Bringing the New RSHE Guidance on Safeguarding to Life

From September 2026, primary schools in England will need to follow the revised statutory guidance for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education.

Much of the foundation established by the 2019 guidance remains. Primary schools must continue to teach children about healthy relationships, personal boundaries, privacy, online safety and how to ask for help. However, the revised guidance places even greater emphasis on preparing children for situations they may encounter in real life.

This is where Loudmouth’s Helping Hands programme can provide valuable support.

Safety is about more than knowing the rules

Children can often repeat familiar safety messages. They may know that they should tell an adult if they are worried or that they should not share personal information online. Schools teach key acronyms and tips to teach children about safeguarding. Helping Hands uses the Underwear Rule as the basis for the programme. This was also used at the inspiration behind other models such as NSPCC’s PANTS rule or covered in other PSHE packages.

The more difficult question is whether pupils can recognise when something is wrong and understand how to use these models and apply their knowledge in a real situation.

An unsafe situation is not always obvious. It may involve someone the child knows and trusts. It may begin with attention, gifts, friendship or apparently harmless online contact. A child may feel uncomfortable without understanding why, or worry that telling someone will get them or another person into trouble.

Effective safety education therefore needs to give children more than a list of rules. It needs to help them recognise feelings, relationships and behaviours, consider what they could do next and practise asking for help.

What does the revised guidance ask from schools?

The revised primary Relationships Education guidance says that schools should teach pupils how to recognise and report abuse, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse.

It says that children should understand:

• Appropriate boundaries in friendships and other relationships, including online
• Personal privacy and why some secrets should not be kept
• That their body belongs to them
• The difference between appropriate and inappropriate or unsafe contact
• How to recognise and report feelings of being unsafe
• How to ask for help for themselves or someone else
• How to keep trying until they are heard
• The vocabulary and confidence needed to report concerns or abuse
• Where they can find advice and support

The guidance also makes clear that children should learn how to respond safely to adults they do not know, both online and offline, while recognising that risk does not only come from strangers.

Another important message is that children should be encouraged to make sensible safety decisions without being made responsible for abuse. If a child is harmed, it is never their fault. Safety education should never slip into victim blaming.

Using drama to explore real situations safely

Helping Hands is Loudmouth’s theatre in education programme for pupils aged 9 to 11. It uses carefully researched, age appropriate drama and interactive workshops to explore how children can stay safe in their relationships, both online and offline.

The programme introduces children to believable characters and situations that feel connected to their lives. These can include domestic abuse, sexual abuse, child exploitation, knife crime and unsafe online contact.

These are serious subjects, but the programme does not rely on frightening children or giving them graphic information. The drama introduces the issues gently and sensitively, allowing pupils to observe what is happening to a character rather than being asked to discuss their own experiences.

This creates a safe distance. Children can think about what the character might be feeling, identify warning signs and consider who could help. They can explore difficult situations without being put under pressure to share personal information.

Recognising when something does not feel right

The revised guidance emphasises that children need to recognise when a relationship or situation is making them feel unhappy, uncomfortable or unsafe.

Helping Hands supports this by helping pupils notice feelings and behaviours that may indicate something is wrong. This might include:

• Feeling frightened, worried or uncomfortable
• Being asked to keep an unsafe secret
• Someone ignoring personal boundaries
• Pressure from another person
• An adult or older child offering gifts or attention
• Someone behaving differently online
• Being asked to share personal information or images
• Feeling responsible for protecting someone else
• Being told that nobody will believe them

Children learn that they do not need to be completely certain that something is wrong before speaking to someone. Feeling worried, confused or uncomfortable is enough reason to ask for help.

Building the confidence to tell

Knowing that you should tell an adult is not the same as knowing how to do it.

A child may not have the words to explain what has happened. They may be embarrassed, frightened of the consequences or worried that the first adult they approach will not listen.

Helping Hands gives pupils opportunities to consider what they could say, who they could approach and what they could do if they were not heard the first time.

The programme builds on established approaches such as personal networks, helping children identify several trusted adults rather than relying on one person. It reinforces the important message contained in the guidance that children should keep asking for help until somebody listens and takes action.

This practical rehearsal can make safety messages more usable. Children are not simply told to seek help. They explore what seeking help might look and sound like.

Connecting online and offline safety

Children do not experience their online and offline lives as completely separate worlds. Friendships can move between school, home, games, messaging platforms and social media.

The revised guidance recognises this by placing online safety within Relationships Education. It expects pupils to understand that people may behave differently online, including pretending to be someone they are not. Children should learn to recognise harmful content and contact, think carefully about online friendships and know how to report concerns.

Helping Hands helps pupils apply the same principles across both settings:

• Their boundaries still matter online
• Pressure and manipulation are not signs of a healthy relationship
• Personal information should be protected
• Unsafe contact should be reported
• They can ask for help without being blamed
• A trusted adult can help them decide what to do next

This helps children understand online safety as part of healthy relationships rather than simply a set of technical rules.

Supporting active and memorable learning

The revised guidance encourages schools to use positive, participative and interactive teaching. Children should have opportunities to develop skills as well as knowledge.

Theatre in education is particularly well suited to this approach. Drama makes an issue visible. It allows children to see choices, consequences and relationships developing rather than only reading about them.

During the Helping Hands workshop, pupils can question characters, discuss possible actions and apply safety strategies to realistic situations. This gives them an opportunity to practise decision making, communication and help-seeking in a supported environment.

The aim is not to frighten children about everything that might happen. It is to leave them feeling better informed, more confident and clearer about where support is available.

Part of a planned safeguarding curriculum

Helping Hands is designed to support and strengthen the work schools already do. It is not a replacement for a planned Relationships Education curriculum or for the school’s wider safeguarding responsibilities.

The greatest impact comes when the programme is properly connected to learning before and after the visit. Loudmouth provides lesson plans and interactive resources which schools can use to prepare pupils, revisit key messages and place the experience within their wider curriculum.

School staff also remain an essential part of the session. They know their pupils, understand the local context and are responsible for responding to any safeguarding concerns or disclosures.

By combining the expertise of school staff with carefully structured drama, discussion and follow-up learning, Helping Hands can turn statutory expectations into something children understand, remember and can use.

Helping children feel safer and more confident

The revised RSHE guidance asks primary schools to prepare children for real relationships and real situations. That means helping them recognise when something is wrong, understand that abuse is never their fault and know how to get support.

Helping Hands brings this learning to life in a calm, sensitive and age appropriate way. It gives children the chance to explore difficult situations at a safe distance, develop practical safety strategies and rehearse the important act of asking for help.

Evaluation of the programme has found that 92% of participating children could name at least four key safety tips afterwards, 99% thought the programme helped children to stay safe and 100% of staff said they would recommend it to other schools.

Most importantly, Helping Hands helps children leave with a clear and empowering message: if something does not feel right, they can speak to someone, they deserve to be listened to and help is available.

To book Helping Hands for your school or to find out more about how it can support your school meet the new revised statutory RSHE guidance contact us on 0121 446 4880 or email enquiry@loudmouth.co.uk