Relationship & Sexuality Education At WDSG
In Year 10 relationship & sexuality education is taught in Special B and the curriculum covers:
- Introduction to the health unit of work, making students feel at ease in the health classroom environment, classroom guidelines & confidentiality, gaining access to support networks and student needs.
- Review of menstrual cycle, interplay between hormones, hormonal effects on physiology & the resultant psychological effects, skin & acne, painful periods & remedies, moods, valuing fertility, making decisions about sexual health and endometriosis.
- Qualities of relationships & decision making
- Values clarification, feelings in a special relationship, pressure & making decisions, assertiveness under pressure.
- Gender stereotypes & the effects on young people, power in relationships, safely ending a relationship.
- Sexual activity, behaviour causing pregnancy.
- STI’s and taking responsible & preventative action.
- Contraception
- Pregnancy options
Key Messages
People will have times in their lives when they are in, or not in relationships, so it's important not to place our whole self worth on being part of a couple.
We are all different and the qualities we look for in a relationship will be different.
People in unhealthy relationships don't have to tolerate them - it's easier to get out sooner rather tha later.
Most people experience at least one relationship that doesn't work out, however, we learn from these.
Although we may experience feelings of love and attraction it does not mean we have to on them.
Having a positive experience involves thinking about what you want and don't want - and only doing what you want.
People have the right to change their mind about what they consent to do at any stage in a relatoinship. Even if someone has already had sex in a relationship they can say no.
Pressure is unacceptable.
Saying no to someone is not rejecting them, it is rejecting the request that they are making.
A loving relationship is built on being accepted, trust, honesty, caring, sharing good times and bad times, and it takes time to develop.
Other Healh Education
ATTITUDE is the youth education division of Parents Inc., dedicated to creatively teach life skills that will assist teenagers to make life-enhancing choices. The inspirational programmes encompass all aspects of total wellbeing and are a preventative strategy to youth suicide, teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STI’s).
ATTITUDE provides health education programmes to high school students. Using a variety of media, and a sometimes lateral approach, ATTITUDE equips teenagers with the information and skills they will need to negotiate their adolescent years and build meaningful lives. The materials, based on credible research and linked to the health curriculum, give young people strategies for solving problems, handling stress and negotiating relationships.
Here at WDSG we use ATTITUDE to deliver the following presentations in terms 1 &3:
-
Sex With Attitude
Covers the emotional and social aspects of sexuality, and provides a decision making guide to relationships. This presentation covers the benefits of postponing sexual involvement and how to set boundaries, and challenges teenagers to think about personal future options.
- Hard Wired
Addressing the issues that cause people to develop habits and ideas on how to make positive decisions, deal with peer pressure and how to overcome addictions.