Relationships, sex and health education becomes compulsory in secondary schools and academies from September 2020. For primary schools the requirement will be to teach relationships and health education. While academies do not have to follow the national curriculum, they must pay due regard to the advice of the Department for Education.
(1) What is compulsory for schools
Schools will be required to teach the subject matter at different stages. However, when and how the subject is taught will be left to governors, headteachers and teachers.
All schools (whether primary or secondary) must have written policies on how they plan to teach relationship and sex education. They must consult parents when developing the policies, make copies available to members of the public who request them and display the policies on their websites.
Schools must take account of the religious backgrounds of all pupils when planning the teaching. They have to comply with the Equalities Act 2010 and must not discriminate against anyone on the basis of age, sex, race, disability, religion/belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy/maternity, marriage/civil partnership or sexual orientation.