A controversial charity, known for delivering explicit sex education in schools around the UK, has been forced to apologise for links to “regrettable” material on its website.
The apology came during a legal dispute involving Clare Page, a mother from south London, and The School of Sexuality Education (SSE) after she found its website contained links to disturbing sites run by individuals who deliver lessons on behalf of the charity.
Some of these links included content promoting pornography and revealed that some individuals presenting for SSE have commercial interests in the sex industry, including selling sex toys.
Mrs Page is appealing a decision by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) which rejected her reasonable request to know who presented the lessons on behalf of SSE at her child’s school and see the materials used.
The ICO claimed that it would compromise the sex education provider’s “intellectual property”.
At the tribunal, the Chief Executive of the charity, Dolly Padalia, defended SSE’s recommendation for children to watch the Netflix series Sex Education, which is rated 18+, saying ‘children are already watching them’.
But she admitted that it was ‘regrettable’ that children who visited its website could have found links to sexually explicit content about adult topics.
In teaching materials seen by The Times, SSE encourages youngsters to be “activists” and “celebrate sex-positivity and sexual diversity”.
In another worksheet, the charity teaches that the “idea of virginity is made up by society” and invites pupils to discuss whether it is a “damaging social construct”.
There are good things that can be taught under the new arrangements but unfortunately the changes also provide an opportunity for campaign groups opposed to Christian teaching to push forward their controversial agendas in schools.
In September 2020, the Government released further guidance for schools
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