The Minefield which is RSE and Health
Health and Wellbeing (Secondary): The secondary health education content was also updated in both draft and final guidance. Additions include more on mental health
Relationships and Sex Education (Secondary): The 2025 guidance (draft and final) significantly expands secondary RSE content compared to the older 2019 guidance. Both versions introduce a range of new topics and greater depth to address contemporary issues.
Health and Wellbeing (Secondary): The secondary health education content was also updated in both draft and final guidance. Additions include more on mental health (coping strategies, normalizing discussions about mental well-being, and age-appropriate suicide prevention content). The final guidance confirms that secondary students will learn how to seek help for mental health issues and that schools should work with professionals to discuss topics like suicide in a sensitive way. This was a draft proposal now finalized – it ensures that even difficult topics like suicidal feelings or self-harm are addressed with proper support rather than ignored. The guidance also continues to cover physical health topics (diet, exercise, sleep, addiction, first aid), but with new specifics: for instance, teaching about gambling harms and addictive behaviours online, and greater detail on menstrual and gynaecological health (e.g. understanding menstrual hygiene and conditions like endometriosis or polycystic ovary syndrome which some respondents called to include).
The draft’s inclusion of these was retained. Another addition is fertility and reproductive health: students will learn about fertility facts, the impact of age and lifestyle on fertility, and options for those who have difficulty conceiving – reflecting growing public interest in reproductive education. The final guidance continues to highlight illegal risks like substance abuse, knife crime and exploitation under health/safety education, as the draft did. For example, it includes content on gang exploitation and county lines, and hate crimes, to ensure pupils grasp personal safety in a broad sense.
Schools have significant freedom to implement this guidance in the context of a broad and balanced curriculum.
A school’s curriculum should be in line with the needs of pupils. Effective, high- quality teaching will break down core knowledge and skills into manageable and well- sequenced units, including opportunities for pupils to practise skills so that they will be confident to use them in real-life situations. The curriculum should build knowledge and skills sequentially, with regular feedback provided on pupil progress. Lessons should ensure that all pupils are challenged, and assessments should identify where pupils need extra support or intervention
Working with external organisations can enhance delivery of these subjects, bringing in specialist knowledge and different ways of engaging with young people, but schools always remain responsible for the content and the way in which children are taught. Schools should check that external resources are accurate, age and stage appropriate and unbiased. Schools should be particularly cautious about using resources from organisations that have a broader interest in promoting harmful products (e.g. cigarettes and alcohol) or that have a strong partisan view on a contested topic. Schools are responsible for checking the credentials of any visitor or visiting organisation. Schools should ask to see materials and a lesson plan in advance, and should seek the views of parents, making sure that all materials can be viewed by parents (see the section on openness with parents below).