From once a year to once a week

Geebung Special School , Brisbane

Curriculum: Human Relationships Education and Protective Behaviours

We were hoping to make sexuality education a part of the kids’ everyday learning. In the same way that we teach other skills and information, we wanted to teach sexuality. We believe that if it is spoken about and addressed with as much attention that we give to other areas of student learning, that their embarrassment will be reduced and they will feel confident to ask questions and seek help when they need.

Our school

Geebung Special School is a Queensland Government school for students of primary and pre-primary age (about 3 to 12 years) who have intellectual impairments and other disabilities. It provides educational services for about 100 school aged students and up to 75 students aged to 5 years who are in the Early Childhood Developmental Program. The school logo is a frill-necked lizard. The school colours are green and gold. The school motto is "I try to do it by myself".

Our approach to sexuality and relationships education

In 2007 staff at Geebung Special School recognised that a once a year series of talks given by a school nurse or other outsider was not meeting the unique learning needs of our individual students. School staff found that for the rest of the year they were putting out ‘spot fires’ responding to behaviours and incidents. In order to proactively respond to the real needs of our students the school felt that a wider concept of HRE, inclusive of protective behaviours, needed to be taught by staff to students.

A core group of staff established key goals for the school’s HRE program redevelopment. The basis of the new program was that it be taught to the whole school from year one through to seven, include the greater school community such as parents and family, and be implemented by class teachers.

The school chose to work with Family Planning Queensland to access resources and develop skills to deliver sexuality education content. They accessed help to answer student questions and respond to the concerns and queries of parents and carers as well as receive assistance in identifying and tailoring sexuality programs to varied age groups and ability levels of their students.

Our Outcomes

Within two years 75% of the teaching staff at the school reported feeling more confident and competent to teach Human Relationships and Sexuality Education to their own class. The HRE program is now embedded in the whole school curriculum. Excitingly it is now being added to the school Student Record of Achievement, the core skills inventory for the school. The program is also being embraced by the parent population with almost half of the families of the school represented at one of the school’s parent information sessions.