RSE to 18
Protecting young people through education.
Working in partnership with others in the sector (Make it Mandatory, Sex Education Forum, EVAW, Brook), KW want compulsory relationships and sex education extended to age 18, through changes to education legislation and investment in delivery, so young people receive the knowledge and support needed to prevent abuse in relationships.
The RSE Unofficial Curriculum
To spotlight the education gap, Killed Women has partnered with Make It Mandatory to launch The RSE Unofficial Curriculum – a mock textbook revealing what harmful content can fill the void when compulsory RSE ends at 16.
The book shines a light on the shocking relationship and sex education our teenagers are at risk of receiving, when lessons aren’t mandated in school.
Enough is enough.
Write to your MP using this template: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/make-it-mandatory/
and tell them to Back The Bill on 4th December, and Make RSE Mandatory for all 16+ students
Click on the cover page above or here to explore the full book
The Relationships and Sex Education (Further Education Sector) Bill, backed by Alistair Strathern MP, is a Private Member’s Bill seeking to make provision for RSE in the further education sector. It was introduced in Parliament on 17th June 2026 and is currently scheduled for its second reading in the House of Commons on 4th December 2026.
Alistair Strathern MP: “Education isn’t just about exams and careers, it’s about preparing young people for life. This Bill is about giving every young person the tools to recognise danger, seek help and build relationships based on respect. That knowledge can change lives – and, in some cases, save them.”
Faustine Petron, Founder of Make It Mandatory: “When I was 16, I entered my first romantic relationship, as most teenagers do. I was excited for this new stage of my life, but that excitement soon wore away as the relationship became controlling and, eventually, violent. For the first year, I didn't call it abuse because I didn't have the words for it. No teacher had ever given them to me, and at that age it was hard to tell the difference between love and control. I started Make It Mandatory because I couldn’t accept that another generation of young people could be left as unprepared as I was. I wanted what happened to me to become a reason for change.”
Jess Phillips MP: “Having spent years fighting violence against women and girls, I know that we cannot simply pick up the pieces after abuse has happened, we must do everything we can to prevent it from happening at all. Our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy commits to halving VAWG within a decade, but we cannot achieve that without education. It is unacceptable that compulsory Relationships and Sex Education ends at 16, when young people are most vulnerable.”
Read some of the press coverage of the launch:
KW Co-Founder Carole Gould was interviewed at the launch by ITV News and BBC Points West
Metro, 19 October 2026
‘New law will make sex education mandatory for all under-18s to protect against domestic abuse’, by Brooke Davies
‘MPs and campaign groups Make It Mandatory, founded by Faustine Petron, who was in an abusive relationship when she was a teenager, and Killed Women are backing the Relationships and Sex Education (Further Education Sector) Bill to make relationship and sex education mandatory up until the age of 18.'
KW co-founder Carole Gould, whose 17-year-old daughter Ellie was stabbed to death by her boyfriend, is backing the bill to ensure young people can recognise the signs of coercive control.’
Ebony Keeley, reproductive coercion campaigner: “My ex-partner took away my reproductive choices, and at the time I didn’t have the language to understand what was happening to me or recognise it for what it was. I experienced reproductive coercion without even knowing there was a name for it. I never should have had to learn about reproductive coercion through my own experience. To me, education is a form of protection. Young people deserve to understand consent, autonomy and coercion before they are faced with situations where those things are being taken away from them. If we do not give them that knowledge, we leave a space for pornography, social media and misinformation to shape their understanding instead. What happened to me has made me determined that other young people should have access to the information and language that I didn’t have when I needed it most.”
The Unofficial Curriculum was launched in Parliament Square Gardens on Monday 19 October 2026. Alistair Strathern, Jess Phillips, Jess Asato, Samantha Niblett, Sarah Gibson, Tom Rutland, Alison Hume and Matt Bishop were among the MPs who attended, along with Nicole Jacobs, Domestic Abuse Commissioner, and Andrea Simon, Victims’ Commissioner for London, and a number of VAWG campaigners, including Sam Smethers, CEO of Surviving Economic Abuse, Janaya Walker, Interim Director of End Violence Against Women Coalition, Ebony Keeley, Reproductive Coercion Campaigner, and Gaia Rose Cawley.
Click on the photo or use the QR code for a template letter to your MP, telling them to Back the Bill.
Write to your MP
43% of 16–17-year-olds with prior sexual experience report having been strangled during sex, a practice that carries a real risk of death or lasting injury.
