Private Schools HIV Bans

posted: 24/05/2010

Several private / independent schools have refused to hire out their facilities for a summer camp for teenagers with HIV, raising fears of widespread HIV discrimination.
 

The Children's HIV Association (CHIVA) made bookings with the schools, that were later cancelled after the schools were told the young people attending are living with HIV.
The camp, for 100 young people aged 13 to 17, plus 60 volunteers, was arranged for a time when the schools' pupils would have been away. But the charity struggled to find a school that would hire out its facilities.
 

Discrimination evidence 
One head told CHIVA he would not allow his school to be used because parents would not like it. Another, a Christian faith school, agreed to the booking with CHIVA but cancelled after being told of the children's HIV status. The school said it had realised it could not offer CHIVA sole use of the school as it needed. But the charity obtained a number of emails between the head and bursar entitled "health matters", suggesting this was not the real reason for the offer being withdrawn.
And a third school said it could not comply with the charity's request for confidentiality. CHIVA asked that only a couple of key senior staff be informed of who was hiring the school, to protect the identity of the young people who would later be attending.
 

Paddy McMaster, chair of CHIVA and consultant paediatrician at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, said: "Generally, there is discrimination and a lot of misunderstanding about HIV in schools. With the summer camp, it's not possible to prove discrimination but that is the most likely explanation given the sequence of events and the responses we got. What can be perceived by some schools as a justifiable reason for not wanting to include children with HIV is, in fact, discrimination. We want to get across the facts about the risk of transmission so that appropriate decisions are made."
 

George House Trust comment
 

This looks and smells strongly of HIV discrimination, however much these schools pretend it is not. But this is not yet illegal. Schools have clear legal duties not to discriminate against people with disabilities such as pupils and teachers because HIV is a ‘disability.’ Organisations providing services must not discriminate either when providing services to individuals with disabilities.

But the booking was being made not by someone with HIV, but by an organisation. There’s a gap in the law – organisations can’t make a legal complaint about disability discrimination, only individuals. 
 

The schools are on dodgy legal grounds. If the discrimination was against individuals rather than CHIVA, the law says that the service provider has to prove they have not  discriminated. If they tried to do that with the excuses given here, they would lose the case.  

Independent Schools are charities that benefit the small wealthy minority who can afford private education. They take advantage of the tax concessions for charities, but are widely criticised for failing to share those benefits with the wider public whose taxes help fund them. They have been given five years by the Charities Commission to justify their charitable status. This discrimination doesn't help their case.  

Dr McMaster said children with HIV are encouraged not to discuss HIV with other pupils and young people because of the strong stigma attached to it and the unpredictable consequences of sharing this information.
 

This year is the first in which the CHIVA charity has organised a summer camp. "It allows them to be in a community where they can talk freely and see they are not alone," he said. The camp, which is funded by the Elton John Aids Foundation (EJAF), is now due to go ahead in another school. It will include sessions on rights, sexual health and medication.
 

Anne Aslett, executive director of EJAF, said: "It's horrifying to think that school trustees, teachers and even parents in this country might still be so misinformed about HIV/AIDS that HIV-positive children could be stigmatised and discriminated against."
 

How many young people?

The most recent available statistics, from 2009, showed that 1,373 young people were receiving HIV care. Around 350 people under 24 are living with HIV in NW England.
There is no obligation for young people who are HIV positive to inform their schools.
 

Teenagers Summer Camp 
 

Your Rights 

Equalities and Human Rights Commission – duties of education providers
 

Source 
 

Compulsory Sex / HIV Education

posted: 06/11/2009

The government has announced that sex education will become compulsory for all schools, including lessons on gay relationships, and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV. But this will only be compulsory from age 15. Before that age, parents can stop their child attending any sex education lessons.

From September 2011, the law will change to make it compulsory for all young people in England to learn about sex between the ages of 15 and 16, even if their parents object. In religious schools the sex education the state requires to be taught to all can be contradicted by the religious teaching.

