The LowdownThis set of FREE, ready-to-use, high quality, video-based health education lessons is designed for 7- to 13-year-olds and covers anatomy, menstrual health, and HPV and cancer, with age-appropriate, research-led and interactive information.
The package also includes ‘Introduction to FGM’ lesson plans for Key Stages 1 to 3.
The UK’s leading gynaecological cancer charity, The Eve Appeal, has launched the Know Your Body lesson plans on menstrual health, anatomy and HPV and cancer.
Covering Key Stages 2 to 3, the programme also includes a set of introduction to female genital mutilation (FGM) lesson plans which have been designed in collaboration with the National FGM Centre and are split across Key Stages 1 to 3.
All lessons follow a spiral curriculum, with links to the health and wellbeing topics of the PHSE Association’s programme of study.
The lesson plans are all free to download and use. They equip schools and teachers with age-appropriate, interactive lesson plans that have been designed by specialists, and are easy to use and embed in class, following as they do the mandatory RSE duty, as well as the PSHE Association’s standards for teaching.
The lesson plans are supplied in packs that contain guidance for teachers (which can be followed and/or adapted according to teachers’ needs), a PowerPoint presentation, assorted activities and accompanying videos.
In a survey of over 1,000 young people recently conducted by the Sex Education Forum, only 35% rated the quality of their school’s RSE as ‘good’ or ‘very good’, with 22% rating this as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’.
The Know Your Body lesson plans aim to foster prevention and plug the gaps in RSE for young people – knowing what’s normal for you, spotting when things aren’t, and knowing when to seek help.
60 women and people with gynaecological organs are diagnosed with one of the five gynaecological cancers every day in the UK, yet awareness of them remains shockingly low, with just 2% of the population knowing all five gynaecological cancers – womb, ovarian, cervical, vulval and vaginal.
Since 2019, RSE has been a compulsory part of the curriculum for schools in England, including the topics of menstrual wellbeing and cancer screening.
This is fantastic progress, but without dedicated funding or training, schools are often left without the resources or expertise needed to teach these topics.
“Without dedicated funding or training, schools are often left without the resources or expertise needed to teach these topics”
The FGM lesson plans are co-designed with the joint expertise of The Eve Appeal in gynae health, and the National FGM Centre in FGM prevention awareness and training.
The government’s statutory RSE guidance makes it compulsory for secondary schools to teach pupils about FGM and other harmful practices.
While the duty to teach about FGM isn’t mandatory for primary schools, we encourage all schools to teach about the topic at the earliest opportunity, from Key Stage 1, to identify and protect girls at risk earlier, and empower the next generation to speak out about the issue.
Know Your Body lesson plans have so far been piloted in 53 funded workshops held at some of the least-served schools in Greater London and Manchester, reaching over 1,100 young people.
Some key insights from the evaluation of the pilot’s first phase include 88% of students reporting that their ability to name the internal gynae organs had improved, and 70% of students reporting that their understanding of how to keep gynae organs healthy has similarly improved.
78% of students reported possessing a better understanding of menstruation, while 62% of students felt they understood more about different period products.
60% of students further felt they knew more about what a ‘normal period’ looks and feels like, with 78% reporting that they had improved their knowledge of how to keep healthy during a period.
An impressive 96% of students meanwhile felt their understanding of HPV to have improved, alongside 93% reporting that they understood better how HPV relates to cancer.
86% of students felt their understanding of the HPV vaccine options and choices available to them had improved, and 89% of students felt they now knew more about cervical screening.
- The Eve Appeal has launched free, research-led, video-based interactive ‘Know Your Body’ lesson plans on menstrual health, anatomy and HPV and cancer for Key Stages 2 to 3. Accompanying those are Know Your Body FGM lesson plans, designed in collaboration with the National FGM Centre, for Key Stages 1-3. All materials can be downloaded from knowyourbodylessons.org.
- The lessons cover the health and wellbeing component of the PHSE Association’s programme of study, and have been piloted in 53 school workshops, reaching over 1,100 students nationally.
- 88% of young people who attended the workshops say they now have a greater understanding of the internal gynae organs, while 96% of students felt their understanding of HPV had improved.
