Petition · past parliament · Department for Education

Make teaching of age-appropriate sex education compulsory from Year 6

Closed 289 signatures

What the petition asks

According to Rape Crisis 5 million women have been raped or sexually assaulted since the age of 16 in the UK. One way to help prevent these events is to educate children from a younger age. Mandatory education of sexual relations, focusing on consent, from Year 6, could help solve this issue.
Sex education is not compulsory at primary school. Nowadays, many children are exposed to sexually explicit material before they start secondary school. The BBFC stating that over half of 11-13 year old have watched pornography. Therefore we should be educating our children before they are affected by the ideas of unhealthy and fake relationships shown online. I propose that ideas of consent and safe sex should be taught from Year 6 (ages 10-11) in England.

Timeline

8 Apr 2022 Petition opened for signatures
22 Oct 2022 Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 289
Status Closed
Department Department for Education
Opened 8 Apr 2022
Closed 22 Oct 2022

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.