A Complete Guide to Developing RSE in Special Schools

I’ve worked with special schools across the country on their RSE provision, and the conversation almost always starts the same way. The head or PSHE lead says something like: “We know we need to do this. We just don’t know where to begin.” They’re not resistant. They’re overwhelmed. And I understand why. Building an RSE programme for pupils who don’t follow a linear learning pathway, whose needs are diverse even within a single class, and whose parents may have strong feelings about the content — that’s a complex piece of work.

The DfE RSHE statutory guidance applying from September 2026 includes special schools, independent ones too. Schools “must have regard” to it; departures from should/should-not statements need good reasons. Its health education guidance excludes independent schools outside the academy sector.

There’s a step-by-step RSE review against the guidance on the blog if you want to check your own provision.

Start with your whole-school approach

RSE in a special school can’t live in a single timetable slot. It needs to be embedded across the school day — in how staff model relationships, in behaviour policies, in the language used around bodies and boundaries, in how personal care is delivered and discussed.

Oxfordshire’s RSE framework for pupils with SEND is a sensible place to start looking. The page gathers activities and links around safeguarding themes, including respectful relationships, different families, protective behaviours and assertiveness, appropriate and inappropriate touch, consent, assessing risk and online safety. Read it for what it is, though. The page says the framework was developed using the DfE’s 2019 guidance, and the framework download it links to was last updated on 22 July 2022. Treat it as a practical collection to borrow from and check your curriculum against the current guidance.

Your RSE policy should reflect the specific context of your school. That means acknowledging the communication needs of your pupils, the role of personal care in your setting, and the additional safeguarding considerations that come with higher vulnerability. A mainstream RSE policy with a few SEND adjustments bolted on isn’t enough.

Curriculum design for non-linear learners

The traditional approach to curriculum — introduce a topic, build on it next half-term, assume retention — doesn’t work for many pupils in special schools. Instead, plan for repetition from the start. The same core concepts need to be revisited across the year and across key stages, each time in a slightly different context or with a slightly different emphasis.

Keep the language concrete and consistent. If you teach the word “boundary” in one session, use the same word in the same way next time. Switching between “boundary,” “limit,” and “personal space” as if they’re interchangeable can create confusion for pupils who process language literally.

A fifteen-year-old is fifteen, whatever their learning profile, and deserves content that treats them as the age they are. At the same time, how you teach it has to match how that particular pupil learns and communicates. Lose the first and you end up teaching a teenager something pitched at an infant class. Lose the second and you’re delivering a secondary scheme to pupils it was never written for.

Match the resource to the pupil rather than to the subject. Social stories, symbol or photo supports, objects of reference, tactile materials, and whatever AAC a pupil already uses across the rest of their day are all worth trying. The test is whether this pupil takes the meaning from it. A visual that works beautifully for one class can be noise to the child sitting in the middle of it.

Working with parents

Parent engagement in special schools often requires more time and more sensitivity than in mainstream settings. Some parents of children with SEND are protective — understandably so — and may worry that RSE will introduce concepts their child isn’t ready for or can’t process safely.

One of the most effective things I’ve done is run coffee mornings for parents. Nothing formal — just get them into school, get the kettle on, and before long you’re just talking. We ask questions like “Do you have any concerns about your child as they grow up and go through puberty?” That’s when parents loosen up, because they’re sharing their worries. You’re giving them space to come to terms with their child’s transition into adulthood and, for some, their emergent sexuality. By the time they’re expressing what’s playing on their mind, it’s much easier to talk about RSE, because they’re seeing the connection between what they’re dealing with at home and what we’re trying to deliver at school.

We also send a questionnaire home that does something similar. The questions draw parents into thinking about how their child’s development is affecting family life — how their transition into adulthood and their emergent sexuality is playing on their mind and having an impact at home. Then we ask: “Which topics would you like your child to learn about?” The feedback comes back overwhelmingly positive about RSE at that point, because parents have already made the connection themselves.

Some parents will still need individual conversations. That’s OK. Their concerns are usually specific to their child, and a short meeting to talk through what you’ll cover and how can make all the difference.

Staff confidence

In my experience this is the single biggest barrier in special schools. Staff are often deeply committed to their pupils but feel anxious about getting RSE wrong — using the wrong word, triggering a disclosure they’re not prepared for, or misjudging what a pupil can understand. That anxiety is legitimate, and it needs to be addressed through training, not through avoidance.

Good RSE training for special school staff covers not just the content but the facilitation: how to manage disclosures, how to adapt language, how to hold boundaries when a pupil pushes past what’s planned. Staff also need ongoing support — regular check-ins, observation, and the chance to debrief after difficult sessions.

And training can’t just be for teachers. Teaching assistants need to be in the room. Speech and language therapists, physiotherapists — if they work with your pupils, they need to understand what’s being taught and when. Something you cover in an RSE session on a Monday might come out in a completely different context the following week — during physiotherapy, at lunchtime, in the minibus home. If the adult in that moment has no idea what’s been going on in class, they might react in exactly the wrong way. They might shut down a conversation that actually needs space, or miss the significance of what a child is trying to process. The more staff who understand what you’re teaching and why, the more consistent and safe the environment becomes for your pupils.

Safeguarding

Its SEND section asks for accessible teaching towards adulthood in mainstream and special schools; pupils with SEND may be more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

The NSPCC’s guidance on safeguarding d/Deaf and disabled children and young people, updated in September 2025, looks at the risks and barriers facing that group. Children who are d/Deaf or who have disabilities face a higher risk of abuse than their peers, and are less likely to get the protection and help they need afterwards. Children may tell someone less often and later; the adults around them may not have the skills or the equipment to communicate with them; signs of abuse can get read as part of a condition; and some children have never been taught the language they would need to describe what happened.

That last one is where RSE has something to offer, and it’s worth being precise about what. Teaching a pupil the names for their body, and the words for how they’re allowed to be treated, widens what they’re able to tell you. It doesn’t make them responsible for their own protection, and it doesn’t shift any part of the job away from the adults who are meant to notice, ask and act.

Make sure your safeguarding team understands the specific vulnerabilities of your cohort and that your recording systems can capture the nuances of disclosure from pupils who may communicate differently. And ensure that RSE sessions are built into your safeguarding audit, not sitting separate from it.

Trusted resources

• Oxfordshire County Council: RSE framework for pupils with SEND and/or additional needs — themed resource lists on the landing page; the framework download is dated 22 July 2022 and was developed using the 2019 DfE guidance.
• NSPCC Learning: safeguarding d/Deaf and disabled children and young people, last updated 23 September 2025.
• DfE: RSHE statutory guidance applying from September 2026.

If your school needs support developing your RSE programme, get in touch.