Campaigner Chella Quint Launches Period Positive National Curriculum

28/07/2022

Period Positive founder, teacher and author Chella Quint has launched a new curriculum model in Parliament to educate all pupils on a much more thoughtful approach to menstruation, from the start of primary school through the end of secondary school. The toolkit will provide teachers with an outline of age-appropriate information about periods to add into the lessons they plan within their own specialist subjects, with the aim to empower all pupils to understand and embrace menstruation over time, and to take away the shameful taboos surrounding periods.

Chella, who is the author of Be Period Positive (DK, 2021) and Own Your Period (Quarto, 2021), says:

There is an enormous gap in the curriculum and in our training as teachers. Pupils need more than one ‘period talk’ – we need whole-school menstrual literacy. This new curriculum model delivers that, serving as a guide for what to teach at what age, and as a tool for teachers to map these essential skills, knowledge and understanding about periods, puberty, menstrual wellbeing and the menopause across their own school subjects, for the benefit of everyone.

The recent Statutory RSE guidance does not go into enough detail about periods, and pupils are struggling. Period Positive’s curriculum model empowers pupils to understand their bodies and support their peers.

A 14-year-old focus group participant said:

It is important for periods to be taught in various lessons as it makes it a natural thing that people can be accustomed to and comfortable to talk about. It would reduce period shame whilst educating others about things they or their peers may be feeling, and the Period Positive pledge and curriculum model are there to support them.

Athena Lamnisos, CEO of The Eve Appeal, The UK’s Gynaecological Cancer Research Charity, said:

Eve is a charity focused on the prevention and early diagnosis of the five gynaecological cancers – womb, ovarian, cervical, vulva and vaginal. Knowing your body and knowing what is normal for you is essential for spotting signs and symptoms of these five cancers and seeking medical help. High quality, timely and taboo-free menstrual education is vital. A Period Positive National Curriculum would start to build the foundations of knowledge in this important area of health.

The programme of study offered here is suitable for menstrual literacy curriculum planning across all Key Stages of the National Curriculum in England. It can be mapped across all subject areas and allows teachers to incorporate menstrual learning into their specialist subjects, in order to normalise a culture of menstrual literacy, challenge period taboos, and swiftly upskill staff and pupils together. The model grew out of Quint’s Master’s Degree in Education dissertation, Period Positive Schools, which she researched while head of PSHE at a secondary school in Sheffield. Quint then developed and evaluated it with the support and feedback of teachers, pupils, parents and young people, and in consultation with fellow researchers, period poverty and menstrual wellbeing charities, menstrual activists and medical professionals.

How to use this programme of study:

This guide is offered as a way to map and contextualise the skills, knowledge and understanding that will best support all pupils, whether they menstruate or not, and provide a clear progression from topic to topic as pupils grow. Teachers can find menstruation related facts, stimulus texts, artefacts and situations which can be incorporated into other subjects and act as a real-life application of the concept being taught. When lesson planning, this programme of study works best in tandem with the Period Positive Pledge, a framework for creating ethical resources and learning and working environments that are more inclusive of menstruating pupils, staff, and visitors. A school-friendly version of the pledge is included in this curriculum document.

To find out more and to download the curriculum document, click HERE.