Wellbeing
Dear Parents and Carers,
As part of our Personal and Social Capabilities and Health Education, St Brendan’s Primary School is a Respectful Relationship school. So far we have covered Emotional Literacy, Personal strengths, Problem Solving and Help Seeking.
This Term we will be delivering topics; Gender and Identity and Positive Gender Relations of Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships.
Best practice in Sexuality Education is that it teaches young people how to develop respectful relationships and how to minimise or eliminate the risk of potentially adverse consequences of their actions. It tries to ensure that young people make responsible and safe choices and recognises the social world in which young people make decisions about their health.
The entire staff at St Brendan’s were taught how to deliver this program professionally with Kristy Lang the Respectful Relationships Project Leader in the Bayside Peninsula Area in 2022.
Specifically, students will be covering the following concepts:
Junior School
- How much they have grown and changed since they were babies
- All parts of the body have a name, including the genitals
- Family diversity in our community and who are the people who care for them
- What makes us the same and what makes us different
- Their identity: likes, dislikes, strengths
- Positive and negative gender norms
- Developing an appreciation of difference
Middle School
- Parts of the body, the names of reproductive systems and their functions
- How babies are conceived, develop and are born as part of the human lifecycle
- The concept of identity and how to use simple strategies to maintain and support self-worth
- Gender stereotyping
- Basic safety skills and strategies at home, school and in the community, and describe methods for recognising and avoiding harmful situations
- What respectful, gender-inclusive behaviours look like in action informed by human rights
Senior School
- The physical, social and emotional changes associated with puberty
- Understanding that the timing of puberty will vary from individual to individual
- Respecting the feelings of others
- The impact of gender norms on the attitudes and behaviours of those entering adolescence
- Building positive gender relationships and gender equality
- Accepting difference and diversity
- Setting boundaries and standards that promote respectful and non-violent relationships
While comprehensive sexuality education is a compulsory part of a school’s health education curriculum, we are aware programs are more effective with increased parent-child communication.
It is important to us that we maintain an open dialogue with parents regarding the delivery of these programs. The session with Kelly Nash will assist with this conversation on Tuesday August 1st, 2023 Operoo has been sent out to book this session.
Further information can be found at the following links:
Sexuality education for parents
If you have any concerns or seek further information, please contact either Sue Carr - Principal, Bernie Turner - Assistant Principal or Daniela Ruberto - Student Diversity Leader at the school.