“An octopus has eight testicles.”

Talking with children about sexuality in our school

Our Lady of the Way Primary School ,Petrie, Brisbane

Curriculum: Human Relationships Education and Fully Alive Program

I have seen the benefits to the children of not having misinformation. Through HRE the stigma is taken away from terms and concepts, when students hear their teachers speaking openly about sexuality they see it is okay to talk about, and that result in the positive growth and development of the children.

Our school

The climate of the school emanates from core values of learning, community, faith and diversity. There is a great sense of welcome and hospitality in the school community. They are a community who celebrate together their faith traditions through prayer, liturgy and Eucharist. The uniqueness of each child is embraced and the school recognises the contribution that each member of the community makes toward the unity of the school.

Our approach to sexuality and relationships education

The school recognised the need for educating students about sexuality and then investigated what programs were available both locally and further afield. The school wanted a program that would meet the outcomes of the Health and Physical Education (HPE) and Religious Education (RE) guidelines, enhance and support learning for protective behaviours, support the needs of students, and have a whole school approach. Maintaining our Catholic Christian values was also a fundamental requisite.

Fully Alive , a Family Life program written through sponsorship by the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1996, was adopted by our Primary School as a whole school teaching learning program for sexuality. Whilst some of the stories and pictures are now dated teachers make choices about changing some of them so that the information and the way it is presented remains relevant.

Our outcomes

Whilst teaching this sensitive area is difficult for some teachers the comprehensive notes and resources make the lessons and unit as a whole much easier. We feel the school has successfully implemented an easy to follow program that is sexuality education not ‘sex education’. Using a story based approach has allowed children to identify and engage with the program and feel comfortable in asking questions. A Questions Box is used for children who do not want to ask questions in front of the class. Each year’s content reinforces prior learning before introducing new concepts.

The program has 7 levels which our school teaches from Year 1-7. The 5 themes in each level are:

• Created and Loved by God
• Living in a Relationship
• Created Sexual: Male and Female
• Growing in Commitment
• Living in the World

Parents are well informed about the teaching in this area and are generally very supportive of the program. Many parents are relieved because before they had difficulty opening up to children regarding issues of sexuality. Whilst they are sometimes reticent about what the children are going to learn, once they review the materials and realise it’s faith-based, the parents are supportive.

The reactions of students who have been through the program for a number of years are quite entertaining. We sometimes hear in the lead up comments like, “You are making me nervous walking around with that Fully Alive book”. Both the boys and girls of our school are enjoying the lessons and they report to enjoy learning about themselves and the opposite sex.