Scottish mum ‘utterly shocked’ by sex ed for nine-year-old daughter

A Scottish mum has been left shocked by sex education materials used in her nine-year-old daughter’s school lesson.

Emma Cormie from Moray said her daughter was left “anxious and stressed” over graphic content shared in a Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) class.

Slides for the module ‘How do people have sex’, deemed suitable for 8-12-year-olds, contains a picture of a naked man and woman, talks about sexual arousal, and has descriptions of what takes place during intercourse.

‘Absolutely unnecessary’

Mrs Cormie said: “I asked other parents if they knew this was starting and I found out it was put on the school blog but there was no explicit notice given.

When sent Scottish Government-approved RSHP material, she reacted: “I was just utterly shocked at what I was seeing. It was far beyond any kind of expectation that I had for this subject for this age of children.”

absolutely not age appropriate

The mum explained: “My whole concern is that my daughter showed extreme anxiety after getting this programme in school. She did not want to attend school the next day.”

Mrs Cormie described the material as “absolutely not age appropriate”. She added: “Learning about body functions and changes is necessary, learning how to have sex at 11 years old is absolutely not”.

Parental rights

Under the Scottish Government’s own guidance, “authorities must be sensitive to the cases in which a parent or carer may wish to withdraw a child or young person, or a child or young person wishes to withdraw themselves from all or part of a planned sexual health education programme within a RSHP education programme”.

It also informs schools that where a “parent or carer decides to withdraw a school aged child from sexual health education lessons, arrangements should be made for the child to have alternative positive educational provision”.

Responding to Mrs Cormie’s concerns, Moray Council said “schools do make efforts to inform parents when sensitive topics are being introduced, ensuring they are aware and can engage in the process”.

Action

John Denning, Head of Education at The Christian Institute, commented: “There is no obligation for schools to use the materials on rshp.scot, but many schools in Scotland do, so parents may want to take a look at the website themselves. They can then discuss any content they are concerned about with the school.

If parents are willing to speak up about their concerns and take action, it will make a difference to what schools teach

“If different parents are all raising concerns about the same material, the school may well change its teaching. As a backstop protection, parents can remove their children from these lessons.

“If parents are willing to speak up about their concerns and take action, it will make a difference to what schools teach.”