Sex Education

The request was partially successful.

Dear Somerset County Council,

It has just been brought to my attention by a reliable professional that some schools have been teaching children about anal sex and threesomes amongst other adult pastimes. Whilst I have no opinion on these matters between consenting adults, I am deeply offended that my ten year old son may be taught this at school as part of his "sexual education" syllabus.

I therefore request a copy of the national syllabus on sex education along with references to where such material might be found should the document(s) be large. The informant has not been employed in Child Services for several years and so I recognise that it is possible this material may no longer be included in the syllabus. If this is the case I request that any historical syllabus which includes this material be provided - along with documentation which provides the names of the people responsible for policy-making and implementing it.

The informant came from the midlands in the UK (I am in the South West). I therefore also seek any information you may have on regional differences in this material should any exist.

My request is to cover all sex education for all pre-college, school age children (preschool to age 16).

I also would like to know how to make an online and public request to Whitstone School, Shepton Mallet, Somerset which has become an academy and not part of the LEA.

Yours faithfully,

Nige Coleman

Information Request, Somerset Council

Internal Reference: 141579

Date request received: 03/03/2015

Date response due: 31/03/2015

 

Dear Mr Coleman,

 

Thank you for your request for information of which we are dealing with
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  We are currently dealing with
your request and will be in touch shortly concerning disclosure of the
information you have requested.

 

Whilst we will endeavour to send our response to you by 31st March 2015,
we are currently experiencing a high level of requests and we may not be
able to meet the statutory deadline of 20 working days from the receipt of
your request.  Please bear with us at this moment in time.

 

In the meantime if you have any further queries please contact me quoting
the reference numbers above.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Request Team

Tel: 01823359173

Email: [1][email address

Somerset County Council, Post Point: PP B3E 2, County Hall, Taunton, TA1
4DY

URL: [2]www.somerset.gov.uk

 

FOI Disclosure Log URL: [3]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog

 

 

This email, and any attachments is intended solely for the individual to whom
it is addressed. It may contain personal and / or sensitive material and should
be handled according to the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998. If this
email carries a protective marking of PROTECT or RESTRICTED in the
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-virus software has failed to identify. You should therefore carry out your own
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will not accept any liability for damage caused by computer viruses
emanating from any attachment or other document supplied with this email.

All GCSx traffic may be subject to recording and / or monitoring in accordance
with relevant legislation.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.somerset.gov.uk/
3. http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog

Victoria Baxter, Somerset Council

Internal Reference: 141579

Date request received: 03/03/2015

Date response due: 31/03/2015

Date of actual response: 31/03/2015

 

Dear Mr Coleman,

 

I am writing in respect of your recent request for information from
Somerset County Council which has been dealt with under the provisions of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

I confirm that we do hold some of the information you are seeking and we
are able to provide it to you. Our response is detailed underneath your
request as follows.

 

            Your request

It has just been brought to my attention by a reliable professional that
some schools have been teaching children about anal sex and threesomes
amongst other adult pastimes. Whilst I have no opinion on these matters
between consenting adults, I am deeply offended that my ten year old son
may be taught this at school as part of his "sexual education" syllabus.

 

I therefore request a copy of the national syllabus on sex education along
with references to where such material might be found should the
document(s) be large. The informant has not been employed in Child
Services for several years and so I recognise that it is possible this
material may no longer be included in the syllabus. If this is the case I
request that any historical syllabus which includes this material be
provided - along with documentation which provides the names of the people
responsible for policy-making and implementing it.

 

Our response

Sex and relationships education is taught as part of the programmes of
study in the science curriculum. This is statutory guidance and was last
updated in December 2014. The link to the curriculum is here;

[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

 

On the Department for Education (DFE) information pages is the following
statement;

 

Sex and relationship education

Sex and relationship education (SRE) is compulsory from age 11 onwards. It
involves teaching children about reproduction, sexuality and sexual
health. It doesn’t promote early sexual activity or any particular sexual
orientation.

Some parts of sex and relationship education are compulsory - these are
part of the national curriculum for science. Parents can withdraw their
children from all other parts of sex and relationship education if they
want.

All schools must have a written policy on sex education, which they must
make available to parents for free.

 

Somerset County Council does not currently have a ‘standardised’ sex
education policy document. The reference to actual taught content needs to
be directed to individual schools. To find contact details for each school
please follow the link provided below.

[2]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/education-lea...

 

If you feel your request has not been answered in sufficient detail or if
you wish to clarify the information given, please contact me and I will be
happy to address the issues you raise.

 

If you are not satisfied with the way in which your request has been dealt
with, or the information you have received, you can ask for an internal
review of our decision.

 

Please send your request to:

 

Peter Grogan, Information Governance Team, Somerset County Council, County
Hall, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 4DY or email
[3][email address

 

Please remember to quote the reference number 141579 in any future
communications.

 

An internal review will then be carried out and we will write to you with
the results of our investigation. If you are not content with the outcome
of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information
Commissioner’s Office ([4]www.ico.gov.uk) for an appeal.  The Information
commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

 

Finally, please be aware that your response will appear, without your
contact details, on the Council’s website at:

 

[5]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

Victoria Baxter

Information Request Team

email: [6][email address]

Telephone: 01823 359359

Somerset County Council, Post Point: PP B3E 2, County Hall, Taunton, TA1
4DY

URL: [7]www.somerset.gov.uk

 

FOI Disclosure Log URL: [8]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog

 

 

This email, and any attachments is intended solely for the individual to whom
it is addressed. It may contain personal and / or sensitive material and should
be handled according to the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998. If this
email carries a protective marking of PROTECT or RESTRICTED in the
header it should be handled according to HMG guidelines, if not protectively
marked it can be regarded as UNCLASSIFIED.

If this Email has been misdirected, please notify the author immediately. If you
are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, distribute, copy, print or
rely on any of the information contained in it or attached, and all copies must
be deleted immediately.

Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any software viruses, any
attachments to this email may nevertheless contain viruses which our anti
-virus software has failed to identify. You should therefore carry out your own
anti-virus checks before opening any documents. Somerset County Council
will not accept any liability for damage caused by computer viruses
emanating from any attachment or other document supplied with this email.

All GCSx traffic may be subject to recording and / or monitoring in accordance
with relevant legislation.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
2. http://www.somerset.gov.uk/education-lea...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. file:///\\ch-fs3\USERDIRS_I-L\LCWilkins\Current%20documents\www.ico.gov.uk
5. http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
6. mailto:[email address]
7. blocked::www.somerset.gov.uk
file:///FS2-CEO-Cust_Access/Freedom%20of%20Information/2014%20FOI%20Information%20Requests/09%20-%2014%20Sep%20requests%20140919%20-/140931%20-%20Sinclair%20-%20%20Reclassified%20roads%20in%20our%20county/www.somerset.gov.uk
8. blocked::http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog