11 Plus Exams Forum

Does anyone know how this will be conducted in Year 6? They will be showing a short video as well it seems. Is it just about puberty and changes or about birds and bees in full detail?
I need to sign the permission slip and don't know what to do. The slip just says permission to attend the lesson for the child and whether parent will attend to watch the video before the lesson takes place. I don't know whether DS is ready. DS said to watch the video and then decide but it does not say anywhere on the slip whether to decide after watching the video. Shall I put a note that I will decide after watching the video and send my DH to watch and tell DH that he is going to watch a video of a play or something.
Please advise.

If it bothers either you or your son exactly what is taught and how in that lesson then you need to speak directly to whoever is taking the lesson, otherwise you are never going to be sure. Every school and teacher could do it slightly differently I would have thought.

I think I'm right in saying that you have a right to withdraw your child from these lessons; without the correct information it's hard for you to decide.

You could also check with the teacher who is the "lead" for PHSE.

Also, you might be able to find out what the film is and watch it from some education website at home before the lesson. This might save you going in to school to watch it. But without the full title etc from the school you won't know i fyou are watching the right thing!!

You can watch the film and then decide as it is one of the things you can choose to withdraw your child from.

In my experience however, it's better to include them as the children all talk about it anyway!

Assuming it's the same film as the one we watch in Herts, there's nothing that I've felt they shouldn't know at 10 and quite a lot of stuff that they do need. They also watch in single gender groups which seems to enable them to ask questions that they might otherwise feel shy about.

Regarding the questions, many schools get children to submit written questions anonymously after the first lesson and video. This allows the teachers to sift the ones they are prepared to answer from the ones they are not; it also protects children from embarrassing themselves in front of their classmates. They are answered at a follow up session.

My personal view is that unless you feel really strongly you should allow your child to attend the lessons. They generally know a fair amount more than you might have appreciated already, and will talk about it for a day or two before moving on. All three of my children were entirely underwhelmed by the whole thing,tbh.

I think you will be surprised about how much they already know from science curriculum and chatting to each other.

"these" lessons were all a big deal when I was at school but I found my kids were well informed and remarkably chilled out about it as if was "just another topic" .

I think if parents make a fuss then the whole subject becomes one of increased curiosity for the kid ......

I asked DD whether or not she wanted to go.

We had already had a few DD initiated conversations about the birds and bees so I suspected there wouldn't be many surprises but she found the whole subject very embarassing and I guessed she might not want private and personal things discussed in a classroom (also Yr 5s and 6s were watching the video together and I would imagine girls just turning ten and girls of nearly 12 might have a very different take on things.)

DD said she would rather not go to the lesson and she and one other child were sent to Reception class to help out instead. She came home very disappointed because she had thought they would be there all afternoon but, in fact, after about 25 minutes everyone came back and the whole experience was never discussed between the children again.

I think the dvd went straight over a lot of their heads. A friend asked her daughter is anything bothered her about the video and she said -
"Yes - I don't know why the couple went to bed as soon as they had moved into the new house - they should have got on with the unpacking."

My DD is currently doing this in yr5. we were given the option to go and watch the video but I didn't as we had already gone through the basics when she asked a couple of years ago. The video seems to involve real kids jumping into a pool and when they come out they have turned into cartoons which makes it all simpler to understand (and draw). They have gone into quite a lot of detail especially on the whole periods and dealing with them aspect (it is a girls school). We have had some interesting chats as a result on the drive home from school but that have been very factual so she is not embarrassed and I feel she is now equipped to ask further questions when she has them.
I have been very impressed with the way the school has covered this.

Thanks everyone.

Does every school show this video ? I don't remember DS1 bringing home a consent form or even discussing a video. Perhaps he's started forging his parents signature earlier then most children.

I know he's gone through it all at secondary as that's the only topic he seems to revise and then ( cringe ) discusses it in great detail over dinner. Good job the grandparents are deaf and just interject " that's nice dear " every few minutes.

My kids took part in the lesson and it was fine.

The only one thing I would query is which modules will be covered. I understand there is amongst other things a Gay & Lesbian add on for year 6 which might not be appropriate particularly in a church school...... The school governor's approve the content each year.