Council axes self-stimulation lessons for six-year-olds

Warwickshire County Council has announced it is dropping its sex education programme, All About Me, after a legal threat from the Christian Institute.

The Council’s All About Me programme contained graphic materials, and introduced explicit themes to young children, including transgenderism to children aged 4 and 5, and encouraging pupils to ‘self-stimulate’ from age 6.

The Christian Institute previously threatened legal action against the council, arguing that the materials were not only explicit, but also strewn with errors, failing to apply equality, human rights or education law correctly.

Sexualisation by the State

The programme was initially brought to light by two parents, supported by the Christian Institute, who were interviewed by Evangelical Times. They noted that they had felt it necessary to withdraw their children from the school and start home educating them, as they felt there was clear intent to sexualise young children, normalise same-sex relationships and avoid completely any promotion of marriage as the most fulfilling and rewarding relationship.

All About Me began teaching pupils in Reception (ages 4 and 5) the idea that some people are ‘born in the wrong body’, and encouraged talk about private parts from the same age, using pictures of naked people. Self-stimulation was taught from Year 2 (age 6 and 7), and encouraged pupils to touch themselves.

The story was highlighted in September 2019 in our weekly news email, and was commented on by ‘Rebel Priest’ Jules Gomes, who further broke down what the sex education programme taught.

The Mail on Sunday then picked up the story, running with the headline: “Children as young as SIX are to be given compulsory self-touching lessons that critics say are sexualising youngsters.”

The programme was initially rolled out across 241 primary schools across Warwickshire, and other counties were considering using the materials as part of the government’s new overhaul on Relationships and Sex Education.

Dropped ‘with immediate effect’

Christian Institute says it was contacted by a number of parents before notifying the council that it would take legal action if it did not address the “catalogue of errors” found in the programme.

Last week, lawyers representing Warwickshire County Council announced that the programme had been dropped “with immediate effect.”

Local parents have reportedly welcomed the news: “This is not before time. My wife and I were deeply troubled by the explicit nature of some of the All About Me materials – and the ideology underpinning them.

“We don’t want our children being taught about masturbation, explicit sexual content or experimental transgender ideas in school.”

Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern commented: “We’re glad to see the council dropping this sickening programme. It’s time the government recognised the harm these lessons do by sexualising our children. The government must keep the freedom for parents to opt out of these sorts of lessons as a guard against dangerous and inappropriate content taught in some of these classes.”