Decision Report 201407057

Summary

Mrs C complained that her 14 year old son had been shown a sex education video that was unreasonably graphic and that when she requested details about the content of the remainder of the course, these were not provided. As a consequence, she removed her son from the school's relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) course but complained that he was unreasonably treated by staff who she said tried to bully him to return.

All the information provided by Mrs C and the council was given careful consideration but there was no evidence to show that the council had been unreasonable in their provision of information. Mrs C was offered the opportunity to see and discuss the material about which she was concerned and reassured that it had been approved by all local councils, the NHS and Police Scotland. She was sent leaflets and directed to a website for further information; they offered to give her a week's notice of subjects on the course concerned. While the school agreed that it was Mrs C's decision to remove her son from the sex education part of the RSHP course, they did not condone the fact that she removed him from the entire course and advised her that this was contrary to Education Guidelines. In the circumstances, they were entitled to write to her and talk to her son about his absence from class. There was no evidence that he had been bullied or put under unreasonable pressure. We did not uphold Mrs C's complaint.