The British Minister for Schools, Nick Gibb, has said that the Government is to remove the right of parents to take their children out of classes on sex education.

Until now, sex education was part of personal, health, social and economic (PHSE) curricula, which is covered by the parents’ legal right to withdraw children from classes they judged unacceptable.

Much of sex education will now be done in science classes which do not give parents the same legal safe-guards.

Some schools are using a programme called “Living and Growing,” by state-owned broadcaster Channel 4, to teach young children about sex. The programme includes an episode that shows a naked cartoon couple pillow fighting before having sexual intercourse in several positions, as a narrator describes sex and its physical changes as “fun” and “very exciting.”

The episode appears in Unit 2, which is labeled for children aged 7 to 9. In school where this programme is used in science class parents will not be able to withdraw their children from the class.

In a parliamentary answer to Tory MP Stewart Jackson, Mr Gibbs said the Government would not allow parents to take children out of sex education classes within the science curriculum.

Mr Jackson asked whether national education officials would “take steps to ensure that maintained schools are prevented from teaching aspects of sex and relationships education in science lessons that are not covered in the national curriculum for science.”

Mr Gibb responded to Jackson’s question, saying: “We trust teachers to use their professional judgement when following the national curriculum programmes of study for science.”

“We do not therefore consider it necessary to impose preventative measures on maintained schools to stop them teaching sex and relationship education (SRE) within national curriculum science lessons,” said Gibb.

Ruth Pond, a mother of two from Worksop, Notts, has been campaigning against ‘Living and Growing’, which sparked national news coverage last year after parents reacted in horror to its contents.

Ms Pond said that she was “very concerned,” that the programme is being taught in science classes. “Does this mean that the law regarding the national curriculum will be changed to allow parents to withdraw their children from sex education that is too graphic?

“Otherwise it makes it impossible for parents to protect their children.”