Pupils are to be taught about sexual consent in schools from the age of eleven.
Pupils Aged 11 To Receive Sexual Consent Lessons
These new lessons, which are being introduced by the government, come be being taught in the classroom as soon as after Easter and are designed to prepare children for what could be ahead of them.
The new material will be designed to teach children about what is consent, what is not consent, rape, sexual pressure, and ways to deal and respond to manipulation.
The new lessons are being drawn up by the Personal Social Health and Economic Education Association (PSHEA), a charity that was set up in order to help teachers with support and advice when covering this subject matter in the classroom.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan is fully behind the new plans and believes that we need to take the steps to prepare our youngsters for 'life in modern Britain.'
Writing in the Sunday Times to mark International Women's Day, Ms Morgan said: "We have to face the fact that many pressures girls face today were unimaginable to my generation and it's our duty to ensure that our daughters leave school able to navigate the challenges and choices they'll face in adulthood.
"Our commitment to supporting women should start long before they take home their first wage. We have to ensure that the education girls receive not only allows them to reach their academic potential, but also prepares them for life in modern Britain."
These new plans come after the uncovering of child sexual exploitation rings in both Oxford and Rotherham and the rise in online grooming of young children as well as 'sexting.'
The new plans have been met with a mixed response with some parents and groups believing that eleven is too young and will erode childhood even further.
However, the move has been praised by the End of Violence Against Women Coalition, Sarah Green from the group told the Daily Mail: "We welcome Nicky Morgan's recognition of the importance and urgency of ensuring young people learn in school about what seeking and giving consent means."
Sadly, we are living in a world where children and young people are a major target for predators and we need to prepare them for the way the world is, not as we would like it to be.
Of course, in a perfect world, we would not be tackling these issues with our kids until they were much older but we really do need to prepare our kids for the pressures and the dangers that they may well face as they get older.