Learn from 5

Sex education will start from the age of five. Primary school children will learn about their bodies and puberty, along with marriages, divorces and civil partnerships. Pupils in secondary schools will learn about contraception, gay and lesbian relationships and HIV, as well as the emotional implications of having sex. Faith schools, like other schools, will be forced to teach about homosexuality, civil partnerships, divorce and abortion.

Religious spin and opt outs

However, faith schools, mainly Roman Catholic and Church of England, can teach this sex education in line with their beliefs and teachings. They are required to educate pupils about issues such as abortion and the tolerance of homosexuality, but may present them in congruity with religious teachings. Teachers in religious schools will still be free to tell pupils that sex outside marriage, homosexuality or using contraception are 'wrong', because the legislation will include a clause allowing schools to apply their "context" "values" and "ethos" to lessons.
 

One-third of schools in England are faith schools and this means pupils could be taught about same-sex relationships, while learning that they are against their religion. About 0.04% of pupils are withdrawn from sex education classes, usually on religious grounds.

Opt-out until 15
Currently, parents are allowed to withdraw children from sex education lesson up to the age of 19. This will now change to 15 to ensure that pupils have at least one year of sex education before they reach the age of consent.
 

Ed Balls, the schools secretary, said: “You can teach the promotion of marriage, you can teach that you shouldn't have sex outside of marriage, what you can't do is deny young people information about contraception outside of marriage. The same arises in homosexuality. Some faiths have a view about what in religious terms is right and wrong – what they can’t do though is not teach the importance of tolerance.”

HIV - welcome and disappointment

The National AIDS Trust welcomed the plans, saying that all young people have a right to information about sexual issues.
Chief executive Deborah Jack said: "We are pleased that discussion of same sex relationships and HIV is included in the PSHE education programme of study. HIV is a serious long-term condition and young gay men remain the group of young people most at risk. In the past young gay men have often been ignored in sex and relationships lessons in schools and the result has been a rise in young gay men being diagnosed with HIV.”

George House Trust is very disappointed that all young people will not have an equal right to high quality accurate sex education. Some young people will have two-faced lessons (the national sex education curriculum, and their church’s teachings against this), and a minority will get nothing until they are 15, if their parents withdraw them from sex education. By that age much of the damage caused by ignorance and misinformation will have already been done.

The changes, due in autumn 2011, are better than patchwork mess we have now. The state believes sex education is serious enough to be a compulsory part of the national curriculum, but has allowed religious schools to contradict points being taught and pupils to be kept away until they are 15. This isn't an evidence-based sex education policy.

As a result of this half-hearted change, young people with religious backgrounds, especially teenage males, will continue to be far more vulnerable to HIV, STIs, and females will also face unwanted pregnancies.

Catholics respond

A spokesman from the the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales said PSHE was "vital". He said: "It enables factual information from reliable sources to be communicated and misinformation from peers or street culture or exploitation to be avoided. While disappointed that legal encumbrances mean that a blanket right of withdrawal can no longer apply, we are pleased that the government has recognised that the right of withdrawal in formative years is most critical and is therefore providing for the ability of parents to opt out of SRE up to the age of 15. We will continue to firmly uphold the position that parental rights remain vital, particularly but not exclusively in those most formative and critical years up until the age of 15. As age and growing independence brings young people ever closer to pressures, advertising and coercion to behaviour that can undermine the healthy life of young people, we are comforted in the knowledge that our schools and colleges will do an exceptional job in providing sex and relationships education, set within the teachings of the Catholic Church."

Poll backed compulsion

The review was followed by a government-commissioned poll of 1,791 adults and 1,661 parents into whether all pupils should be taught about sex, and consultations with faith groups. A fifth of the parents said parents should never be able to withdraw their children from sex education lessons, whatever age the children were. A third said parents should be allowed to exclude their children from sex education classes if they were aged 11 or under. As part of the legislation, children will also be taught about drugs and alcohol, how to tackle cyber-bullying, resist pressure to join gangs and manage their bank accounts.

The new sex education lessons will not begin for another TWO years.

