What Is the New Guidance for RSHE? All Schools Need to Know Ahead of September 2026
From September 2026, updated statutory guidance for Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) will come into effect across England.
At 1decision, our team has already begun revising our primary RSHE curriculum resources to ensure full compliance with the new expectations. We understand how time-pressured the classroom can be, so we are also producing a concise set of lessons to support schools in covering key content effectively and with confidence.
Why These Changes Matter
Children need age-appropriate knowledge and practical skills to make safe, informed and ethical decisions about their wellbeing, relationships and health. The revised RSHE guidance highlights the vital role education plays in fostering key traits such as resilience, integrity, self-worth and kindness.
Done well, RSHE helps prepare pupils for adult life and promotes their social, moral, mental and physical development. This update to the 2019 RSHE framework follows a comprehensive review and public consultation, ensuring that the curriculum reflects current risks and realities facing children today, especially online.
Key Updates to Primary RSHE
- Relationships Education: Stronger emphasis on building positive relationships, recognising unsafe ones, and understanding a wide range of family structures.
- Online Safety and Awareness: Increased focus on online risks, digital boundaries, respectful behaviour and recognising harmful contact.
- Being Safe: Reinforced teaching on privacy, consent, body autonomy and how to report concerns.
- Respectful, Kind Relationships: Encouraging assertive but compassionate communication and tackling stereotypes and bullying.
- Sex Education (Optional in Primary): The DfE continues to recommend that Year 5 and 6 pupils are taught about human reproduction in line with the science curriculum. Schools must consult parents and share materials in advance.
A Focus on Safeguarding and Parental Engagement
The guidance stresses the importance of transparency with parents and carers. Schools are required to consult with families when developing RSHE policies and must share content and teaching materials on request. This helps ensure trust and openness, particularly when addressing sensitive topics.
Is RSHE Compulsory?
Parents retain the right to withdraw their child from sex education in primary (excluding science curriculum content), and schools must respect this while ensuring the child receives alternative, meaningful learning.
What the Latest RSHE Guidance Means for Schools
The DfE requires all schools to have a written RSHE policy, available on their website or upon request. Teaching should be inclusive, participatory and tailored to local needs, and guided by key principles such as early intervention, careful sequencing, and skilled, confident delivery.
While schools retain flexibility in how RSHE is delivered, inspectors will assess it as part of a school’s overall personal development and safeguarding provision.
You can view the full statutory guidance directly via the Department for Education website:
- Statutory Guidance: Relationships, Sex and Health Education (July 2025 update)
- DfE Overview for Parents on RSHE
How 1decision Is Responding
As a leading provider of primary RSHE resources, 1decision is fully committed to ensuring our programme remains fully aligned with government expectations. We are:
- Reviewing and updating all relevant topics across our resources.
- Creating short-form, time-efficient lessons to support schools where time is limited.
- Ensuring all content supports inclusive, evidence-based and safeguarding-led practice.
We believe that early, effective RSHE builds the foundation for safer, healthier, and more confident children.
If you’re a school leader or teacher and want to ensure you're ready for September 2025 (ahead of the statutory deadline), get in touch with our team. We’re here to support you every step of the way.
