Sex education to be compulsory in all England's schools
Sex and relationships education is to be made compulsory in all schools in England, the government has announced.
All children from the age of four will be taught about safe and healthy relationships, Education Secretary Justine Greening said.
Children will also be taught, at an appropriate age, about sex. But parents will still have the right to withdraw their children from these classes.
Age-appropriate lessons will have particular emphasis on what constitutes healthy relationships, as well as the dangers of sexting, online pornography and sexual harassment.
In a written statement, Ms Greening said: "The statutory guidance for SRE was introduced in 2000 and is becoming increasingly outdated. It fails to address risks to children that have grown in prevalence over the last 17 years, including cyberbullying, 'sexting' and staying safe online.”
Local authorities fail to allocate one in four special needs students with school place by deadline
Thousands of school children with learning difficulties are at risk of suffering heightened stress and anxiety because local authorities failed to provide them with a secondary school place, experts say.
According to a series of freedom of information requests obtained by The Telegraph, one in four students, including pupils with autism and Down’s syndrome, did not receive an offer by the deadline of February 15.
The delay has left families across England fearing that their child could be placed in an unsuitable or oversubscribed school, or forced to travel miles out of catchment.