Source 2
 

Joe Galliano, a gay man, talks about how these new sex education rules will help all children feel comfortable with their sexuality – except gay lads and lasses in faith schools.  

World AIDS Day - Lancashire

posted: 28/10/2009

World AIDS Day (1 December) is being made a red letter day across Lancashire. Here’s the events we already know about.

Pantomine and Cabaret
25 November Red Ribbon Pantomine @ Twaites Theatre Blackburn
27 November Red Ribbon Cabaret @ 53 degrees, UCLAN, Preston
Full details here

Ormskirk Clubbing
WAD 1st December
Outrageous club in Ormskirk, WAD fundraiser for CLASS (CLASS provide HIV support from Preston for people in central Lancashire)

HIV Vigil - Preston and Blackburn
WAD Vigil, 7.30pm St Johns Minster, Church Street, Preston
WAD Vigil, 7.30pm (to be confirmed) Blackburn Cathedral, Blackburn

Event
Friday 4th December, Preston FLAG Market (Market Square) Celebrating life with HIV event - we've not been told when - email Andy Thompson the LGBT community worker at SHIVER 

Schools and Colleges Awareness - Blackpool
From 6 December there’s a week of awareness in several schools as part of the 'Respect' week. There will be speakers on ‘respect’ issues such as domestic violence, homophobic bullying and sexual health.
A speaker living with HIV will give an informal talk on Friday 4 December to 6th form students who are being trained as teenage peer educators, and to the whole sixth form in the following week.

iPhone quiz prize for school and college students
lAndy Thompson, SHIVER’s LGBT worker and a colleague will give short talks on HIV at several school assemblies. A free Q&A quiz about HIV will award the winner an iPhone and is already drawing much student interest, promoted by the poster produced by the 6th form to advertise it.

Teenage peer educators The teenage peer educators are making a short film for these school assemblies which will include sound bites and clips from programmes popular with teens, such as Holyoaks which has a current Malachy and HIV storyline. 

Red Ribbons for donations will be widely available at the schools and colleges during this fortnight.

Video at Blackpool council customer centre
On a continuous display loop is a short video presentation in the Customer First Centre of Blackpool borough council; this will run for two weeks from 23rd November to 6 December.
 

This short video will also be shown in all the local LGBT venues on and around the 1st.

Mardi Gras club vigil - Blackpool
A short service and vigil will be held in the Blackpool gay club Mardi Gras on the Saturday 28 November and on Tuesday 1 December
 

Flying Handbag - Blackpool

There’s a charity all-dayer at the Flying Handbag on Sunday the 6 December to raise money for next year. £2 on the door.

Demand HIV Education in Schools

posted: 15/07/2009

It's time to speak up for all children and young people's right to HIV information and other sex and relationship education in schools. Should Sex and Relationships Education (including information on HIV, sexuality, discrimination and harassment) be made compulsory in all schools?

The deadline is just days away (Friday 24 July) and it seems most  of the responses so far are from churches and schools which are strongly opposed to this. NAT (National AIDS Trust) are asking you to help - all it takes is an email of your answers to the key questions.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families is consulting the public about whether Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE), including Sex and Relationships Education (SRE), should be made a compulsory part of the National Curriculum.

NAT thinks that this is long overdue. Young people have a right to learn about HIV, and how to protect their sexual health. However, this is not just a sexual health issue, young people also need to be taught about social issues such as discrimination.

It is really important that as many organisations and individuals as possible respond to this consultation to show the Government that young people have a right to this education. There has been substantial lobbying against these proposals, therefore your response is absolutely vital.

Please take 10 minutes to answer this form - here's some hints

Please fill in this consultation form (in Word, rtf version below), and ask your colleagues and friends to do the same. It is in multiple choice form, and should only take ten minutes; if you are unclear or uncertain about any of the questions you can leave them blank. Please note that the consultation deadline is Friday 24 July.

