan wished to protect them from, and much more, beyond the school gates. So, the new RSHE guidance, released by Bridget Phillipson's Department for Education on 15 July, is a welcome relief. While it incorporates some sensible Tory proposals, such as teaching children about the prevalence of deepfakes, age restrictions have been removed. There is greater emphasis on tackling misogyny and incel culture, which Phillipson described, in the aftermath of the Netflix drama Adolescence, as 'a defining issue of our time'. To the previously planned content on stalking, revenge porn and upskirting, Labour added financial sexual exploitation, strangulation, and 'personal safety in public spaces, recognising that sexual harassment and abuse are never the fault of the victim'. Schools will have the flexibility to teach in late primary about sexual imagery online 'where this is an issue in their school'. Keegan's ban on sex education for children aged nine and under received much media attention at the time, thanks largely to the efforts of Miriam Cates, then the Tory MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, who coordinated a letter to Rishi Sunak raising concerns about the appropriateness of RSHE content. Cates, who lost her seat last July, has since said the subject should be 'scrapped' altogether. Children, she told the Commons, employing some bad-faith hyperbole, were being taught 'graphic lessons on oral sex, how to choke your partner safely and 72 genders'. (This last was a reference to news reports about a school on the Isle of Man, which is not part of England and therefore falls outside the Department for Education's remit.) It may indeed seem inappropriate to teach children about strangulation during sex. We instinctively feel that they should not have to know about such things – not yet, not ever. And yet it is necessary that they do. No one wants to have to prepare a small child for the possibility that another child or an adult might try to touch their genitals, but they should know that such an act would be wrong and that they should report it. If a child brings to their teacher a question about, say, a pornographic video that has been shared with them, that teacher should be allowed to sensitively discuss with them what they have seen. Children must be prepared for the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe This is the world as it is: one in ten children has seen pornography by the age of nine, according to the Children's Commissioner, Rachel de Souza. The same research found that nearly half of 18- to 21-year-olds have experienced a violent sex act. More than a third of girls at mixed-sex schools have experienced sexual harassment at school, and, according to the teacher survey app Teacher Tapp, one in eight secondary-school teachers say a student in their school sexually assaulted another pupil in the last autumn term. Pornographic deepfakes are a growing problem; in June 2024 a girls' school alerted authorities that deepfake images and videos depicting its pupils were circulating a nearby boys' school. Despite the UK's overall falling birthrate, pregnancy rates among the under-20s are rising; so too is the prevalence of STIs. 'All children,' as Baroness Strange put it in a debate in the Lords on sex education in 2000, 'have a right to their childhood and their innocence.' Yet it is not schools that threaten their innocence, but technology, which moves at such a pace legislation cannot keep up. Children should be given every opportunity to bring to a trusted adult – whether a teacher or a parent – what they hear and see in the dark corners of the playground or the internet. The alternative is not that they are protected from inappropriate content, but that they are left to process and navigate it alone. [See also: Kemi Badenoch isn't working] Related
Daily Mail
20-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Children to be taught 'worrying and feeling down' are not mental health conditions
Children will be taught that 'worrying and feeling down' are not mental-health conditions in an attempt to curb Britain's spiralling worklessness crisis. Teachers have been told they must avoid encouraging pupils to self-diagnose 'normal feelings' as more serious problems such as anxiety and depression. The radical change in policy will be issued in new guidance to schools amid escalating concern over the number of young people being signed off sick. Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, told The Telegraph: 'For too many children today, their understanding of how to manage their mood and regulate their emotions is coming from social media, rather than their parents, teachers or trained professionals. 'Our new RSHE [relationships, sex and health education] curriculum will equip children to develop grit and resilience from the get-go, helping them understand that feeling a little down or anxious for a while is normal and nothing to worry about.' The Education Secretary said they are also making sure there is access to mental health support in every school and reducing child poverty with more free school meals. The new strategy comes as the number of 16 to 24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (Neet) has surged to a near-decade high of a million. A report warned last week that a sharp rise in teenagers and young adults on sickness benefits for mental health problems was behind the trend. It has caused concern that teaching children about mental health has led to the every day ups and downs of life becoming over-medicalised. The new guidance says pupils should be taught 'that worrying and feeling down are normal, can affect everyone at different times and are not in themselves a sign of a mental-health condition'. It adds that teachers should tell students how 'managing those feelings can be helped by seeing them as normal' rather than a symptom of a mental illness. Schools are told they should teach youngsters the 'characteristics' of common types of mental ill health, including anxiety and depression. The changes come in new instructions on how to teach RHSE, which were issued last week. Some of the instructions surrounding mental health had been contained in a previous draft of the guidance, which was drawn up by the last Tory government. But Ms Phillipson toughened them up over growing concern about worklessness amongst the young getting worse. In particular she added in the requirement that schools must not teach about mental health in a way that leads to more pupils self-diagnosing with mental conditions. The change to the guidance comes after she pledged that young people would be taught the value of 'grit' to help