Get up, stand up. Stand up for your rights…

Thinking back to the second quarter of 2019, a number of news stories focused on groups of parents protesting against the content of the new Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education curriculum that will come into force from September 2020. It can be quite daunting if you find protesters outside the school gate trying to stop your school from carrying out its duties set by the DfE.

The DfE have created some guidance around responding to such protests:

1. A possible response could be not to entertain or engage with these parents, however the DfE have also created a guide for primary headteachers setting out why they must engage parents on their school's relationships education policy and tips on how to do so. Read - Engaging parents with relationships education policy.
2. To help get parents on board , the DfE have created guides for parents of primary and secondary age pupils that schools can use to communicate with them about teaching relationships and health education. Read - Understanding relationships and health education in your child’s school
3. More specifically, the DfE have created guidance directly aimed at primary schools faced with protests. Read - Primary school disruption over LGBT teaching/relationships education.

DfE highlights support from its internal structures and Local Authorities as well as possible legal responses and we suggest that, if this is a concern for you, it is better to involve a lawyer sooner rather than later. You can always give our education team a call - they are well placed to help you stand up for your rights.

For more information on this, or any other education legal issues you’re interested in, please contact a Partner in our Education Team or call 0191 211 7777.