PARENTS ACT NOW: JUNIOR CYCLE SPHE
Join the campaign by NWC, IEA, PRA & LFJI to protect children from exposure to the highly inappropriate and sexualised Junior Cycle SPHE curriculum. Adapt the submission below and send to your Principal/ Board of Management cc’d to your public representatives to demand an immediate cessation of the SPHE Junior Cycle curriculum, until the school publishes a Risk Assessment, updates its Child Safeguarding Statement and parents are properly consulted:
Date
From/(insert senders name and address)
To/ (Insert Principal and Board of Management details)
Re: Cessation of Junior Cycle SPHE Curriculum in Schools
As parent and legal Guardian of my child/children, I am gravely concerned that the SPHE Junior Cycle curriculum content exposes pupils to potential harm and I am calling for an immediate cessation of SPHE class instruction until this matter has been fully resolved.
Events in recent weeks have put the SPHE Junior Certificate curriculum content in the public spotlight, with many parents expressing their concerns and outrage about what their children are being exposed to in the classroom. The school has a statutory duty to undertake and publish a Child Safeguarding Statement and Risk Assessments, in accordance with its statutory duties under the Education Act, 1998 and the Children First Act, 2015.
In relation to the SPHE curriculum, the school, by failing to conduct any Risk Assessment, is in breach of its duty to protect pupils in its care against the foreseeable risks of potential harm that have been clearly flagged in the public domain. This should alert the school’s Board of Management of its potential exposure to future legal claims if they fail to take decisive action immediately to protect and safeguard the physical, emotional and psychological welfare of children entrusted to their care in accordance with their legal obligations.
It is my submission that the school has a precautionary duty to, therefore, cease from further SPHE instruction until such time as a Risk Assessment is conducted and the school’s Child Safeguarding Statement is updated, and that parents are properly and fully consulted about the SPHE curriculum content and their views taken into account.
In accordance with Article 42 of the Irish Constitution, parents are the primary and natural educators of children and have the right and duty to provide for the religious, moral, intellectual, physical and social education for their children, and under Section 9(d) of the Education Act 1998, it is the school’s function to promote the moral, spiritual, social and personal development of students having regard to the characteristic spirit of the school.
To date neither the NCCA nor the Department of Education have demonstrated that they have fulfilled their statutory obligations towards children by publishing evidence that any Safeguarding Statements were updated or Risk Assessments conducted prior to the roll out of this curriculum content.
The negligence of the NCCA and Department of Education in failing to demonstrate that they have safeguarded children under the Children First Act 2015, does not nullify the statutory duties of the Board of Management in respect of the pupils entrusted to their care, to update the school’s Child Safeguarding Statement and carry out a Risk Assessment, especially as regards the new Junior Cycle SPHE curriculum which was introduced in Sept 2023.
I am therefore requesting the school to take action to protect and safeguard the welfare of my child by suspending with immediate effect SPHE classroom instruction to Junior Cycle children and recall the new SPHE textbooks which reflect its highly sexualised and inappropriate content, including the promotion of gender identity ideology (‘transgenderism’), until a full review of the Junior Cycle SPHE curriculum is carried out. This includes the use of any relevant SPHE online Toolkit resources, including those approved by the Department of Education, which should not be used in the classroom.
I do not want my child participating in SPHE classroom instruction where he/she would receive any information or discussion on explicit aspects of adult sexual activities such as anal sex, oral sex, masturbation, pornography, heterosexual and LGBTQA sex, and different kinds of sexualities and genders etc, or create any expectations that children should participate in adult sexual activities of any kind or participate in mutual sexual experiences. This includes any medium of instruction such as film, online videos, live streaming and other audio-visual methods, as well as textbooks and any other printed materials.
As well as teaching on explicit sexual matters, I do not consent under any circumstances to my child being taught that he/she could change his/her gender – that a boy could become a girl, or a girl become a boy, neither or both etc, including the use of any gender pronouns, for example ‘they/them/their’ or ‘he/him/his’, and gender expressions e.g. cis gender. and any discussion about gender spectrum, gender reassignment surgery or any topics related to this, such as puberty blockers etc. My child should be withdrawn from any class that would teach these topics or use pronouns etc. This includes any instruction on SPHE taught by outside groups like BelongTo or TENI etc, and any use of drag queens in class activities: I want my child removed from any instruction given by outside groups on SPHE or Relationship and Sex Education. Nor do I want my child to participate in ‘Stand Up Week/Inclusivity Week’. I also do not consent to my child being required to agree to any SPHE classroom secrecy ‘ground rule’ along the lines of ‘What is shared in the class stays in the class’, or to signing a ‘Class Contract’.
I trust you will take the requests outlined in this letter fully into account in all activities and classes my in child is involved with in the school
I plan to circulate a copy of this notice calling for the immediate cessation of the Junior Cycle SPHE curriculum and all related teaching materials to public representatives and the Department of Education.
Parent/and or Legal Guardian Name