Yasmine and Tom updated – What’s changed in the primary RSHE curriculum for Sept 2026?

What’s the same?

• Similar structure and teacher discretion – the structure is similar to the 2020 curriculum and still sets out content without defining the age that content should be taught. I.e. teachers still have discretion on when to cover different topics

• Lesson topics are fundamentally the same

• RSHE building blocks – at primary school age – it’s still a case of teaching the RSHE building blocks of understanding and skills to prepare them for more complex content at secondary.

• Sex education is still not mandatory for primary school except where part of the science curriculum – primary school head teachers must automatically grant a request to withdraw a pupil from it – see FPA’s teacher guidance on sex education.

What’s different in the 2026 primary school RSHE curriculum?

1) New Guiding Principles

There is a new list of “guiding principles” – see page 5 of the DfE guidance.

The top 3 principles are:

• Pupil engagement – content should be relevant and meaningful
• Parental engagement and transparency – for example, all materials should be available to parents
• Positivity – focus should be on positive attitudes and healthy norms in relationships

Other key principles include:

• Skilled delivery of participative education – i.e. a new emphasis on teaching skills alongside knowledge, such as communication skills and emotional regulation.
• Careful sequencing – the DfE gives a clear message on starting Relationships and Health education early in primary school.

 

2) Relationships education – updates to the categories:

• Families and people who care for me – largely the same with minor changes to emphasise the importance of safety within the family and a requirement to include same-sex parents when discussing families.

• Caring friendships – largely the same with minor changes to:
  • Emphasise the need to develop skills to form caring, kind friendships.
  • Highlight that most people feel lonely sometimes and there is no shame in that.

• Respectful, kind relationships – inclusion of the word ‘kind’ to the category title is indicative of minor changes to highlight:
  • The needs and wishes of different people in relationships
  • The importance of setting and respecting healthy boundaries
  • Different communication styles

• Online safety and awareness – previously titled ‘Online relationships’, the change in title is indicative of the changes to focus on advancement in technology and the concerns that have developed with it e.g.:
  • The importance of what information pupils share online
  • Minimum age for joining social media sites – 13 years old for most platforms

• Being safe – largely the same with minor changes to:
  • Learning about boundaries
  • Including skills for recognising who to trust and who not to trust

3) Health and wellbeing education – updates to the categories:

• General wellbeing – previously titled ‘Mental wellbeing’, the change in title is indicative of the changes in society to view physical and mental health more holistically.
  • There is a new focus on pupils acknowledging that worrying and feeling down is normal, and not in itself a sign of a mental health condition.
  • Introduction of the concept of bereavement and different ways to grieve.

• Wellbeing online – previously titled ‘Internet safety and harms’, the change in title is indicative of the changes in society where activity online is directly linked to overall wellbeing.
  • There is a new focus on the positive aspects of the internet including online relationships.
  • Introduction of the risks relating to online gaming, video game monetisation, scams/fraud and addiction.
  • Emphasis on rights in relation to sharing personal data, privacy and consent.

• Physical health and fitness – good news – no changes!

• Healthy eating – almost identical with one minor change to include the importance of having a healthy relationship with food.

• Drugs, alcohol, tobacco and vaping – almost identical with one minor change to include references to vaping and nicotine pouches.

• Health protection and prevention – previously the title did not include the word ‘protection’.There is a minor change to consider careful sequencing when introducing topics relating to vaccination and immunisations.

• Personal safety – this is a new topic!
  • It focuses on physical hazards, risk and safety measures around roads, railways and water.
  • The addition acknowledges the difference between the concepts of safety and risk in relation to relationships education and the concept of safety and risk with our physical wellbeing.

• Basic first aid – almost identical with one minor change to include the importance of reporting incidents rather than filming them.

• Developing bodies – previously titled ‘Changing adolescent body’
  • Updated language to use the correct names of body parts with an emphasis on how the use of correct language aids safeguarding – the FPA has always used the clinically correct terms in our resources so we’re very pleased with this update!
  • There is a minor change to consider careful sequencing when introducing the facts about the menstrual cycle and encouraging earlier teaching of this sensitive subject where needed.

What’s changed in the Yasmine and Tom resource?

• See below for an overview of changes
• Download a pdf lesson-by-lesson breakdown of changes here

 

1) Overview of what’s changed if you already use Yasmine and Tom

a) There are many small incremental improvements

b) For primary schools there are limited changes to the Sept 2026 RSHE curriculum – there were more changes for secondary.

c) Many Yasmine and Tom lessons were already inline with the new curriculum e.g. the requirement to use medically correct words for personal and private parts.

2) Headline Yasmine and Tom improvements (May 2026)

• Yasmine and Tom v.5 now available – this covers the new RSHE curriculum and schools can start using it now

• More help for teachers – updated and expanded teacher guidance to help you teach Yasmine and Tom

• Improved lessons:
  • Expanded lesson outlines with more guidance and tips as you progress through each lesson
  • More embedded learning tasks
  • More differentiated worksheets
  • Updated videos

• New glossary
  • Fully updated glossary – again with plain English age-appropriate definitions
  • Some definitions now split by age
  • Some words added that don’t appear in lessons but might pop-up in tricky pupil questions

Also see lesson-by-lesson breakdown of changes (pdf).

 

Plus… we kept the best bits from the previous version:

• 63 lessons over 6 years
• No membership fee increase
• Covers full KS1 and KS2 primary curriculum
• Interactions
• Age appropriate
• Parents page – with example interactions, FAQs, lesson outcomes and more
• Still clinically correct

Plus…

• 3 new bonus lessons coming for 1 Sept 2026 – while not needed for the new curriculum we are adding 3 new lessons to give teachers more resources to embed learning.

3) Yasmine and Tom version 5 (May 2026) – lesson changes

Lessons added

• Year 2, lesson.7, Safety: out and about
• Year 5, lesson 1, Respectful relationships
• Year 5, lesson 10, Keeping safe – online risks (lesson revisited)
• Year 6, lesson12, Coping with grief

Lessons removed

We know it’s difficult to squeeze so many lessons into the timetable – to help we’ve removed some repeated material. Lessons removed:

• Year 4, lesson 7, Being safe in the sun (lesson revisited)
• Year 5, lesson 1, Yasmine and Tom recap and ground rules for Year 5
• Year 5, lesson 10 Oral hygiene
• Year 6, lesson 12 Asking for help

Lessons moved

• Year 5, lesson 7, Getting enough sleep is now Year 4, lesson 7, Getting enough sleep

Also see lesson-by-lesson breakdown of changes (pdf).

4) What should I teach in the summer term 2026?

• The new RSHE curriculum starts on 1 Sept 2026
• Government guidance confirms schools can switch early to the new RSHE curriculum if they want
• Therefore when you go to “launch lessons” on FPA.org.uk you can now teach either:
  • Yasmine and Tom v.5 – released May 2026 – this covers the full RSHE curriculum from 1 Sept 2026, or
  • Yasmine and Tom v.4 – released Sep 2025 – this still covers the full curriculum until 1 Sept 2026.