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Moray mum’s plea for RSHP education change sparks fierce debate





A Moray mum’s take on sex education in primary schools has sparked fierce debate among our readers.

Emma Cormie has called for a change in how the RSHP (Relationships, Sexual health and Parenthood) education programme is taught after her daughter, who is in P5, was left feeling “stressed” and “anxious” after being shown some of the teaching materials at school.

Emma Cormie. Picture: Daniel Forsyth
Emma Cormie. Picture: Daniel Forsyth

Mrs Cormie said she is not against the programme but believes some of the material is inappropriate for primary school children.

She said: “There is absolutely a need to cover these topics that are essential for our children to know about but that is very very different from some of this material.

“Let our children be children. They have one childhood.”

Plenty of readers agreed with Mrs Cormie.

Michelle Waind said the slides intended for P7 pupils made her feel “ill”.

She said: “Describing it as wet and slippery and it feeling nice seems too much for a 9-year-old to need to know.

“I agree they need to know the basics but they don't need to know how it feels at this age.

“Leave that to when they are old enough to discover that themselves surely?”

Alanna O’Donnell said: “Yes the basics and facts about reproduction etc but not all this stuff.

“This is for parents to deal with but as with anything now the Scottish government think they can do it better than parents and that’s that.”

Amanda Marshall, like Mrs Cormie, said she was not given prior warning by her daughter’s school that they were about to be taught parts of the RSHP programme.

She said: “We received an email advising they were going to be watching a film that was a PG so it’s wild we didn’t receive one about this.”

Leanne McCook said: “I was horrified when I found out my 11-year-old daughter and her class were shown images of a fully naked man and woman.

“I may be old school, but I think introducing young children to certain things just makes them more curious and with a whole dark world out there on the Internet, that's when they go looking for things.”

Iona Smith disagreed with Mrs Cormie view stating: “All this fuss over a naked human body.

“Our children need to understand that being naked isn't a bad thing and learning about the male and female body needs to be normalised.”

Patricia Dias de Oliveira said parents should excuse their children from lessons if they are uncomfortable with the material.

She said: “I think the parents should be teaching and explaining things to their kids and not the school.

“When my son was in primary he didn’t feel comfortable to be in such a class, I called the school and requested for him not to attend and they complied.”

Andrena Graham said: “Children will get access to way worse through online access no matter how strict their parents are.

“It’s a cartoon illustration with age appropriate language. It highlights choice. Children need to know this stuff before they are sexually active.”

Robert Taylor added: “They see a lot worse on the Internet. I would rather it taught in school and for them to know everything they need to.”



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