Parents are taking a stand against a primary school offering sex education lessons that discuss masturbation, orgasms and homosexuality to children as young as six.
Nearly 20 families are prepared to withdraw their children from the sessions over concerns they are being sexualised too soon. The plans to provide the lessons, proposed by Grenoside Primary, Sheffield, have provoked outraged responses from many of the parents.
Mother Katie Burrell told local paper The Star she thought the proposed lessons, which would see topics such as "good and bad touching", homosexuality and the names of sexual body parts taught to six to nine-year-olds, were "disgusting".
“At first I thought it was a joke - the lessons go way too far. My boy still believes in Father Christmas, he doesn’t need to be told about these sorts of things,” she said.
“The lessons for six and seven year olds are far too explicit. I think a lot of parents will take their children out of these classes.
“I am by no means a prude but some of this material is beyond stupidity. One part of a video even showed a woman on top of a man - it was so inappropriate.”
Another mother said she thought "children should be allowed to be children" and they should not be treated as "mini-adults".
“The videos which are shown as part of the curriculum talk about children touching themselves and tell them it feels good.
“To me that is encouraging them to think in a sexual way - if anything new is presented to a child, they will be curious and they will want to investigate it, that’s only natural.”
The school already offers sex education to years five and six and is now seeking to do the same for younger pupils.
Head teacher Colin Fleetwood said the response he had received had "so far been positive". Fleetwood was backed by several other parents and Dr Sonia Sharp, director for children, young people and families at Sheffield City Council, who said the curriculum had been introduced successfully in several other schools in the city.
Consultation on whether to include the lessons in the school's timetable is still ongoing.
There has been a recent surge in campaigns to improve sex education in schools which the Department for Education said it was currently reviewing.