We are a group of parents with primary and secondary children and our journey began in 2020, when we realised that our school left very unrealistic times to conduct parent consultations. We approached our headteacher because of the lack of communication to not only parents but even the teachers who will be delivering this in the classrooms. What was worse, was that many parents had no idea that the new RSE legislation was even coming into force!
What followed was a to-and-fro dialogue with our school, in which major concerns were uncovered. This led us to contact the council where we learned more about the situation at hand and realised that we barely scratched the surface.
We learned that there were still many open-ended issues and with 6 months left for policy to be completed.
Very little parent or faith consultations have taken place… at least not on any meaningful scale.
Enough of the doom and gloom for now. It really has been a case of a ‘cloud with a silver lining’, because through our very tedious and long journey, we have discovered our voice and have actively brought together key people in the council, faith groups and leaders, councillors and of course parents.
Why was this important? To ensure that everyone, including lead figures in the council and schools, would not bypass us parents, the greatest stakeholders, in creating a policy that has a profound impact on families.
Our drive has always been safeguarding our children and two of our biggest concerns are the age appropriateness of the curriculum and whether it is faith-sensitive to our beliefs, amongst others.
Therefore, we have formed Parents United with the tremendous backing of Muslim faith leaders, Muslim faith groups and numerous councillors.
Our Concerns
Our voice was not sought and pulled from under us, check Know your rights to see how the law applies to parental involvement in the final policy.
Our aims are –
- Meaningful parental consultation by schools in line with their legal duties.
- An age-appropriate RSE curriculum that doesn’t undermine the values of parents/families;
- Implementation- resources and teaching methods that are age-appropriate and factual ( Proper training for teachers to teach the RSE curriculum in a factual and unbiased way to remove their own lifestyle choices and bias from teaching )
- Assurance that children can voice their perspective respectfully, without the fear of being penalised or reported to prevent agencies and other authorities.
- A conflict resolution process and RSE watchdog.
Our mission- the 3 E’s
Engage
Engage proactively with the council ,schools and other faith community in Redbridge to achieve the aim of safeguarding the innocence of children.
Educate
Educate parents on what they need to know of the law and their rights
Empower
Empower children to hold and communicate their beliefs respectfully, empower parents with information, confidence and contacts to take action within their own schools and community groups.