Start the Conversation 

Start the Conversation: Sex Education advocacy – NHS Year 12s

The school is very proud of the efforts of five of our year 12 students, who have worked with Northern Centre Against Sexual Assault (NCASA) and Monash Social Justice to launch their ‘Start the Conversation’ YouTube clip. The clip addresses the need for dedicated and trained specialist respectful relationship and sexual educators in schools. 

We applaud your powerful voices and advocacy Hannah Bayston, Charli Doyle, Kitty Robinson, Lucy Rachman-Vascotto and Mia Montgomery. 

Earlier this year, the group facilitated a student-led forum at Northcote High to evaluate student experiences with current sex education and identify gaps in the curriculum. Their research has identified that 1400 schools in Victoria run the Respectful Relationships program, but that there are only 34 support staff across the State to assist schools with training and implementation of the program. The clip (supported by NCASA) advocates for specialist respectful relationship educators in every school and funded prevention positions in sexual assault services to support teachers, young people and their families. After their exams, the students will continue to research and gather information about the Respectful Relationships Curriculum and plan to meet with the Minister for Education. 

The group recently met with local MP, Kat Theophanous, to discuss their research and findings and ask for her assistance in advocating for specialist educators training and support. A message of support for our students:

Achieving real cultural change to reduce violence against women is a complex challenge – and getting our respectful relationships education right in our schools is critical.

I’m immensely proud of this extraordinary group of young women who are leading the way in evaluating opportunities to improve the curriculum.

They are pulling together valuable insights from students about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to teaching topics like consent – and last month I met with them to hear about their work and relay it into government.

I look forward to continuing to support these passionate Northcote locals and helping to make sure their voices are heard. 

~Kat Theophanous

Northcote High will continue to work with NCASA in 2022 to deliver workshops that had to be postponed due to the extended lockdown. We are also excited to announce that we have received funding to implement new programs for junior years’ students, including ‘Man Box’ workshops, which emphasises that breaking down harmful gender stereotypes benefits the health and safety of both women and men and reinforces the importance of including men in the prevention violence against women.

The ‘Start the Conversation’ collaboration was runner up in Monash Arts Social Justice Matters, which is a highly competitive video essay competition for high school students. 

Our congratulations to all involved. You can view the clip here Start The Conversation | Monash Social Justice Video - YouTube