New Relationships and Sex Education guidance published ahead of the 2026 school term

Education is an important aspect of a child’s life and – when done well – can complement their spiritual formation within the home and wider society.

Jesus cares deeply about the educational attainment of children and teenagers, but He cares far more that the younger generation would know Him as Lord and Everlasting Father. Core to Jesus’ teachings in the Gospels is that we would learn from Him (Matthew 11:29) and remain students at His feet (Luke 10:38 – 42). As parents, church leaders and extended church family, our contribution into a child’s life is to encourage them to know the Lord and, once that commitment has been made, to nurture them to remain in fellowship with Him.

From September, all primary and secondary schools across England will be expected to implement the new RSE and Health Education guidance in the new academic year. Here’s what parents, teachers and Christian ministries working within a school setting need to know.

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This statutory guidance is designed for trustees, governors and school staff leading either independent, free, academies, pupil referral units and/​or faith schools for primary or secondary school aged children. Throughout the guidance it makes a distinction between ​“must” and ​“should”, the former meaning there is a legal duty to comply. 

The government have decided the matter of gender questioning children and teaching gender identity within the curriculum should be left to individual schools’ discretion, which is surprising given the outcome of CASS Review leading to the closure of gender identity services for children and young people and the recent Supreme Court ruling on the definition of sex as it pertains to the Equality Act 2010. Both called upon the government to clarify practice across different public policy issues.

Instead, paragraph 37 in the guidance defers to the school ​“to determine when it is age appropriate to teach children about LGBT relationships” and signposts Stonewall school plans for primary and secondary school. At the same time, paragraph 75 insists ​“only the facts about the law on sex, sexuality, sexual health and gender identity”. The confusion continues.

Nevertheless, the following seven ​“musts” can be considered a small victory for parents:

1. Schools must have a written policy, accessible to parents when requested.
2. Schools must consult with parents as they develop and review their RSE and Health Education policy. We would encourage parents and carers to find out what the school’s policy is regarding handling a child’s question about sex and sexuality.
3. Schools must take into consideration the religious background of students when planning how RSE and Health Education will be taught.
4. Where schools work with an external provider in delivering sex education content, they must agree in advance how those providers will be assessed and the process for reporting concerns.
5. Primary schools that decide to teach an aspect of sex education must consult parents. In addition, headteachers must respect the wishes of parents who would like to withdraw their child from sex education. It is important to note the right to withdraw does not extend to science lessons taught in primary or to any subject taught in secondary school.
6. Schools must make ​“reasonable adjustments” to the teaching of subjects for children with special educational needs and learning disabilities.
7. Schools ​“must not unlawfully discriminate against students with one of the nine protected characteristics as set out in the Equality Act 2010”. Those nine protected characteristics are age, sex, race, disability, religion or belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, marriage or civil partnership.

The guidance gives special mention to the role of religion or belief of a pupil or a school with a religious character. We welcome the guidance on giving due regard to the faith background of the child and of schools with a religious ethos. This has been something we have campaigned on for years and engaged with former and present government ministers about. 

The good news for parents is that the guidance encourages you to be faith explicit when raising concerns about the content taught under RSE and Health Education in primary or secondary school. Better still, schools with a Christian ethos are granted permission to share a biblical perspective on topics of family, relationships and sex (paragraph 21). This permission to teach in accordance with faith values is crucial when teaching children about online safety – particularly in light of the rising concerns around access to pornography and peer-to-peer incidences of sexual violence.

Netflix’s Adolescence TV show has sparked much debate amongst parents and more so amongst policymakers. Both the prime minister and secretary of state for education believe education policy is a positive way to tackle deepfake porn and online websites targeting young men and promoting sexist and violent behaviour towards women and girls.

The RSE and Health Education curriculum aims to teach primary aged children about respect and how to stay safe online, whereas secondary students will be taught more gritty issues such as ​“positive conceptions of femininity and masculinity”, giving consent to sexual intimacy and the harms of incel culture (an online space mostly consisting of boys and men frustrated by a lack of sexual relationships).

The empirical research is there and well documented. There are deep concerns over the number of incidences of peer-to-peer sexual violence at school and how many children are seeing indecent images sent by friends via the internet. This needs addressing and is best done with the full co-operation and involvement of parents and carers to ensure safety is maintained at home. 

This autumn we will be hosting an online webinar to equip parents on how to engage positively with their school and how to teach and discuss a biblical sexual ethic with children and young people at an age suited to their social development. Please make sure you are signed up to Headlines, our weekly Thursday e-newsletter, where we will be announcing dates in September.

The RSE and Health Education guidance is a policy area inherited by the Labour government but is not one of its main policy objectives before the next election. 

“The Best Start in Life strategy” was announced on Monday, 7 July and is Labour’s central policy to invest in early years education. The aim is to ensure 75% of five-year-olds in England have good development by 2028. This plan is supported by a £1.5 billion fund for family hubs across the country tasked with providing a local response for parents from the point of pregnancy till five years old and further investment in childcare.

Another area is reforming the national curriculum from key stages 1 to 4. In a recent meeting with the Department of Education, a government official explained how the review will conclude this autumn, when the government will set out further curriculum changes for the academic year starting September 2026. We foresee this review will update RSE guidance further and will update our members when it happens.

And finally, the problem of Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) under-funding and poor provision across England is an issue that will keep ministers pre-occupied during summer recess. In a recent UCB radio interview I spoke about the growing concerns amongst local authority chief executives about how they will resolve a £6bn deficit by March 2026. The situation desperately needs government intervention. 

The policy challenge and political landmine for the government is that they will need to reform SEND provision (ie improve access) whilst looking to reduce the cost to treasury. Prior to the summer recess, rumours of extensive cuts to SEND support has troubled many Labour MPs and another rebellion is anticipated. 

If political fallout should happen, it is crucial for the local church to think about how it will pastorally and possibly financially support families in their congregation with children with additional learning needs. There is a real possibility many families will not receive the support their child needs and may have to take costly financial decisions to move their child into an independent private school to ensure their child receives high quality education. 

As the advocacy team, we will be here to resource our members with parliamentary briefings once the government’s SEND proposals are known and provide tips for writing to your local MP.