Parental right to withdraw, explained for schools

Parents “have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education delivered as part of statutory RSE” (paragraph 16, printed page 6). Sex education. Not RSE, and not RSHE. “Parents” in the guidance means parents and carers (footnote 3, printed page 2).

What the right does cover is answered differently in primary and secondary, and differently again once a pupil is within three terms of turning sixteen. So a request rarely resolves into a yes or a no. It resolves into which lessons, on what basis, and recorded how.

This all sits under the DfE’s July 2025 RSHE statutory guidance, which has applied in England since 1 September 2026. Schools “must have regard to the guidance”, with good reasons needed to depart from its should or should-not statements (paragraph 5, printed page 3).

The short answers

• Relationships education, health education and the science curriculum: no right of withdrawal.
• Sex education: a parent can request withdrawal from some or all of it.
• Primary: the head teacher must grant the request, other than for science content.
• Secondary: the head teacher can refuse, but only in exceptional circumstances.
• Pupils with SEND: no different as a group, and in primary the grant is still automatic.
• From three terms before a pupil turns 16: the pupil can opt back in, whatever their parent has asked.
• In every case: the school must provide purposeful education during the lessons missed.

What the right covers, and what it doesn’t

What parents call RSE is really four separate things sitting next to each other on a timetable. Only one of them is in scope.

“Parents do not have the right to withdraw their pupils from relationships and health education, nor can they be withdrawn from topics taught as part of the science curriculum, including science topics related to puberty or sexual reproduction” (paragraph 21, printed page 6).

So relationships education stays. Health education stays, and that is where puberty lives, which surprises a lot of parents who assumed puberty was the thing they were opting out of. The science curriculum stays, including human reproduction. Sex education is the only part a parent can ask about.

The line between relationships education and sex education is the one that gets tested hardest, usually over safeguarding content. The guidance is clear that relationships education “doesn’t involve explaining the detail of different forms of sexual activity, but can cover sensitive topics such as sexual violence in order to keep children safe” (paragraph 14, printed page 4). Sexual violence taught within relationships education is not sex education and does not come out.

None of that helps at the point a request arrives unless you have already marked which strand each lesson belongs to. Do that while the scheme of work is calm, not while a parent is waiting for a reply.

Primary: the grant is automatic

“Where primary schools provide sex education, head teachers must automatically grant a request to withdraw a pupil from it, other than content that is taught as part of the science curriculum” (paragraph 18, printed page 6).

There is no decision to make. Sex education beyond the science curriculum is not something primary schools are required to teach, so where they do teach it, the grant is automatic. A primary policy that describes a process for considering requests is describing a discretion the head does not have.

Secondary: refusal only in exceptional circumstances

“In secondary, head teachers can refuse a request in exceptional circumstances, for example because of safeguarding concerns or a pupil’s specific vulnerability” (same paragraph).

There is a decision here, but a narrow one. Refusal is limited to “exceptional circumstances”. Safeguarding concerns and a pupil’s specific vulnerability are the examples the guidance gives, not the complete list, so the door is not bolted shut. But the reasoning has to be about this pupil and their circumstances. A general view that the child would benefit from the lessons is not an exceptional circumstance. Almost every child would benefit from the lessons. That is why they are taught.

Pupils with SEND

Paragraph 18’s example of “a pupil’s specific vulnerability” belongs to an individual secondary decision. It is not a standing reason to treat pupils with SEND differently as a group.

The guidance goes the other way. Teaching “should be developed to ensure these subjects are accessible for pupils with SEND”, and schools should recognise that these pupils may be more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation (paragraphs 75 and 76, printed page 37). Vulnerability is an argument for making the teaching reach them, not for accepting more easily that they will miss it.

In primary, the automatic grant still applies. SEND does not convert it into a judgement call.

The head teacher’s conversation, and the record

Before granting a request, “it is good practice for the head teacher to discuss the request with parents, and the child if appropriate, to understand the request and to clarify the nature and purpose of the curriculum” (paragraph 17, printed page 6).

The guidance sets out what that covers: the benefits of the teaching, the detrimental effects of withdrawal including social and emotional impacts, and the fact that a withdrawn child will still hear “their peers’ version of what was said in class, which may not be accurate”. That point tends to land with parents more than anything else a school can say, because it reframes withdrawal honestly. It does not remove the content from the child’s week. It removes your control over how they receive it.

Schools “will want to document this process to ensure a record is kept” (same paragraph).

The guidance gives you no form, no notice period, no deadline and no template letter. Anything your policy adds is your school’s own process, and should be described that way rather than as a statutory requirement. Decide in advance who meets the parent, and who confirms in writing which lessons the pupil will miss and what they will be doing instead.

When the decision passes to the pupil

“From three terms before the pupil turns 16, a pupil can choose to opt back into sex education even if their parent has requested withdrawal.” The guidance works its own example: “if a pupil turns 16 during the autumn term, the pupil can opt back into sex education at any time after the start of the previous autumn term.” It adds: “Schools should ensure that pupils know they have this option” (paragraph 19, printed page 6).

That final sentence is the one to plan for, and it is easy to skip. A right nobody has told you about is not a right you have. If the only way a withdrawn fifteen year old discovers the option is by raising it with the parent who withdrew them, the school has quietly handed the decision back to the parent after the point at which the guidance moved it.

So work out how you will tell them, in a way that does not require them to challenge anyone at home to find out.

What a withdrawn pupil does instead

“If a pupil is withdrawn from sex education, it is the school’s responsibility to ensure that the pupil receives appropriate, purposeful education during the period of withdrawal” (paragraph 20, printed page 6).

Purposeful means planned. Name the work and the member of staff before the first lesson, not at half past eight on the morning of it. A withdrawn pupil sitting at the back of reception with a reading book is the version of this that everyone recognises and nobody intends.

What your policy has to say

Almost everything above is easier if the policy already says it.

The RSE policy should “Include information about a parent’s right to request that their child is withdrawn from sex education” (paragraph 14, printed page 4), and should “Differentiate between relationships and sex education (where sex education is taught), so that parents have clear information” (same paragraph). It should also explain how teachers will handle questions that “relate to sex education from which they have been withdrawn”, “with an emphasis on supporting the child” (paragraph 87, printed page 40).

Beyond the policy, schools “should ensure parents are aware of sex education content within lessons in advance” (paragraph 15, printed page 5), and primary schools consulting parents on sex education content should include “advice about parents’ right to request withdrawal” (paragraph 31, printed page 11). The consultation duty and what parents can ask to see is its own piece of work, with its own rules.

The guidance leans hard on telling parents things early, and treats withdrawal as the fallback rather than the main event. In practice that is also the best protection you have. Most requests we see come from parents who have imagined the content rather than seen it, and they tend to soften considerably once the actual material is in front of them. That is why the practical work of letters, questionnaires and getting parents into the classroom does more to reduce withdrawals than anything you can write into the process for handling them.

Withdrawal is one line on a longer review. An RSE policy checklist for 2026 covers the rest of it, and if your policy is quiet on any of this, we can work through it with you.

Trusted resources

• DfE publication page and commencement date.
• RSHE statutory guidance, July 2025, withdrawal at printed page 6.