Relationships, Safety, and Trust in Schools – A New Era for RSHE

As we continue to break down the The New School Bill Reform, and what it means for students, parents and schools… this week’s focus in on RSHE (Relationships, Sex and Health Education).

Respectful relationships, online safety, and student agency – these are the pillars of the refreshed RSHE curriculum in 2025. The reform recognises that young people need more than definitions, they need dialogue. They need safe spaces to explore digital pressures, complex emotions, and real-world risks.

This year’s update goes beyond compliance. It invites schools to lead cultural change in how relationships and safety are taught – and how families are included in that journey.

Key Curriculum Updates:

• New Statutory Content Areas:
  Topics now include misogyny, pornography exposure, consent, and digital harms like online grooming and misinformation.
• Parental Access Rights:
  Families must be given statutory access to view RSHE content and teaching materials ahead of delivery.
• Delivery Expectations:
  Lessons must include real-world scenarios, encourage pupil voice, and reflect community values.

Impact on Schools:

• RSHE teams will need training to teach sensitive content confidently and appropriately.
• Schools must ensure clear safeguarding pathways – especially where disclosures or concerns arise during RSHE lessons.
• Engagement with parents and governors will be vital to avoid misunderstandings and build trust.

For Pupils and Families:

• Pupils gain tools for self-awareness, respectful boundaries, and digital resilience.
• Parents receive transparency – building alignment between home values and school delivery.
• Older students benefit from clear, non-judgmental guidance on issues they may already be navigating outside school.

Find out more information here: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/12/the-childrens-wellbeing-bill-what-parents-need-to-know/

Top Tips for Schools:

• Collaborate with trusted external RSHE providers to strengthen delivery.
• Invite parental feedback during curriculum planning – not after rollout.
• Embed RSHE into pastoral and safeguarding strategy – it’s not just PSHE, it’s pupil protection.

This is an opportunity to move RSHE from the margins to the mainstream, from compliance to connection. Schools that embrace this shift will not only meet policy but build the trust and confidence of the communities they serve.

You can read the previous blog in our New School Bill Reform series here ➡️Wellbeing in Schools – From Breakfast to Emotional Support

Schools Mutual Services shares a commitment to fairness, to community, and to doing things right. Choosing SMS as a partner frees up school leaders to focus on compliance to the New Schools Bill, while assisting schools to offer competitive supply teaching rates, and ensuring budgets are protected as much as possible, and used… as opposed to profits making their way into shareholder pockets.

If your school hasn’t yet had the conversation with SMS, now’s the time.

You can contact us here ➡️CONTACT FORM

With regional offices in Newcastle, Oxford, and Nottingham, SMS works with schools across the whole of the North East, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicester, Oxfordshire and Swindon. Each office is embedded within its local education community, working in partnership with school trusts, teaching alliances such as OTSA, and local authorities to deliver tailored supply staffing support across primary and secondary education, whether that is day-to-day supply teaching or long-term placements. From multi academy trusts to community primary and special schools, SMS is helping educational establishments navigate financial pressures with a smarter, more sustainable solution for supply teachers and support staff, that puts pupil outcomes first.

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View previous blogs in our New Schools Bill series:

Navigating the New Schools Bill: What 2025’s Reforms Mean for Schools and Pupils

Wellbeing in Schools – From Breakfast to Emotional Support