The two most important questions are

• page 6, Section 1, 1st question 'PSHE education should become a statutory part of the National Curriculum'  - we strongly recommend Yes, and
• the next question 'Parents, carers and guardians should be allowed to maintain the right to withdraw their children from the sex and relationships element of PSHE education' - we strongly recommend No

Then please email your finished questionnaire,  

or post it to

Simon Watmough, Ipsos MORI House, 79-81 Borough Road, London, SE1 1FY

If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact Nicola Jacobs at NAT on 020 7814 6729, or by email 

Consultation questionnaire (Word version)

Consultation questionnaire (rtf version)

Faith Schools and Sex Education

posted: 28/04/2009

Sex education is to be made compulsory in all state schools in England but faith schools will also be free to preach against sex outside marriage and homosexuality, under government proposals.

'Values' and Lessons Opt-outs

The plans to make personal, social and health education (PSHE) compulsory from the age of five, published yesterday, include a clause allowing schools to apply their "values" to the lessons and another allowing parents to opt their children out on religious grounds.

Mixed messages

It means that all state secondaries in England - including faith schools - will for the first time have to teach a core curriculum about sex and contraception in the context of teenagers' relationships, but teachers in religious schools will also be free to tell them that sex outside marriage, homosexuality or using contraception are wrong. Sexual health campaigners warned that such an approach could confuse teenagers, but Catholic schools welcomed the move.

Government review

The government-commissioned review by Sir Alasdair Macdonald, headteacher of Morpeth school in east London, on how to make PSHE compulsory, concludes that schools will be legally obliged to teach pupils about health and nutrition, safety, drugs and alcohol and sex education.

For the first time pupils will be taught how to stay safe - from tackling cyber-bullying to resisting pressure to join gangs - and how to manage their bank accounts.

But the most controversial element is making sex education compulsory. The plans have divided faith groups and safer sex campaigners who highlight the fact that Britain has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe.

Changes

An optional curriculum in secondaries covering sex, both homosexual and heterosexual relationships, and contraception will be made compulsory - previously schools had to teach only the fundamentals of reproduction, contraception and puberty in science lessons. A new curriculum for primary schools will include teaching five-year-olds about different kinds of relationships, managing their emotions and about physical changes to their bodies in childhood.

Taught through faith values

Faith schools will be allowed to deliver the lessons in line with the "context, values and ethos" of their religion, the report says. Parents will also retain the right to withdraw their child from sex education lessons, meaning some children will continue to miss out altogether.

Macdonald said: "What we're trying to do, and I accept it's difficult, is find a balance between young people having an entitlement to knowledge, facts, information but where schools, particularly schools with a particular faith interest or other disposition, also have a right to put that in context of their particular institution. "

Faith school pupils will lose out

A Marie Stopes spokesman, Tony Kerridge, said: "We are very pleased that it has become part of the core curriculum. It is absolutely important that we grasp this nettle. The vast majority of children go to mainstream schools but for those who attend faith schools, this is a lost opportunity to have that caveat."

Young people's right to sex education trumped by parents

Macdonald's report also backs the current system of allowing parents to opt their children out of sex education. Currently 0.04% of pupils are withdrawn from lessons, usually on religious grounds. The move was opposed by children's rights campaigners. Adam Lonsdale, a 16-year-old member of the Youth Parliament, said: "No parent or school should be able to prevent a young person receiving good, high-quality sex and relationship education."

Catholics satisfied

Oona Stannard, director of the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales, said: "PSHE is a very important part of a child's education and it should be in the curriculum, but the approach to what is taught ought to be in line with the wishes of parents and should uphold the ethos of the particular school."

The fact that Catholics are not criticising the governemt's proposals indicates they have lobbied successfully. Whether their schools' gay, bisexual, or not yet sure pupils (among others) will get the sex and relationship education and support they need is another matter. Most pupils in catholic schools will not be practicing Catholics in adulthood. Significant numbers of pupils in Catholic and other faith schools are not members of that faith. Tax payers pay most of the costs of faith schools.

The schools secretary, Ed Balls, accepted the proposals and said they will now be subject to consultation.

Download the report Independent review of making PSHE education statutory 958KB pdf
To respond to the consultation on this department's website you need to register and sign in. The consultation deadline is unknown and this consultation is not yet listed. 

Source