Puberty, Health & Safe Choices

This is the closest match between REAL and any external framework. RSHE specifies puberty (including brain development), the menstrual cycle, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, sexual consent, and the law on age of consent. [rshe-pilot-extracts §14, §17, §18, §19] REAL's LT 4.2 spans the same content at Bands B–F. [real-framework-overview §11, §12] What REAL adds is the access skill — students locating and judging trustworthy sources independently — which RSHE addresses through teacher-mediated signposting rather than as student practice.

Puberty, contraception and sexual health are not included within CfW's Health and Well-being Area's What Matters statements; that content sits in the separate Relationships and Sexuality Education Code, framed as "knowledge, skills, dispositions and values" [cfw-rse-statutory-principles §5] rather than as a named topic. REAL specifies this content directly within LT 4.2 — what students should know about puberty, the menstrual cycle, contraception and consent — and assesses that knowledge alongside the skill of locating trustworthy information. [real-framework-overview §11, §12]

CASEL's five competencies don't extend to puberty, sexual health or contraception — these aren't part of its framework. [casel-framework-definition §3, §4] REAL specifies this content directly at Bands B–F: puberty changes, the menstrual cycle, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, the law on consent. [real-framework-overview §11, §12] A school using CASEL alongside RSHE-equivalent content would cover this ground; REAL builds it into one programme rather than treating it as adjacent statutory material.