15–24-year-olds have the highest rates of common STIs of any age group, infections that can lead to serious, life-threatening complications if untreated.
Children today are up against a fast-changing digital landscape, with 79% of young people having viewed violent pornography by the time they turn 18. They also face the persistent, looming threat of AI-generated sexual deepfakes.
In 2025, approximately 7.7 million people had experienced sexual assault since the age of 16.
Over 2 million women and girls aged 16+ experienced domestic abuse in England and Wales in 2025; two to three women a week are killed by a man.
Despite these horrifying statistics, compulsory RSE stops at 16.
On 4th December, MPs have a once in a lifetime opportunity to change that by voting for Alistair Strathern MP’s Bill to extend compulsory RSE to 18.
This Bill is a historic chance to protect children and young people.
Private Member’s Bill
On 17 June 2026, Make It Mandatory, End Violence Against Women Coalition, Sex Education Forum and Brook were proud to announce securing a Private Member’s Bill, sponsored by Alistair Strathern MP, which would change the law to make Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) a mandatory requirement for all young people up to the age of 18, including in further education.
Government data shows that 16–19-year-olds face the highest rates of domestic abuse, and that girls aged 15 to 19 and boys aged 10 to 14 are most likely to be victims of sexual offences, according to police-recorded crime figures (ONS, 2025). Yet mandatory RSE currently ends at 16, precisely the age at which children become most vulnerable. This Private Members Bill follows Make it Mandatory’s petition that called for RSE to be mandated to 18, which has gathered over 106,000 signatures. The Bill, which we will be supporting, will have its Second Reading in the House of Commons on 4th December 2026.
Education Department Meeting
As reported on BBC Points West, Faustine Petron and Ithar Ghalifa of Make It Mandatory were invited on 22 April 2026 – after over four years of campaigning – to meet the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, alongside KW co-founder Carole Gould and Janaya Walker of End Violence Against Women Coalition to discuss mandating relationships and sex education (RSE) to 18, as this currently ends at 16 years old.
In Make It Mandatory’s words: “As survivors, bereaved families and expert organisations we know the very real cost of not responding urgently to VAWG through prevention, which is why whilst we welcome the government’s commitment to mandate our ask of RSE to 18, we are deeply concerned with the lack of urgency and absence of timeline.
Bridget Phillipson emphasised her commitment to this issue and her desire to make this legislative change happen as swiftly as possible so that every child up to the age of 18 receives this education. We will continue to work with government to ensure that this change happens sooner rather than later and is action and not just more words. RSE to 18 can’t be delayed any further, particularly if the government wish to meet their pledge of halving VAWG.”
House of Lords Meeting
On Monday 19 January 2026, Killed Women co-founder Carole Gould was at the Houses of Parliament, in support of Make It Mandatory, Sex Education Forum and End Violence Against Women Coalition as they – along with Baroness Nicky Morgan – delivered a letter to the Department for Education calling for Relationships & Sex Education to be made mandatory for all 16–18 year olds.
In the afternoon, the Peers in the House of Lords were briefed in detail about why extending RSE to 18 is so important. With the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill currently going through Parliament, this is the moment when, by making an amendment to the Bill, they can make this vital change happen.
Parliament Roundtable
On Tuesday 14 October 2025, Carole Gould and Jhiselle Feanny of Killed Women attended and spoke at a roundtable in Parliament organised by Amnesty Feminists and Make It Mandatory, where we heard powerful testimony about what the gap in teaching Relationships and Sexuality Education from the ages of 16–18 costs us.
At ‘RSE to 18 – A Call to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls’ we heard from educators who see it and from young people who’ve lived it.
Extending #RSEto18 is the bare minimum our government must do to deliver on their promise of halving violence against women and girls.
Make It Mandatory Campaign
Faustine Petron, who started the Make It Mandatory campaign for increased relationship education, was herself a victim of domestic abuse before her ex boyfriend was sent to jail. Her campaign says Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), which is already taught in primary and secondary schools, should be extended to colleges and sixth forms. Over 105,000 people have signed her petition, which was delivered to Downing Street on 16 June 2025.
Killed Women co-founder Carole Gould, whose 17-year-old daughter Ellie was stabbed to death by a fellow student at her school (also 17 at the time) after she ended their relationship of three months, helped to deliver Faustine's petition as an expression of KW’s support for the campaign.
For more information about the campaign and to sign the petition, please see Faustine’s page on Change.org: ‘Ask the government to help prevent domestic abuse through education’