Pencoys Primary School: a case study
This brief case study highlights the impact that a Speakeasy course can have, not only on parents, carers and children, but also on wider SRE provision in school.
Pencoys Primary School is situated in the Illogan South ward, one or the most deprived wards in Cornwall for child poverty and with one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Cornwall.
In 2007 we asked Pencoys to be a pilot school for us in the introduction of Speakeasy because the school offers a wide range of opportunities for parents and carers and we had also worked with them on their very successful healthy eating workshop for parents and carers.
We facilitated two Speakeasy courses for parents during 2007. At the same time, the school was working on its Healthy School validation and reviewing areas such as SRE policy and practice.
In all our Speakeasy courses parents are surprised at the relatively little SRE that schools are legally required to deliver and are usually much keener on SRE as a result of being on the course.
The parents on the second course included governors who were keen to support Healthy Schools work and to examine the SRE policy and the way SRE is taught.
The Headteacher and staff immediately responded positively to this interest and set up a session for parents to come along and help review and write the policy. A good number of parents were interested, attended the session and made some really good contributions. The session was so positive that a second drafting and review session was organised and more parents attended. This session also included a review of resources such as the Channel 4 Living and Growing DVD.
During that session many more parents expressed an interest in taking part in Speakeasy. The sessions are led by a parent who is also a member of the school support staff; she attended one of the school Speakeasy courses and has subsequently gone onto to train as a Speakeasy Facilitator.
The policy work continues and parents are keenly following the progress of the SRE lessons being delivered in school alongside SEAL. They are also taking home the Living and Growing DVD and other resources to review themselves and the school has created a loanable set of resources for parents and carers to help them talk to their children about sex and relationships.
The work at Pencoys Primary School was cited as best practice in the government’s review of SRE which was published in October 2008.
Comment from Pencoys Primary School
“I have to say that the sex in our school is brilliant! We have had such a positive response from the parents, it's amazing. It's like blockbuster video rentals! We actually have waiting lists for parents who want to view the DVDs. (They all come back with smiles on their faces!) The children have also been amazing - but aren't they always - it's us with the hang-ups”.
Further work
In 2009/10 for their Healthy Schools Plus work, Pencoys Primary School chose to further develop their Speakeasy work, read the case study.
We also think that Speakeasy can offer some good training for teachers to develop both their knowledge and confidence in teaching SRE and proficiency in talking about sex and relationships. Contact us for information about how we can support the staff in your school.
