Admission to Catholic Schools

From Lady Tumim Sir, I wish to correct a number of inaccuracies in both your news report and editorial comment ("Coming next: sex ed for five year olds" — July 18) on the recommendations of the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy.
Nowhere in our second annual report are five year old children mentioned. In recommending that Personal. Social and Health Education (PSHE) forms part of the statutory curriculum at all key stages we echo the voices of many professional bodies as well as the Parliamentary Health Select Committee's Report on Sexual Health.
We fully support the Department for Education and Skills' call that PSHE and Sex and Relationships Education should be sensitive to pupils' cultural, community and faith values, as well as their developmental level. Ofsted is also very clear in providing appropriate learning outcomes for different age groups for Sex and Relationships Education. By the end of Key Stage 1 (infants), children who will be seven years old should, among other things, know the names of body parts and know that humans and animals can produce offspring. Children should also be able to use simple rules for dealing with strangers and for resisting pressure when they feel uncomfortable or at risk.
It will be a matter of local judgement and agreement amongst teachers, parents and governors at what age more sensitive information should begin. We have been encouraged by the impressive work carried out by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham in this regard, which does indeed begin at primary school level. If your reporter had contacted us she would have learned that we have carried out wide consultation. We have an active Inter-Faith Forum which recently explored various perspectives on Sex and Relationships Education and included a presentation from the Family Matters Institute. A resource for teachers. Faith, Values and Sex & Relationships Education, has drawn from Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Jewish experience as well as a diversity of Christian perspectives, including Catholic agencies such as Marriage Care and the Catholic Education Service.
We welcome an informed debate and considered media coverage from all who share a commitment to the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy's aim of reducing high rates of teenage conceptions and improving the participation of teenage parents in education, training and employment. These are serious social issues which should not be sensationalised or trivialised.
Yours faithfully, WINIFRED TUMIM, "Chair", Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy c/o Teenage Pregnancy Unit Department for Education and Skills London SE1 Neither our report nor our editorial comment contained any inaccuracies. We did not say that the report of the so-called Independent Advisory group on Teenage Pregnancy openly mentions five-year-olds. Their report does, however, open the way to the possibility (even the likelihood) of such a thing: and since the group contains members who are certainly in favour of this development, individuals whose easily ascertained notion of "sensitive information" includes what most parents would consider gross and obscene material (see the FPA's Primary School Workbook, by a prominent member of the group) we maintain that our coverage has accurately conveyed to our readers the reality of what is clearly intended and what will certainly happen widely if the report is put into practice.
— Editor