What is happening with the children at School?

Some may be wondering why the parents and guardians would be against giving information about sex from Age 3, especially after claims of “safeguarding” and the promotion of “kindness”. We will cover a few of our concerns in this blog.

Did you know that a “new report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse highlights shocking and horrific instances of child sexual abuse in schools, with some teachers exploiting their positions of trust to groom and abuse children across all types of educational settings examined by the Inquiry”[i].

Did you know that it has been reported[ii] that “Child sexual abuse in schools often an open secret, says inquiry”, “Abusers often have reputations and 42% of those abused knew of other victims, report finds”, “majority of perpetrators were male teachers or other educational staff, who often manipulated and groomed children, staff and parents in order to facilitate the sexual abuse” and they “often had good reputations with staff and parents or were seen as “cool” by pupils”.

Did you know that it has been reported[iii] that a “deputy headteacher”, who “was safeguarding lead at... Primary School...but the offences are not related to her employment there”, “has been jailed for 13 years and four months after she and her partner filmed themselves raping and sexually abusing a child”, she “pleaded guilty... to 18 offences, including two counts of rape, nine of inciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity and two of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child” and ”she also admitted three counts of taking indecent images of a child, one of engaging in sexual communication with a child and one of possessing indecent images of a child”.

Would you be surprised to learn that Professor David Paton was recently reported[iv] to have said regarding Scotland’s RSHP education, “The evidence isn’t really there to support this ... that a comprehensive programme like this is needed to achieve positive sexual health outcome”, the “latest Cochrane Review looking at sex and relationships education in schools – the Mason Jones study – is quite definitive”, “It says: ‘There is little evidence that educational curriculum based programmes are effective in improving sexual and reproductive health outcomes for adolescents’”. Professor has also found that[v] “despite recent decreases in the overall Underage conception rate, unwanted pregnancy amongst minors in England and Wales has proved remarkably resilient to policy initiatives implemented by different Governments over the past 40 years” and “the policy area on which the Evidence is most promising is one that has been neglected in the U.K., namely involvement of Parents in sexual health decisions of minors, especially abortion”.

CLASSROOM RESOURCES IN THE NEWS…..

There have been news reports about an “EXPLICIT board game is being played by school children as part of their sex education”[i]. There was a book in an education pack which” includes explicit sexual references, including: “From six up I used to kiss guys.... and perform oral sex on them. I liked it. I used to love oral.” It also references perverts touching...”[ii]. There have been Lesson “plans... issued to more than 240 schools across England introducing the All About Me sex education programme for children from six to 10. .. include a section on ‘Touching Myself’”[iii].

Scotland’s government released resources which could be used by teachers to teach RHSP to children, regarding which it was reported[iv] that “On the piece of paper was a picture of two adult figures, one male and one female, … both stark naked.… and then, in my son’s immature handwriting, were the names of various parts of the male and female genitalia”, “Words like penis, vulva and testicles” and “Now under the... Government’s new policy, the mood has shifted dramatically to include discussions on genres of pornography ...; utilising porn in masturbation; paying for a prostitute; oral and anal sex”. There has been news report of “Parents of several children in the age of group of 7-11 were left aghast after a private school assigned them to define pornography terms as part of home learning schedule”[v].

There has been a news report[vi] where a “government funded sex education program is encouraging schools to teach children as young as 13 years old about intimate sexual acts by rolling a dice”, “The sex toolkit is practically a game of dice where the dice is inscribed with body parts such as “penis,” “hands and fingers,” “anus” and “vulva” on each side”, “Students are to roll the dice and are asked to discuss and exchange views about conceivable ideas they have on sexual acts that can be carried out with these body parts”. Regarding the toolkit “Members of Parliament as well as charity leaders” claimed “the learning resource to be a breach of safeguarding measures”, and “a spokeswoman for Safe Schools for Alliance said, "The tampon tax should be used to educate girls on their rights — not prematurely sexualise them" and “She points out that when teaching young students on RSE, teachers need to be mindful of the possibility that some children could well be victims of sexual abuse or suffered sexual exploitation and may find this type of lesson material traumatising”.

