Dear Parents,
During Term 2 all the children in St Paul’s N.S. will be taking part in our Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) and Stay Safe programmes. This is an Integral element of our SPHE curriculum.
There are five topics in the Stay Safe Programme covering
· Feeling Safe and Unsafe
· Friendship and Bullying
· Touches
· Secrets and Telling
· Strangers
In RSE children learn about their own development and about their friendships and relationships with others They learn to listen, to communicate to have compassion and consideration for others. Children learn about relationships and sexuality in ways that help them to think and act in a moral, caring and responsible way.
At primary level RSE is mostly about family and friendship relationships, but children can use the same skills – of knowing how they feel, of being able to express how they feel, of being able to resolve disagreements constructively, of listening to others and seeing the point of view of others in adult and sexual relationships when they are older.
At primary and post-primary level RSE is taught as part of SPHE, which teaches children:
• respect for themselves and others,
• valuing their differences from others and their similarities to others
• keeping healthy- healthy eating , exercise and knowing about their body
• growing and the changes that place in their body; being aware of their feelings and how to deal with them
• to make healthy and responsible choices, to help him/her to create and maintain supportive relationships and become an active and responsible citizen in society.
All of the materials are age appropriate and follow Department of Education guidelines for the topic. There will be an opportunity for home / school links as an integral part of the programme and we encourage parents/guardians, as the primary educators of their children, to avail of this opportunity to engage with their children on the content.
To facilitate parental involvement and inclusion, there is a specific section for parents on the Stay Safe website, www.staysafe.ie
The sensitive lesson will be taught during this term. We will be teaching these lessons on the week of February 17th.
We hope all children will take part in this essential educational experience.
Thanks to our teacher, Ms Hayes for organising this very important event in our school on an annual basis.