Recommendation 1

HM Government Accepted

Relationships, Sex and Health Education The Government partially accepts the recommendation as menstruation is taught as part of the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum. The Health Education curriculum in England became compulsory for all state-funded schools from September 2020. It includes teaching both girls and boys key facts about the menstrual cycle, menstrual products, and the implications for emotional and physical health. Statutory guidance requires schools to provide adequate support for girls in managing periods, including access to period products. The Department for Education has also issued non-statutory implementation guidance titled ‘Plan your Relationships, Sex and Health Education Curriculum’ (RSHE), alongside teacher training materials and case studies from lead teaching schools. The Department for Education is currently reviewing the RSHE statutory guidance and will release updated guidance as soon as possible which will include updated health education guidance. Ofsted’s school inspection framework has an emphasis on ensuring schools provide a broad and balanced curriculum and Ofsted is tasked with assessing a school’s support for a pupil’s development. Inspectors will also discuss with schools whether they are teaching RSHE in line with the statutory guidance. Along with the teaching of menstruation through Biology in secondary schools, as mentioned in the report, there is an opportunity for students to learn about it in primary school. Specifically, in Year 5 pupils should be taught to describe the changes as humans develop to old age, under the topic ‘animals, including humans’. It is written in the non-statutory guidance that within this topic students should learn about the changes experienced in puberty. However, teachers have flexibility in how they approach teaching this subject based on their classroom context. Health barriers for girls and women in sport: Government and Sport England responses 5 Alongside the teaching of menstruation in the curriculum, the Period Product Scheme is available for schools to order a wide range of free period products for their pupils, including sustainable options such as period underwear. The Department for Education’s guidance to schools provides information on how schools can use the scheme to help tackle any stigma around menstruation. 99% of secondary schools, and 75% of primary schools have used the scheme since it began in 2020. Physical Education and the curriculum The Physical Education (PE) curriculum is focused on children and young people being physically active and is designed to ensure that all pupils develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities, are physically active for sustained periods of time and lead healthy and active lives. Schools are free to organise and deliver a diverse and challenging PE curriculum that suits the needs of all their pupils. The Department for Education does acknowledge that menstruation is cited as a barrier to participation in PE. Research from Women in Sport in 20223 found that around 7 in 10 girls regularly or sometimes avoided being active when on their period. Pain was the most common reason for not being active with 73% of responses reporting this, 62% reported it was because of fear of leakage, 52% because of tiredness and 45% reported because they were self-conscious. Similar results were found in research conducted by the Youth Sport Trust–Girls Active National report 20234. When asked what worries them about participating in PE or school sport when they have their period, girls were most likely to say “I am in pain/ uncomfortable (68%)”, “I worry about leaking (60%)”, or “My mood is low (57%)”. 9% said that they “weren’t concerned by any of these issues”. The Department for Education recently published non-statutory PE and sport guidance on 23 March 2024. The guidance supports schools in reviewing how to deliver a minimum two hours of PE per week during curriculum time, and equality of access to PE and extra- curricular school sport and competition for all pupils, where wanted. Schools are free to draw on high-quality resources based on the needs of their pupils, for example, the guidance includes links to free resources from the Studio You and Bodyform partnership which was created to help teenage girls overcome the barriers that stop them getting active and feel comfortable exercising on their period. The Department for Education has no current plans to change the national curriculum for PE. However, following the guidance we will conduct further work to review PE delivery to develop our understanding of how the PE national curriculum is being delivered and how it supports equal access and increased physical activity. This will include a call for evidence focused on how the PE national curriculum is being implemented and how it supports pupils to be more active including in key stage 4. Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and Early Career Fram