Gillian Keegan tells schools to let parents see sex education materials

Education secretary’s letter emphasises copyright cannot be used as ‘excuse’ to withhold RSHE teaching resources

Gillian Keegan has written to schools in England ordering them to make the materials used in children’s sex education available to be seen by parents, warning headteachers there can be “no ifs, no buts, no more excuses”.

It is the second letter the education secretary has sent to schools on the issue, which has been seized upon by some backbench Conservative MPs amid claims that children are being exposed to inappropriate material during relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) at school.

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School leaders frustrated by ‘squabble’ over Sunak’s promised transgender guidance

Internal battle between ministers leaving schools in England isolated, says headteachers’ representative

Schools are being left in limbo by the government’s “political squabbles” delaying its transgender guidance for students and staff, according to school leaders.

Rishi Sunak had promised that guidance for schools in England dealing with trans issues would be published by the end of the summer term. But the guidance has been held up by legal questions, with No 10 saying on Wednesday that “more evidence is required” before publication.

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School in ‘cat pupil’ controversy given Ofsted all-clear after snap inspection

Inspectors praise ‘sensitive and impartial’ teaching of relationship and sex education at Rye College after secret video raised concerns

Ofsted has given the school at the centre of the “cat pupil” allegations a clean bill of health, with inspectors praising its “culture of kindness” as well as its handling of relationship and sex education.

Ofsted inspected Rye College in East Sussex after a complaint by Kemi Badenoch, the minister for women and equalities. There had been media coverage of a video of pupils arguing with a teacher over gender and identity, with one pupil appearing to claim that a student identified as a cat.

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‘Child identifying as cat’ controversy: from TikTok video to media frenzy

Tory calls for urgent investigation raise eyebrows as Rye college says no pupil identifies ‘as a cat or any other animal’

It started off innocuously enough – a leaked snippet of teenage pupils at a school debating whether a person could identify as a cat.

But within days, and thanks to a media frenzy, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer were being asked about the remarks. And by the end of the week, Kemi Badenoch was demanding the school be urgently investigated by Ofsted in case there were safeguarding issues.

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Children in England’s schools need better sex education, experts tell MPs

Too few teachers have training in how to deliver lessons in relationships and sex, committee told

Children need more and better sex and relationship education in England’s schools, to help them navigate the issues they are likely to face as they get older, experts have told MPs.

The Commons women and equalities committee heard that too few teachers in England have received training in how to deliver lessons in relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) since it became a compulsory topic in 2019.

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When Mum made me a class celebrity | Brief letters

Sex education | Quarter-zipper, all style | Older slogan wear | Stale pasties | Knight rider

I sympathise with Zoe Williams’s daughter (An old video of me is on the school curriculum! Unfortunately, I am shocked by my own arguments, 7 March). My mother, an eminent and pioneering Cambridge don, gave the first ever sex education lessons in my convent school, in the 1960s, to my class. Heaps of embarrassment – followed by a sudden popularity, as I must have been the fount of all sexual knowledge, surely? Thanks, Mum.
Louise Wallace
Cropredy, Oxfordshire

• Reading about quarter-zippers (Quarter-zipper becomes the new status symbol for men of a certain position, 4 March) at breakfast, I find it hard to believe that mine, moth-eaten in parts and unravelling with old age, is a status symbol. I shall have to reconsider my decision to restrict it to home wear only.
Ron Jacob
London

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Welsh education minister hits out at ‘misinformation’ over LGBTQ+ curriculum

Campaigners are putting teachers under pressure, says Jeremy Miles after verdict in high court challenge

The Welsh education minister has accused campaigners of putting teachers under pressure by deliberately spreading “misinformation” about the teaching of LGBTQ+ issues.

Jeremy Miles also told of how he struggled to find his place in the world as a gay young person, in an era when “someone like me” did not exist as far as the school curriculum was concerned.

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Weekend podcast: Marina Hyde on Matt Hancock, plus fussy eaters, Peter Tatchell and digital break ups

This week, Marina Hyde on Matt Hancock’s career move into the jungle (1m35s); Joe Stone asks ‘Can a psychologist fix my diet – and transform my life?’ (10m15s); Zoe Williams talks to veteran LGTBQ+ and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell about his recent expulsion from Qatar (25m08s); and Louis Staples’ offers advice on how to have a healthy digital break up (40m48s)

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Aid cuts make a mockery of UK pledges on girls’ education | Zoe Williams

The government’s words at the global education summit are completely at odds with its behaviour. Whatever the event achieves will be despite its UK hosts, not because of them

With all the fanfare Covid would allow, the global education summit opened in London this week. Ahead of the meeting, the minister for European neighbourhood and the Americas was on rousing form. “Educating girls is a gamechanger,” Wendy Morton said, going on to describe what a plan would look like to do just that.

The UK, co-hosting the summit with Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, plans to raise funds for the Global Partnership for Education, from governments and donors. The UK government has promised £430m over the next five years.

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LGBT classes: we aren’t getting back in the closet, MP says

Angela Eagle challenges those protesting against LGBT equality teaching during Commons debate

Former Labour minister Angela Eagle has insisted: “We aren’t going to get back in the closet,” as she challenged those protesting against LGBT equality teaching during a Commons debate.

Eagle, who was the first openly gay female MP when she came out in 1997, said such education is not “propagandising” or about “trying to turn people gay”, but about respecting their rights to have an “equal welcome in school” and not be bullied.

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