Why Your RSE Programme Needs More Than a Drop-Down Day

I got a call from a school last term asking if I could come in for a drop-down day. "We want to cover consent, online safety, healthy relationships, and pornography. Can you do all of that in one day?" I said I could, but that I wouldn't. Because cramming all of that into six hours and expecting it to stick is like teaching a child to swim by showing them a PowerPoint about water.

Drop-down days have their place. They can be a good way to introduce a topic, bring in a specialist perspective, or mark an event. But as the backbone of your RSE programme? They don't work. And increasingly, Ofsted is noticing.

What Ofsted actually looks for

Ofsted doesn't grade RSE as a separate subject. But it sits within several of their key judgement areas — quality of education, personal development, and behaviour and attitudes. Inspectors are looking for evidence that the curriculum is ambitious, that teachers have good subject knowledge, and that pupils are studying the curriculum in full.

The inspection methodology includes deep dives, where inspectors look closely at how specific subjects are planned, taught, and assessed. RSE can be one of those deep dives. If your programme is a patchwork of occasional assemblies and annual drop-down days, that's going to be visible.

Ofsted's 2021 review of sexual abuse in schools found that RSE teaching was inadequate in many settings and that there were significant gaps in curriculum coverage. That review, prompted by the Everyone's Invited testimonials, was a wake-up call. Schools that hadn't taken RSE delivery seriously were caught out.

Why one-off sessions don't stick

RSE covers some of the most complex, personal, and emotionally charged topics in the curriculum. Consent. Pornography. Abuse. Identity. These aren't topics you cover once and move on. Young people need time to process, to come back with questions, to see concepts revisited in different contexts as they mature.

A spiral curriculum — where key themes are revisited at increasing depth across year groups — is what the evidence supports. Puberty education in Year 5 builds on body awareness in Year 3. Consent conversations in Year 8 build on boundary-setting in Year 6. Online safety in Year 10 builds on everything that came before it.

Drop-down days don't allow for this. They're episodic by nature. And because they're often delivered by external speakers, there's no continuity with what happens in the classroom the rest of the year.

The non-specialist problem

Most RSE in England is delivered by form tutors or PSHE teachers who haven't had specialist training. The Sex Education Forum's 2024 poll found that 57% of young people wanted the government to improve teacher confidence in RSE delivery. Young people can tell when a teacher is uncomfortable with the material. It undermines the entire session.

This isn't a criticism of those teachers. They've been asked to cover sensitive, complex content without the training to do it well. The solution is investment in staff CPD — not just a one-hour briefing at the start of term, but sustained training that builds confidence, subject knowledge, and the facilitation skills these topics demand.

What good looks like

Good RSE delivery is embedded in the timetable, not bolted on. It's taught by staff who've been trained and who feel confident with the material. It follows a coherent curriculum plan that builds across year groups. It includes regular opportunities for discussion, not just information delivery. And it's supported by a school culture where pupils feel safe to ask questions and staff feel supported to answer them.

That doesn't mean you can't use external specialists. I work with schools all the time to deliver specific sessions or to co-teach with their staff. But the external input should supplement your programme, not replace it.

Trusted resources

• Ofsted 2021 review: Sexual abuse in schools and colleges — findings and recommendations (gov.uk)
• Sex Education Forum: Curriculum design guidance for RSE (sexeducationforum.org.uk)
• PSHE Association: Programme of study for PSHE Education (pshe-association.org.uk)

If your school wants help building an embedded RSE programme or training your staff to deliver it confidently, get in touch.