Sunday 15 July 2012

Parents force Northampton primary school to suspend explicit sex education

At the invitation of Mrs Emma Clarke, Antonia Tully (pictured right), of SPUC's Safe at School campaign, spoke last week at a public meeting for parents of children in Northamptonshire. As a result of the meeting, attended by thirty mothers and fathers, the Caroline Chisholm Primary School has suspended its teaching of sex and relationships education.

Emma Clarke (who spoke powerfully at SPUC's packed meeting in Westminster last December Sex education as sexual sabotage, co-hosted by the Working Party on the Sexualisation of Children under the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group) and Antonia Tully informed the parents about the sex education video "Living and Growing". This video cartoon depicts a naked couple chasing each other around a bed and engaging in sexual intercourse in numerous positions. It is being shown to children between the ages of seven and nine, including in Catholic schools, without parents' knowledge or consent.

Emma Clarke reports:
"The meeting received considerable local media attention including a discussion and has caused Caroline Chisholm Primary School to issue the following statement to parents: 'To enable the school an adequate amount of time to consider feedback from parents we have taken the decision to suspend any teaching of Sex & Relationships education.We will review our current scheme of work in the autumn term.'

"This is a great success for our campaign and we plan to hold more local public meetings around the county to raise awareness amongst parents, we're also setting up a facebook page and website.

"Parents who attended our meeting were so shocked to discover what the school were planning to show their children (and already have in previous years) that another meeting has been arranged on Monday evening for more parents to view the Living & Growing DVD resource currently being used at the school."
Last Thursday I reported that Nick Gibb, the schools minister, confirmed in a letter to Antonia Tully, head of SPUC's Safe at School campaign, that primary schools are not required to teach children about sex in National Curriculum science lessons.

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