A Glasgow taxi driver has led a protest as part of the campaign against Scotland’s government’s sex survey for school children and he was reported to have said “It is wrong what they are asking children, the questions they are asking children as young as 14 is wrong, they are asking them to incriminate themselves in law””[i]. It has been reported[ii] that “Children as young as 13 are being asked when they first had sex in a survey funded by the Welsh government, raising fears that child abuse is being “normalised”” and “Parents' campaign group Safe Schools Alliance UK” was reported to have said, “We are alarmed that ‘11 years or younger’ is one of the multi choice answers given for questions such as “at what age did you first get drunk/use cannabis/have sexual intercourse,...11-year-olds do not ‘have sex’, they are raped. This has the potential to normalise serious child protection issues”.

So now we have had a glimpse of what type of sexual activities children are seemingly being enticed into by adults (strangers who simply satisfied the DBS by not having any existing convictions), through exposure to content delivered under the label of Sexuality education at primary and secondary schools.

One must pose the question, “Where is the safeguarding & which part is kindness?” when you see it please do let us know!

[i] Glasgow Times Evening, Glasgow cabbie Stef Shaw will lead protest against school sex survey, https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19877304.glasgow-cabbie-stef-shaw-will-lead-protest-school-sex-survey/, 26 January 2022 [ii] The Telegraph, Survey asks schoolchildren as young as 13 when they first had sex, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/02/sex/, 2 April 2022

[i] Manchester Evening News, Sex advice board game for pupils of 13, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/sex-advice-board-game-for-pupils-1192673.amp, 17 February 2007 [ii] MyLondon, Mums furious at Asda education pack that ‘normalises paedophilia’, https://www.mylondon.news/whats-on/family-kids-news/mums-furious-asda-education-pack-18439255.amp, 17 June 2020 [iii] WalesOnline, Children, six, learn about self-stimulation in new sex ed classes, https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/children-six-learn-self-stimulation-16984940, 26 September 2019 [iv] The Highland Times, They’re Coming for Our Kids, https://web.archive.org/web/20210425160608/https://www.thehighlandtimes.com/news/2020/01/30/they%E2%80%99re-coming-for-our-kids/, 30th January 2020 [v] International Business Times, School Asks Students to Define Pornography, Soft Porn and Wet Dreams in Home Assignment, https://www.ibtimes.sg/school-asks-students-define-pornography-soft-porn-wet-dreams-home-assignment-45503, 22 May 2020 [vi] International Business Times, New sex education tool kit for young children launched amid criticism, https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/new-sex-education-tool-kit-young-children-launched-amid-criticism-1682692, 31st August 2020 [vii] Glasgow Times Evening, Glasgow cabbie Stef Shaw will lead protest against school sex survey, https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19877304.glasgow-cabbie-stef-shaw-will-lead-protest-school-sex-survey/, 26 January 2022 [viii] The Telegraph, Survey asks schoolchildren as young as 13 when they first had sex, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/02/sex/, 2 April 2022

[i] Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse, Schools reluctant to report child sexual abuse by staff and pupils, report finds, https://www.iicsa.org.uk/news/schools-reluctant-report-child-sexual-abuse-staff-and-pupils-report-finds, 1 March 2022 [ii] The Guardian, Child sexual abuse in schools often an open secret, says inquiry, https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/17/child-sexual-abuse-in-schools-often-an-open-secret-says-inquiry, 17 December 2020 [iii] Yahoo News UK, Press Association, Deputy headteacher and her partner jailed for rape and sexual abuse of child, https://uk.news.yahoo.com/deputy-headteacher-her-partner-jailed-191422090.html, 22 December 2021 [iv] Scottish Daily Express, Underage sex is being ‘normalised’ by Scottish schools according to leading expert, https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/underage-sex-being-normalised-scottish-26730262, 17 April 2022 [v] Professor David Paton, Underage conceptions and abortions in England and Wales 1969-2009: the role of public policy, https://sheu.org.uk/x/EH/eh302dp.pdf, 2012, Education and Health journal, Volume 30 Issue 2 p 22-24