Schools to receive backing on relationship teaching says Education Secretary

Every school will get support on teaching relationships education as pupils prepare to return to classrooms for the new term, the Education Secretary has said.

Before the summer holidays, there were high-profile anti-LGBT protests outside primary schools in the Midlands with demonstrators and counter-demonstrators clashing over the teaching of different relationships.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has said headteachers should be "able to teach about Britain as it is today".

However, Mr Williamson said he had no plans to visit the headteacher of Birmingham's Anderton Park Primary School, Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson, who has previously told of being subjected to abuse during weeks of protests outside her school.

She had called in June for Mr Williamson's predecessor, Damian Hinds, to visit and discuss the current policy on relationships and LGBT education in schools.

Speaking at the time, she said: "The importance of this goes beyond AndertonPark, it goes beyond protests on my pavements - it's a British law issue."

Anderton Park and Parkfield Community Primary schools in Birmingham were the scenes of weeks of noisy protests, with a separate demonstration outside the gates of Nottingham's Fernwood Primary coming just before schools broke up.

Ms Hewitt-Clarkson had previously warned of the protests spreading without more support for schools, although the Department for Education (DfE) has said it has been working "very closely" with heads on the issue.

At Parkfield school, its No Outsiders equality education programme was suspended in the last term during talks with parents and mediators.

However, in July it was announced a modified version of the programme, which teaches about diversity and difference in modern society, would be taught from the start of the new term in September, after consultation with parents.

Protesters have repeatedly claimed the teaching about different relationships and family backgrounds had not been "age appropriate" and were "over-emphasising a gay ethos".

LGBT campaigners have branded the demonstrations "homophobic".

In June, the DfE published guidance encouraging schools to adopt the new curriculum on relationships education from this September, ahead of the mandatory roll-out next year.

Relationships education for primary-age pupils and compulsory relationships and sex education (RSE) for secondary-age pupils in state schools will become compulsory from September 2020.

In some of his first remarks on the subject since being appointed Education Secretary, Mr Williamson said there is no place for protests at school gates.

Asked if he had arranged to meet Ms Hewitt-Clarkson, Mr Williamson said:

"What we're doing is we've been very focused in making sure that we deliver financial settlement in terms of every single school across this country.

We've set out quite clearly in terms of legislation and in terms of delivery of sex and relationship education and that's there for all schools to deliver and will be rolled out over the coming year."

Again asked whether he would be meeting Anderton Park's headteacher, he added:

"As I said, we've made it quite clear as to what is needed to be done."