A Co Wicklow Catholic primary school has said it will not be using Flourish, a relationships and sexuality education (RSE) supplementary resource developed by the Irish Bishops’ Conference for use from junior infants up to sixth class.
The decision by Lacken national school management follows protests by 22 parents at the Blessington school who, in a letter to the school board of management on May 17th last, said: “We do not feel the Flourish programme is fit for purpose when teaching RSE to children. It is discriminatory to LGBTQ+ children and families and it does not correspond with the view of the State.”
The resource mentions very briefly that Catholics believe marriage is between one man and one woman.
The 22 parents said they did not want the program to be used even as a “supplementary” resource to complement the existing curriculum.
Their preference was that it not be used “in any shape or format”.
In a May 27th response, Lacken principal Fiona Jones and the school board of management assured the parents that “we intend to continue with our present RSE programme going forward. This rules out the use of any other programme, supplementary or otherwise.”
