‘We put a ‘talk-about-box’ in every classroom. This is a box that children can use to put their worries, feelings or questions into. We call it a ‘talk-about-box’ because they can also use the box to just write down the name of an adult they would like to speak to. We did this so that the children who are new to the English language, or who aren’t able to write down what they are feeling, can still use the box as an opportunity to ask for help or to start a conversation.’ (Primary teacher)

‘I got all the year nine girls together in the lecture theatre and did an introduction to the new RSE curriculum using images for the different themes. Then I asked them what jars them about RSE and gave them all jars. One group of girls, they were like ‘can we have another jar’?. I said ‘what do you need another jar for?’ and they were like ‘we want a questions jar’,- so in this jar I just had ‘what’s this, what’s that, what’s this, what’s that’ and I was like, wow, we don’t do anywhere near enough for these kids, they’ve got so many questions!’ (Secondary school teacher)

We found that there were more names for vulva than for penis. We had a discussion about this and questioned what we found because a lot of the words for the vulva were derogatory and like an insult, rather than it being a nice word. We unpicked some of the words and had discussions about why some of these would be hurtful words to describe someone who identifies as female. 

Then we agreed the terminology that could be used during lessons and talked about words like vulva and vagina, penis and testicles. We used those words and I said its just like talking about your elbow, or your eyes. It's your vulva, your vagina, your penis.  That opened up questions about where the vagina was. 

Pupils said that they enjoyed the task, as they were able to ask questions. Some pupils mentioned that it was good because they could hear words that they recognised but weren’t sure what they meant and then hear me say ‘well that refers to that body part’. I think it helped clear up lots of myths - especially about the vulva and the vagina.'

I didn't use any images of body parts in that session but it flowed on really nicely to the next lesson on puberty. Here we shared images of genitalia and explored the anatomy. We had a discussion about it. I said to them at the start - ‘I am going to put images of the anatomy up on the board’. I said, ‘if you are feeling a bit uncomfortable about that then, I apologise. However it is just biology and it's just there for you to see. If you don't want to look at the board, that's fine, you won't get told off if you don't look at the board. It's just showing you where the bits are. Just take it like, where your retina is in your eye’. The diagrams that I used were from the Great RSE book and from Brook. The diagrams really help for them to say, ‘oh that's there and that's there’ and there's always the conversations about - ‘oh I thought the wee came out of the vagina’, or talking about the fact that the wee and the semen wont come out of a penis at the same time. 

For all young people - the boys, girls and those who are questioning their gender, these lessons are so important to help them know what's happening to their bodies. One of the boys in year 8, said to me, ‘I've learnt so much in these lessons now. I came from primary knowing nothing’.' (Secondary school RSE lead) 

'Critically engaging with positive and negative representations of a diversity of bodies, including through various forms of media and understanding that these can be unrealistic and harmful.' 

'An awareness of the human life cycle and that reproduction is a part of life.' 

'Knowledge and understanding of how reproductive organs develop in a human body. This includes understanding fertility and the processes of reproduction, including what supports menstrual health and well-being.'

'Recognising the process of pregnancy and birth.' 

'Awareness of how human bodies change as they grow.' 

'The knowledge and understanding of how people experience significant physical, emotional, social and cognitive changes during puberty.'

'An awareness of the importance of personal self-care and hygiene.'

'The knowledge and skills needed to manage personal self-care and hygiene, including the importance of menstrual well-being.'

'Understanding of good sexual and reproductive health, including the range of risks and outcomes from sexual experiences and the knowledge needed to support informed decisions about sexual activity and about reproductive choices.'