Talk Relationships supports all UK secondary schools to confidently deliver inclusive sex and relationships education.
We want all young people across the UK to understand healthy behaviours in relationships and recognise their right to be safe, heard and respected. And we want them to know how to get help from a trusted adult if they need it.
Talk Relationships is a service to ensure secondary school-aged young people across all four nations can learn about sex and relationships in a safe education environment that recognises, responds to, and prevents abuse.
Talk Relationships includes:
Our elearning courses will help you manage, assess and respond to sexual harassment and abuse in primary and secondary schools.
Free classroom resources for PANTS (The Underwear Rule) including a lesson plan, slide presentation, curriculum links, classroom activities and more.
Our online service empowers young people aged up to 19 to find a way through loneliness. Young people work with a trained befriender who guides and champions them each step of the way.
A whole-school approach to sex and relationships education ensures that everyone in your school community works together to create a respectful, inclusive school environment. It involves promoting healthy relationships and creating a school culture where young people feel safe from abuse and empowered to speak out and seek help whenever they need it.
Watch our video to learn more about what a whole-school approach is and why you should implement one in your school
The Framework consists of five documents to help you implement a whole-school approach to sex and relationships education:
Schools can download the resources for free by completing a short form.
The Talk Relationships elearning course for school leaders covers how to implement a whole-school approach to sex and relationships education.
Our CPD-certified elearning courses for teachers and leaders feature a mix of reflective tasks and video-based content that share insight from teachers, young people, and safeguarding experts to help develop your school deliver effective and inclusive sex and relationships education.
The teachers’ course will help you to:
The leaders’ course will help you to:
Our online courses will work in most browsers, though we recommend that you use Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Safari (not Firefox). You will need to make sure your browser is up to date for the course to run.
This course can be taken on PCs and Macs, as well as iPads or other tablet devices. Please note, we are unable to provide full technical support for tablet users. We do not support other mobile devices.
Having trouble with the course?
Try:
Call us on 0116 234 7246 or email learning@nspcc.org.uk if you have any questions.
Call us on 0116 234 7246 or email learning@nspcc.org.uk if you have any questions.
At the NSPCC, we work to keep children and young people safe from abuse and neglect every day.
As experts in safeguarding and child protection, we understand the issues organisations and people working with children can face. That’s why professionals trust us to provide the support, training and resources they need to help protect the children and young people they work with.
Our highly-rated training courses are developed by experts. We work with a number of organisations, experienced consultants and subject matter experts in a range of sectors to develop courses that are clear, easy-to-use, up-to-date and in line with the latest statutory guidance, and tailored to your needs.
The NSPCC Learning team would like to thank Rebecca Jennings (RAISE) for her significant contribution to the Talk Relationships online course for teachers.
Our elearning courses will help you manage, assess and respond to sexual harassment and abuse in primary and secondary schools.
Guidance for teachers and group leaders on talking to children and young people about healthy relationships.
Evidence-informed resources to help you ensure children always feel listened to - watch the animation, follow the tips and display the poster.
Working with the PSHE Association, we’ve developed a series of age- and stage-appropriate lesson plans and accompanying guidance for teaching young people aged 11-16 about sex and relationships.
There are 14 lessons available in English and Welsh language. We also have a series of 6 lesson plans for children with additional or special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Each lesson builds knowledge, understanding and skills on how to negotiate relationships in healthy and safe ways.
There is one overarching teaching guidance document and individual lesson plans, each of which contains:
You can download all of the lesson plans for each age group, language or stage as one ZIP file, or download individual lessons.
We recommend taking the supporting Talk Relationships training before delivering the lessons.
There is an elearning course for teachers and one for school leaders.
Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
Find out moreOur online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
Find out moreThis lesson is designed for the final year of primary school. It explores the conflicting feelings that young people may have about starting secondary school and teaches them ways to express these feelings and manage this transition positively.
It accompanies the three Talk Relationships lessons that are designed for ages 11 to 12.
This lesson is also available in Welsh.
We recommend taking the supporting Talk Relationships training before delivering the lessons.
There is an elearning course for teachers and one for school leaders.
Our accompanying teaching guidance will help you plan and deliver the full series of Talk Relationships lessons for different age groups.
An additional lesson plan for you to download and share with your feeder schools to prepare young people for the move to secondary school.
Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
See trainingOur online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
See trainingThe three Talk Relationships lessons for 11 and 12-year-olds cover how to deal with changes to friendships, what healthy relationships look like and how to respond to hurtful behaviour.
You can download all of the lesson plans together in one zip file or as individual lessons. They are also available in Welsh.
We recommend taking the supporting Talk Relationships training before delivering the lessons.
There is an elearning course for teachers and one for school leaders.
Our accompanying teaching guidance will help you plan and deliver the full series of Talk Relationships lessons for different age groups.
Looks at the nature of friendships and how they change as young people go through transitions. It enables young people to see the benefits and opportunities of forming new friendships, and to manage these changes in a safe and healthy way.
