Nanaimo parents can learn what sexual health information their children are getting in school and how to carry on the conversation at home with the help of a new school district website.
Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools has launched a new website intended to put information and resources at the fingertips of parents, students and teachers.
The site offers information for educators on what to teach, as well as tips for parents, health links, community resources and even a digital citizenship contract around Smartphone and internet safety for parents to discuss with children.
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Natalie Chelsom, the district’s personal and sexual health educator, said the site is mostly for educators, since it’s her job to support them, but she also knows parents are asking what their children were learning and why it’s different in one school than another. The website is a place everyone can go, she said.
“This makes it more equitable for all of us because we can access this from the comfort of our own home, we can access this information from a classroom and not be worried about what’s going to pop up,” she said, adding it’s also more transparent and everyone can have the same information.
Parents can now find supervision guidelines, learn about personal safety skills they can teach their children and what they should expect their child to know at each age.
“There’s also conversation starters to have with your teenager and there’s access to everything the educators are doing, so parents can see the same information that teachers can,” said Chelsom. “They can clearly understand how to support their kid once their kid comes home, what kind of conversations they can have with them.”
Sections for kids, pre-teens and teens are still under construction but Chelsom said it will be a go-to hub for them to find health resources instead of them having to use a search engine.
There’s also a ‘need help now’ tab that directs people to resources if, for example, they think they might be pregnant, someone is harming their reputation or they have been assaulted.
To see the website, visit https://sexual-education.sd68.bc.ca/, or click on the program menu on the Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools website and click on ‘PHE: Personal and sexual health.’
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