Growing up doesn't stop at 16

Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) is statutory up to the end of Key Stage 4 — but the questions our students face don't stop there. In Sixth Form, students are navigating adult relationships, making independent choices about their health, and encountering situations — from university nightlife to workplace dynamics. That's why we continue RSHE deliberately and explicitly through Years 12 and 13: not repeating what's already been delivered, but building on it, addressing the real, age-appropriate questions of young adulthood.

Our approach

• Specialist-led and factual.  Sensitive topics — sexual health, contraception, consent — are delivered through a dedicated carousel model, often with external specialists, so students get accurate, factual, non-judgemental information rather than a single generalist lesson.

• Inclusive by design.  Our RSHE curriculum is written to reflect all our students, regardless of background, identity or experience. Content is factual and age-appropriate, and delivered in a way that reduces stigma and encourages students to seek help when they need it.

• Built on KS4 foundations, not repeated.  Where a topic returns from Key Stage 4 — healthy relationships, consent, personal safety — it's revisited with clear progression: deeper, more adult in context, and reflective of the choices students are actually making at 16–18, not a re-run of Year 10 content.

• Grounded in real conversations, not just theory.  Sessions are framed around genuine questions of early adulthood: navigating a first serious relationship, understanding what healthy boundaries look like, recognising coercive control, or knowing how and where to access confidential health services independently for the first time.

What's covered

Our Sixth Form RSHE curriculum is built around three connected strands:

Relationships

• Consent, boundaries and communication in adult relationships

• Healthy relationships in young adulthood, including recognising coercive control

• Misogyny, violence against women and girls, and active bystander skills

• Positive masculinity and respect — a discussion-based strand specifically relevant to a boys' school with a mixed Sixth Form

Sex and Health Education

• Sexual health, contraception and accessing services confidentially

• Intimate relationships, sexual ethics, and healthy expectations

• Registering with and accessing GP, dental, optical and sexual health services independently

Wider Health Education

• Mental health literacy: recognising anxiety, stress and low mood, and knowing how to seek help

• Drugs, alcohol and harm reduction, including nightlife and spiking awareness

• Gambling, financial harms and online scams

• Bereavement, loss and building resilience

• Physical and mental health, without shame

How it's delivered

RSHE at CBSC Sixth Form isn't confined to one lesson type. It runs through:

• Bi Weekly PSHCE lessons,  each with a clear, age-specific theme

• Dedicated drop-down carousels,  giving time and specialist input for the most sensitive topics

• Tutor time and assemblies,  reinforcing messages and giving space for follow-up questions

• Pastoral support,  so any issue raised in a lesson has a clear, confidential route to further help

• Leadership Forums, such as our Female Leaders Forum

Support and further information

Any student can speak confidentially to their tutor, Raising Standards Leaders, or a member of the pastoral team about anything raised in RSHE lessons. Our full RSHE policy, including the statutory guidance it is based on, is available on request.

If you have questions about the RSHE curriculum, or wish to discuss anything relating to your son / daughter’s participation, please contact Mr Brendan Earley, bearley@carshaltonboys.org.