In England, the Department for Education (DfE) has published guidance on sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges.
The guidance states that schools and colleges should develop policies and procedures on responding to child-on-child sexual violence and harassment and that schools have a whole-school approach to safeguarding and child protection.
Within the DfE guidance it states that schools have a duty to teach children about sex and relationships and that this should include discussions about child-on-child sexual abuse, consent, healthy relationships and sexuality. At Junior school level, this is covered through our RSE curriculum; we cover these topics by ensuring we teach our children about what is acceptable, positive behaviour. We also do this at South Farnborough through our school values and by ensuring that we teach our children to speak up should they ever have concerns about behaviour they witness.
A copy of our parent information leaflet can be found below for your information. This can seem a lot for junior schools, but we do have to be open to the ‘it could happen here’ mentality, as then we can be aware, have policies in place and not be shut off to it. Rest assured the leaflet contains information for all schools, up to colleges, and we have included it to make you aware of the over arching situation for all school aged children.
If you have any queries or concerns, please feel free to contact the school.