Development of the student’s whole person

Relationship and sexuality education is about a lot more than sex education. It includes self awareness, personal development,  self esteem, awareness of others, intimacy, commitment and responsibility. Parents are their children’s primary teachers. Children will learn a lot from their home environment about love, communication and relationships. ACCORD Dublin’s role is to support schools in delivering aspects of the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum where they feel that an outside facilitator would be beneficial. The ACCORD Dublin RSE Programme is designed to help young people understand the nature of relationships and the responsibility of being in relationships.  The programme works with young people to help them develop their own set of values which they can then apply in any relationship in which they are involved.

Why ACCORD Dublin?

ACCORD Dublin has provided Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) programmes to primary and secondary schools in the Dublin and surrounding areas for over 25 years. Currently we provide programmes in over 400 primary and secondary schools to more than 38,000 pupils annually. Our programmes are delivered by trained facilitators who are Garda vetted and who are also parents themselves. The sensitivity of our facilitators to children’s needs is well recognised by teachers.

Holistic Content

Every parent wants their child  to grow up happy, self assured and fulfilled. Our programmes are designed with holistic content which aims to help children and young people to develop their whole person and to have healthy and happy relationships throughout  life. Each programme is tailor made with age appropriate content specific to the age and gender of the particular pupil group. The curriculum for each age group is designed in accordance with the Department of Education Relationships and Sexuality Education Policy Guidelines.

Flexible Programme Content

At secondary school level every programme devotes a significant amount of time to discussing whatever the pupils wish to cover. Pupils are invited to submit questions anonymously if they prefer so that any relevant issue can be discussed openly without embarrassment to the child concerned. Facilitators will address every issue raised in a respectful, open, fair and honest way.

Bespoke Programme Design

Due to our flexible child centred approach, no two classes are ever exactly the same. Programmes flex and develop organically as society and children’s environments change.

ACCORD Dublin is happy to work with any school irrespective of denomination or school ethos at the invitation of the school principal. We have the flexibility and expertise to design programmes on request to focus on particular relationship and sexuality issues which  a school would like to be addressed.

As well as being informative, our programmes are designed to be fun and interactive for the pupils. The programme format includes presentations with slides and audio visuals, individual and group exercises and group discussions.

Benefit of External Facilitator

In their feedback pupils invariably say that they would rather receive relationship and sexuality education from an outside specialist than their school teacher as this removes any potential embarrassment or fear of being judged.

Parental Consent

All pupils are invited to attend the relevant programme.  Parental consent, which is arranged by the school,  is required for primary school pupils to participate. A teacher is always present in class when a programme is being delivered. We regularly run parent information talks so that parents are informed about what their children will cover during an ACCORD Dublin relationship and sexuality education programme.