them deal with life's 'ups and downs'. It comes after a report last year revealed 20-somethings are now more likely to be off work sick than adults in their 40s amid soaring rates of depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. Authors say the 'worrying' trend is harming the economy, with the equivalent of 5 per cent of young adults now signed off ill. But one critic argued society is to blame for creating the 'mental health crisis', with doctors handing out diagnoses like 'candy'. Ms Phillipson's changes to the schools guidance are the latest evidence of concern within Downing Street over the growing scale of mental-health claims. This is despite Labour attacking the Tories when it was still in opposition for suggesting that too many people were being signed off with milder conditions Liz Kendall branded their comments 'ignorant' and insisting: 'You are not written off long-term sick because you're feeling a bit bluesy.' But since entering power Labour is now attempting to launch a crackdown on sickness benefits for mental health to get people back into work. No 10 has argued that there is a 'progressive and moral' case for restricting handouts for those who are diagnosed with more mild mental health conditions. The figures come after Work and Pensions Liz Kendall and Keir Starmer capitulated to a backbench rebellion and failed to secure reforms to sickness benefits that would have saved £5billion. Labour's climbdown leaves a bungling hole in the public finances which it is feared Chancellor Rachel Reeves will have to plug with a wealth tax. Shortly after the climbdown, new analysis revealed that living on sickness benefits will soon pay £2,500 a year more than a minimum wage job. Analysis by the Centre for Social Justice found that a UC claimant who is not working and takes the average housing benefit and Personal Independence Payment for ill health will receive £25,000 in 2026-27.
Daily Mirror
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'Online misogyny is a symptom, not the cause - and young people need help tackling it'
Our Streets Now are working with schools to tackle misogyny in education, but stress the backing of concrete training, funding and thought-out conversations if new RSHE guidance will be effective. After Netflix's Adolescence sparked a discourse on misogyny, sexual harassment, toxic masculinity and violence against women, pleas have been made for the government to make changes. Adolescence, which starred Stephen Graham and rising star Owen Cooper, proved to be Netflix hit and has since been nominated for 13 Emmy awards. Since the success of the show - which sees a family's world turns upside down when 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Cooper) is arrested for murdering a schoolmate - the government has implemented new guidance to relationships and sex and health education (RSHE) in combatting the rising issues against women and girls in society. The guidance outlines what children will be learning in RSHE; such as primary school children learning about positive relationships between friends and family to understand kindness and respect in all relationships. This ensures kids are safe and understand what abuse may look like and how to ask for help if necessary. Secondary school kids will learn about consent as they get ready for more intimate relationships. They will learn to recognise positive role models and how to challenge harmful behaviour online. Our Streets Now, a charity dedicated to ending public sexual harassment, have spoken out about the guidance and what they make of the government's new changes. The online charity emphasise the importance of tackling misogyny and sexual harassment in schools needs more than just words it needs action. The youth-led organisation work with schools directly to combat this severe issue. Charli Keely, head of campaigns at Our Streets Now said " online misogyny is a symptom, not the cause. RSHE must give young people the tools to question harmful gender norms in every part of their lives." Keely added that the charity "welcome changes that push RSHE closer to where it needs to be: survivor-informed, rooted in prevention, and reflective of the realities young people face. But guidance alone won't protect students. We need clear expectations, national investment, and proper support for teachers if we want RSHE to do more than tick boxes." The government has decided not to implement age limits on certain topics but does ensure to make content age appropriate. This allows schools to not feel restricted and can use their judgement on what topics would benefit students, especially due to evidence highlighting risks affecting children at an earlier age. Our Streets Now agree with the removal of prescriptive age limits as Issy Warren, head of programmes says: "Having conversations with young people based on their experience rather than age is key to preventing harm. However, without clear expectations on age limits, schools may underestimate just how early young people are exposed to online harm, and delay the conversations until it's too late." For more stories like this subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Weekly Gulp, for a curated roundup of trending stories, poignant interviews, and viral lifestyle picks from The Mirror's Audience U35 team delivered straight to your inbox. Warren continues: "Without proper training, resources, and funding for RSHE, we risk repeating the same inconsistent implementation we saw when the subject first became statutory." They highlight "many teachers still don't receive appropriate RSHE training and sometimes only discover they're delivering this education when it appears on their timetable." Our Streets Now emphasise that "the online world isn't going anywhere, and neither is the influence it has on young people." The lessons that are needed are those that "empower pupils with critical thinking skills to recognise online harm, and talk to trusted adults about their concerns." "Misogyny didn't begin with the internet. If we only teach young people to spot it in pornography or social media, we miss the harmful gender norms they may be absorbing from parents, peers, or mainstream media, including song lyrics and films ." Through real critical thinking skills, pupils will be able to pick up on misogyny wherever it may appear. The organisation called for changes to the law in 2023 through the Protection from Sex-Based Harassment in Public Act. They welcome "the RSHE guidance's explicit inclusion of staying safe in public spaces both online and offline." Help us improve our content by completing the survey below. We'd love to hear from you!
