Dear Parents/Guardians,
Please be aware of the upcoming virtual sessions offered in each Grade 6/7 homeroom class with a trained facilitator from Island Sexual Health. As part of the curriculum, students will be participating in a session during the week of Feb 1-4th, on the following topics:
Changes during puberty (physical, emotional, and social): overview of the types of things people may expect during puberty and when to expect them. This includes a section on self-care and reaching out to safe adults for support and resources.
Reproductive systems: overview of changes people can expect to their reproductive systems during puberty and an overview of how fertilization works in the human body. This will also include a discussion of gender identity and biological sex from an inclusive perspective.
Sexually Transmitted Infections & Safer Sex Practices: overview of what sexually transmitted infections are and safer sex practices that reduce the risk of contracting them.
Healthy relationships: helping students to identify what types of things are included in a healthy relationship, including an activity and discussion around topics like personal boundaries, consent, and respecting values and differences.
Anonymous Questions: Each session ends giving the students opportunities to ask questions that they are curious about by writing this down on a slip of paper.
All questions will be answered with accuracy, honesty and non-judgement. These workshops are based on learning outcomes in the Physical and Health Education curriculum for students in BC. For more information on the specific learning outcomes visit: https://curriculum.gov. bc.ca /sites/curriculum.gov.bc.ca/files/pdf/phe_learning_standards.pdf
The workshops will be facilitated by Abbey Eurchuk who is an assistant educator at Island Sexual Health. If you have any questions about the workshop topics, please contact Abbey (maturation@islandsexualhealth.org) or Jennifer Gibson, Coordinator of Community Education Services (jgibson@islandsexualhealth.org). For more information on sexual health issues and as a way to encourage and continue conversations at home, please visit: www.sieccan.org, www.islandsexualhealth.org, www.beyondthetalk.ca, www.sexualityandu.ca.
If you have any other questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or Aaron Bailey, ROMS counsellor at abailey@saanichschools.ca