2025 RSHE Curriculum Changes
How Big Sister Helps Schools Meet New PSHE Standards
The updated 2025 statutory guidance for Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE), which will become compulsory in English schools from September 2026, brings significant and timely changes to the PSHE syllabus. These updates reflect the complex realities children and young people face today, particularly around online safety, mental health, and personal well-being.
Key changes in the new RSHE requirements include:
Stronger focus on misogyny, violence against women and girls, and the negative impact of pornography, aligning with government safeguarding priorities. This aims to counter harmful online influences and cultures such as toxic masculinity and incel ideology.
Inclusion of personal safety topics for both primary and secondary pupils, extending to recognising risk around roads, railways, water safety, fire safety, and public spaces. Secondary pupils will also learn about knife crime and conflict resolution.
Addressing new safeguarding risks linked to rapid technological advances, such as AI deepfakes and toxic online influencers, and helping pupils build critical digital literacy.
Enhanced mental health education, including grief, loss, and loneliness, with language that is considerate and supportive.
Greater clarity on bodily knowledge, with primary pupils learning correct terminology for body parts to aid safeguarding and reduce stigma, and secondary pupils gaining a deeper understanding of menstrual and gynaecological health (e.g., endometriosis, menopause).
Financial exploitation coverage, including scams, fraud, extortion, and sextortion, reflecting its safeguarding impact.
Recognition of diverse family circumstances and the importance of sensitive approaches and teacher expertise in delivering RSHE.
Improved transparency and parental engagement, expecting schools to share policies and teaching materials openly and engage with parents proactively.
Emphasis on skilled delivery practices such as distancing techniques and fostering safe learning environments that support rather than alarm pupils.
How Big Sister supports schools in implementing these updated RSHE guidelines:
Big Sister is a cutting-edge online safety app designed to protect children and teenagers from digital threats while respecting their privacy. The app uses expert-coded AI to detect dangers such as grooming, bullying, radicalisation, and financial exploitation risks, immediately alerting parents with actionable flags. This innovative balance between privacy and safeguarding supports several key RSHE themes:
Supporting personal safety and safeguarding: By identifying online risks early and privately, Big Sister helps schools ensure that pupils are safer outside school hours, complementing lessons on personal safety and digital literacy.
Addressing new technological risks: Big Sister's AI recognition of emerging online harms like toxic influencers and grooming aligns with the updated RSHE focus on technological safeguarding challenges.
Enhancing mental health and well-being: The app’s respectful and consent-based approach encourages trust among children, reducing stress and fears about surveillance, which complements the RSHE emphasis on mental health support and resilience.
Engaging parents effectively: Schools can recommend Big Sister to parents to maintain a consistent protective environment between home and school, improving communication and shared understanding of children’s online experiences.
Supporting financial exploitation education: With Big Sister monitoring for signs of financial scams and exploitation, schools can reinforce PSHE lessons on financial safety with real-world protections.
Big Sister’s features such as triggered safety alerts, expert advice on sensitive topics, and privacy-centric design make it an ideal technological aid for schools working to meet the enhanced RSHE standards. By integrating the app’s digital safeguarding tools with the revised curriculum, schools can offer a more comprehensive protective and educational environment for pupils in an increasingly complex online world.
Join the Waitlist for the Big Sister app here: https://bigsister.live/get-started
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In summary, the 2025 RSHE updates represent a progressive step forward in protecting and educating young people about real risks they face today—especially online—and Big Sister provides a cutting-edge app solution for schools to aid in delivering these new safeguarding and well-being priorities effectively.
If you are a school leader or educator preparing for implementation, combining expert-led RSHE teaching with digital safety tools like Big Sister will empower your pupils to stay safe, healthy, and confident both in and out of the classroom.
At Big Sister, we advocate for children's safety online. Our app marks a positive change in the way that our children are protected online, using flags and alerts to warn parents of dangerous content without breaking down trust and privacy barriers between children and adults.
Find out more about how to protect your children online without breaking their trust in our latest blog here.
Or sign up to our waitlist to be the first to know when the app launches and get access to our early bird discount.