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Talk Relationships

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.

Delivering sex and relationships education

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:

  • a whole-school approach framework to help create a safe education environment that promotes healthy relationships
  • two elearning courses to support secondary school teachers to feel confident when delivering sex and relationships education and responding to abusive behaviours, and school leaders to take a whole-school approach to sex and relationships education
  • a series of lesson plans created by sex and relationships education experts from the PSHE Association and the NSPCC
  • a dedicated helpline to provide advice and guidance to secondary school educators who deliver sex education.
Teacher engaging in a classroom activity with school pupils

Implementing a whole-school approach to sex and relationships education

Resources to help create a safe education environment that promotes healthy relationships

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

What is the Whole-School Approach Framework?

The Framework consists of five documents to help you implement a whole-school approach to sex and relationships education:

  1. the evidence base for a whole-school approach
  2. an implementation guide with step-by-step advice
  3. the framework setting out eight components to a whole-school approach, each with benchmarks and examples
  4. a snapshot tool for self-assessing your sex and relationships provision
  5. an editable action plan template.

How can I access the Framework?

Schools can download the resources for free by completing a short form.

> Access the resources

The Talk Relationships elearning course for school leaders covers how to implement a whole-school approach to sex and relationships education.

In partnership with

Delivering sex and relationships education training

Online training to support secondary school teachers and leaders to deliver inclusive sex and relationships education

Secondary school teacher engaging in a sex and relationships education session

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 improve teaching staff's confidence in delivering sex and relationships messages and lessons and complements the Talk Relationships lesson plans.
  • The school leaders' course supports leadership teams to take a whole-school approach to sex and relationships education and complements the Talk Relationships Whole-School Approach Framework.

> Take the courses

The teachers’ course will help you to:

  • understand the importance of good-quality sex and relationships education
  • create safe and respectful learning environments
  • confidently respond to safeguarding concerns and young people sharing their experiences of abuse
  • handle difficult discussions and respond to questions from young people
    overcome common challenges and barriers
  • have effective conversations with parents and carers
  • understand how your attitudes and beliefs play a part in your delivery of sex and relationships education
  • understand the relevant education and safeguarding legislation and guidance.

> Access the courses 

The leaders’ course will help you to:

  • implement a whole-school approach to sex and relationships education
  • create safe, inclusive learning environments
  • adhere to national guidance and legislation
  • understand how sex and relationships education relates to safeguarding and child protection
  • support teaching staff delivering sex and relationships education
  • recognise and monitor outcomes of the school’s sex and relationships education provision.

> Take the courses

  • Developed by safeguarding and education experts.
  • Both courses are CPD-certified
  • In line with current legislation in the UK’s four nations.
  • Includes film interviews that share insight from teachers, young people, and safeguarding experts to help develop your understanding and confidence.
  • Complete at your own pace and in your own time.
  • Train anytime, anywhere and take the course as many times as you like within one year.
  • Personalised downloadable certificate of achievement.
  • Once you’ve taken the course, it doesn’t stop there. We have a series of of age-appropriate lesson plans and a dedicated helpline to support you in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. 

> Access the courses

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:

  • clearing your cache
  • accepting our cookies (essential cookies are required for the purposes of undertaking our elearning)
  • turning off private browsing
  • permitting access to videos on Vimeo
  • setting the following web domain to ‘trusted’: https://mylearning.nspcc.org.uk

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.

Lesson plans

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).

What do the lessons cover?

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:

  • teaching notes with learning objectives and outcomes, a plan with lesson timings, assessments and suggested extension activities
  • slides to display in the classroom
  • printable worksheets to hand out in the classroom.

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.

In partnership with

Teach sex education with confidence

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 more

Teach sex education with confidence

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 more

Transition from primary to secondary school

This 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.

In partnership with

Teach sex education with confidence

Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. See training

Teach sex education with confidence

Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. See training

Lesson plans for ages 11-12 

The 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.

In partnership with

Teach sex education with confidence

Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. See training

Teach sex education with confidence

Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. See training

Lesson plans for ages 12-14 

The 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.

In partnership with

Teach sex education with confidence

Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. See training

Teach sex education with confidence

Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. See training

Lesson plans for ages 14-16 

The 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.

In partnership with

Teach sex education with confidence

Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. See training

Teach sex education with confidence

Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. See training

Lesson plans for children and young people with special educational needs, additional needs and disabilities

This 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.

In partnership with

Teach sex education with confidence

Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. See training

Teach sex education with confidence

Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. See training

Lesson plans in Welsh

We 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.

In partnership with

Teach sex education with confidence

Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. See training

Teach sex education with confidence

Our online training courses help to increase the confidence and knowledge of teachers and school leaders in delivering inclusive sex and relationships education. See training

Helpline for Talk Relationships

Contact our dedicated Talk Relationships Helpline for advice on:

  • how to respond to questions or concerns from students, parents or carers
  • preparing a response to questions you think you may be asked
  • managing a safeguarding concern or disclosure
  • managing anxieties about delivering sex and relationships education.

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.

How to contact us

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.

Other sources of support

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.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

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:

  • a whole-school approach framework to help create a safe education environment that promotes healthy relationships
  • two elearning courses to support secondary school teachers to feel confident when delivering sex and relationships education and responding to abusive behaviours, and school leaders to take a whole-school approach to sex and relationships education
  • a series of lesson plans created by sex and relationships education experts from the PSHE Association and NSPCC
  • a dedicated helpline to provide advice and guidance to people working in secondary education to address any issues they may have in delivering sex and relationships education.

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:

  • Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) in England
  • Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RHSP) in Scotland
  • Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in Northern Ireland
  • Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) Code in Wales.

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: 

  • health relationships
  • communicating online
  • personal space and boundaries
  • consent
  • what to share in public and private
  • sharing nudes. 

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. 

Elearning questions

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. 

> Find out more

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.

> Access the elearning

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.

Lesson plan questions

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:

  • 11-12-year-olds
  • 12-14-year-olds
  • 14-16-year-olds.

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. 

Got a different question?

If you didn't find the answer that you’re looking for please email your question to learning@nspcc.org.uk.

Teach sex education with confidence

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 more

Teach sex education with confidence

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 more