Covers the differences between online and offline friendships, and ways to manage healthy friendships online. Explores some of the potential risks and benefits of communicating with others online, including as part of online forums and groups.
Explores the right everyone has to be treated with respect, the nature of gender-based hurtful behaviour and what is acceptable and unacceptable. Considers how young people can respond and challenge hurtful behaviours and where to get support if needed.
Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
See trainingOur online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
See trainingThe six Talk Relationships lessons for 12- to 14-year-olds cover topics including what healthy relationships look like, how to respond to sexualised media, sexual harassment and harmful sexual behaviour.
You can download all of the lesson plans together in one zip file or as individual lessons. They are also available in Welsh.
We recommend taking the supporting Talk Relationships training before delivering the lessons.
There is an elearning course for teachers and one for school leaders.
Our accompanying teaching guidance will help you plan and deliver the full series of Talk Relationships lessons for different age groups.
Provides information on the features of a healthy relationship and helps pupils to recognise the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationship behaviours.
Analyses how young people and their relationships are portrayed through the media, including the increased sexualisation of media content, and the impact this can have on expectations and stereotypes relating to gender and relationships.
Explores how young people can keep themselves, and their personal information safe while online, particularly developing relationships through social media.
Explores the concerns raised by sexual harassment and harmful sexual behaviours in all its forms. It empowers young people with ways to manage, resist or challenge these behaviours, including seeking help.
Focuses on issues relating to consent within relationships and equips young people with the knowledge and skills they will need to keep themselves and others safe.
Explores the impact of non-consensual image sharing and supports young people to manage requests to share explicit images.
Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
See trainingOur online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
See trainingThe four Talk Relationships lessons for 14- to 16-year-olds cover topics including rights, trust and values, communication and readiness, and pornography.
You can download all of the lesson plans together in one zip file or as individual lessons. They are also available in Welsh.
We recommend taking the supporting Talk Relationships training before delivering the lessons.
There is an elearning course for teachers and one for school leaders.
Our accompanying teaching guidance will help you plan and deliver the full series of Talk Relationships lessons for different age groups.
Provides information about the features of healthy relationships, including respecting peoples’ rights, personal boundaries and seeking support.
Explores how young people can assess readiness for different ways of expressing intimacy and how this can be communicated.
Looks at the features of unhealthy relationships, the effects of abusive behaviours and how young people can access support.
Explains what pornography is and how this can distort a young person’s expectations of themselves, other people and relationships.
Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
See trainingOur online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
See trainingThis series of six Talk Relationships lesson plans is designed for children and young people who have special educational needs (SEN), additional support needs (ASN) or additional learning needs (ALN). The lesson plans cover topics including friendships, communicating online, personal space and consent.
The lessons are designed for use with young people aged 11 to 16 with Moderate Learning Disabilities, additional learning needs and may benefit some young people on the autistic spectrum.
We use the term special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) throughout the resources, but we appreciate that different terms are used across the four nations. The lesson plans are suitable for use in special education settings across the UK.
You can download all of the SEND lesson plans together in one zip file or as individual lessons. They are also available in Welsh.
We recommend taking the supporting Talk Relationships training before delivering the lessons.
There is an elearning course for teachers and one for school leaders.
Our accompanying teaching guidance will help you plan and deliver all the Talk Relationships SEND lessons.
For ages 11-12. Focuses on what healthy behaviours might look like in relationships, including friendships. This lesson explores what behaviours would be unacceptable and ways in which young people can manage unkind or unacceptable behaviour.
For ages 11-12. Explores communicating safely in an online context and considers which behaviours are appropriate, and which aren't, when online. This lesson builds on learning about friendships and being able to identify feelings and emotions in themselves and others.
For ages 13+. The lesson explains what is meant by 'personal space', that this can be different for everyone and why respecting personal space is important. It looks at how to establish boundaries and what someone can say or do if they are overstepped.
For ages 13+. Looks at what consent means, how we ask for consent and how we know if consent has been given. The lesson uses simple ways to check if consent is being given and ways of assertively giving, not giving and withdrawing consent.
For ages 13+. Explains the difference between things which should be kept private, and things it is acceptable to share publicly - including online. The lesson looks at who we might share with, how to keep personal information safe and when we might need to share things with a trusted adult.
For ages 13+. Focuses on the risks associated with sharing nude images, and how young people can manage requests. It describes how to manage pressure to share a photo or personal information online, how to report this and how to access other help.
Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
See trainingOur online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
See trainingWe have created Welsh language versions of the Talk Relationships lesson plans for each age group which can be downloaded below.
You can also translate the text on this page into Welsh (or a different language) by clicking the Accessibility toolbar button below. This will open the toolbar at the top of the page. Click on the button showing 文A to change language. To turn the toolbar off, you can close it by clicking the ‘X’ top right.
We recommend taking the supporting Talk Relationships training before delivering the lessons.
There is an elearning course for teachers and one for school leaders.
These courses are only available in English.
Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
See trainingOur online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
See trainingContact our dedicated Talk Relationships Helpline for advice on:
We are committed to supporting people working in secondary education to overcome any challenges they may face when delivering sex and relationships education. If there are any other related topics you want to discuss, please contact the Helpline and we will do our best to support you.
Call 0800 389 5347 or email help@nspcc.org.uk with "Talk Relationships" in the subject line.
We are available from 8am-10pm Monday to Friday and 9am-6pm on Saturday and Sunday.
If a child is in immediate danger, call the police on 999.
If you are in Northern Ireland and have a safeguarding query please contact the Education Authority Child Protection Support Service (CPSS) on 028 9598 5590.
If you are a professional and worried about how child protection issues are being handled within your own organisation contact our Whistleblowing Advice Line on 0800 028 0285 or email help@nspcc.org.uk. Find our more about the Whistleblowing Advice Line on the NSPCC website.
For any general questions about Talk Relationships or technical issues accessing the resources, please contact learning@nspcc.org.uk or call 0116 234 7246 Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.
What to do if you have concerns that a child you know through your work or volunteering has experienced abuse and neglect.
Evidence-informed resources to help you ensure children always feel listened to - watch the animation, follow the tips and display the poster.
Our elearning courses will help you manage, assess and respond to sexual harassment and abuse in primary and secondary schools.
Find the answer to some of the most common questions about Talk Relationships.
Talk Relationships is a new service from the NSPCC to ensure that secondary school-aged children and young people can learn about sex and relationships in a safe education environment that fosters healthy relationships and recognises, responds to, and prevents abuse.
Talk Relationships currently consists of:
Thanks to a generous donation from a charitable trust, the two Talk Relationships elearning courses have been free to take since 9 September 2024.
If you purchased the elearning prior to this date we are not able to offer any refunds, the income will help us continue in our mission to prevent cruelty and abuse across the UK. You will still be able to access the course up to 12 months after purchase.
The Talk Relationships lesson plans and are free to download.
The Talk Relationships Whole School Approach Framework resources can be downloaded for free by completing a short form.
The Talk Relationships Helpline offers advice and guidance for free.
The Talk Relationships elearning and lesson plans are appropriate for use across UK. Any differences in the law between the nations are addressed in the resources.
For schools in Wales, we have produced Welsh language versions of the lesson plans and bilingual Whole-School Approach resources.
For more information on curriculum guidance across the four nations, visit our Promoting healthy relationships page.
We’re using the term 'sex and relationships education' (SRE) to encompass the range of different terms used in guidance and the curriculums of each nation in the UK:
For more information on curriculum guidance across the four nations, visit our Promoting healthy relationships page.
We have developed six lesson plans to use with children with additional needs. The SEND lessons cover:
We are using the term special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to refer to children who have disabilities or additional needs. Other terms may be used in your region, nation or organisation, including: additional needs, additional support for learning (ASL) or additional learning needs (ALN).
The resources are designed to teach young people about diverse relationships and identities, making sure all pupils feel accepted and included in sex and relationships lessons.
Call 0800 389 5347 or email help@nspcc.org.uk with "Talk Relationships" in the subject line.
We are available from 8am-10pm Monday to Friday and 9am-6pm on Saturday and Sunday.
There are two elearning courses: one for teachers and one for school leaders.
Both courses are designed to help learners increase their knowledge, confidence and understanding of sex and relationships education.
The teachers' course will help teachers deliver consistent sex and relationships education, promote healthy, inclusive discussions with young people and respond confidently to sensitive questions and concerns.
The leaders' course will help leadership teams ensure a whole school approach to inclusive sex and relationships education and support their teaching staff.
The Talk Relationships elearning courses for teachers and school leaders can be accessed through our online learning platform.
Anyone taking a course will need to register for an account.
If you're a new customer, a billing address will be required during registration, but you won't be charged.
If you would like to host these courses on your own learning management system call us on 0116 234 7246 or email learning@nspcc.org.uk.
The Talk Relationships lesson plans are for secondary school teachers to teach children and young people aged 11-16 years about sex and relationships. A series of 14 lesson plans are available in English and Welsh and there are 6 lesson plans for children with additional or special education needs and disabilities (SEND).
Written by subject specialists from the PSHE Association and the NSPCC, the age- and stage-appropriate lesson plans include teaching notes, slides and handouts.
We encourage anyone wanting to use the lesson plans to first take the Talk Relationships elearning course for teachers to increase their knowledge and confidence in delivering sex and relationships education.
As a guide we have grouped the lesson plans into three age groups:
There is also a lesson plan designed for the final year of primary school and lesson plans for children with additional or special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
We recommend reviewing all the lesson plans to decide which topics are appropriate for the children and young people you are teaching.
The lesson plans were created by safeguarding and education experts at the PSHE Association and the NSPCC.
If you didn't find the answer that you’re looking for please email your question to learning@nspcc.org.uk.
Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
Find out moreOur online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education.
Find out more