Consent Workshops
The School arranged for Elephant Ed to run a series of workshops on consent with our Year 11 students to complement the important work done in Respectful Relationships as part of our Wellbeing Framework. More sessions will be held at other campuses in the following weeks. Elephant Ed provide engaging Sex-ed workshops run by young and relatable highly trained facilitators. Designed by young people for young people the workshop focused on the topic of consent providing our students with the information and tools to be safe and informed about respecting boundaries in healthy relationships.
Hear from some of our students about their own impressions of the consent workshop
‘The School’s recent workshop on consent by Elephant Ed provided insightful and helpful information concerning how misinformation or a lack of knowledge on the subject of consent can be very harmful and damaging to young people. All of the presenters with Elephant Ed were very nice and approachable, and they made sure that everybody was comfortable with the more sensitive side of consent. I personally found that the youth of the presenters made everything more relatable as well. The most important aspect of the session for me was learning about the history of the media and how it has progressed from treating consent as something not important to informing young people of the significance of having safe and respectful relationships with others. I sincerely enjoyed this session and would love to participate in an Elephant Ed session again.’
Year 11 student Geordie
‘The workshop was brilliant in every way – the facilitators were enthusiastic and genuine whilst remaining informative and open to everyone’s input. Though we have had a few other consent and sex education-related sessions, this one I found particularly relatable and engaging, and no part of it slipped into condescending territory at all – something I think is very important when talking to teenagers about something so significant. Though none of it was shockingly new, I found it refreshing and helpful to have a safe space to discuss consent and sex with other students and communicate what we saw and thought about the content brought up.’
Year 11 student Ruby
‘During period 1 on Tuesday 4 May, all year 11 students participated in a session run by the organisation Elephant Ed. We focused on the topic of consent and had very valuable discussions on the often-misunderstood issues of legal age, power, and ways to go about consenting in various settings, particularly in a sexual setting. I particularly found the acronym FRIES (freely given, reversibility, informed, enthusiastic and specific) useful, in that it covers all bases when considering and consenting to sexual acts. This is a topic that is not really spoken about in the classroom as a part of the school curriculum, so I found it very helpful and insightful to have Loz, our allocated Elephant Ed representative come and speak to us about these issues and the ongoing impact that they continue to have on our current society. I really appreciate Ivanhoe’s efforts in informing students on these issues and providing us with the proper tools to ensure that we are all equipped to be safe and respectful members of society as adults.’
Year 11 student Mia
