A furious mum has slammed her seven-year-old daughter's school for teaching her about 'wet dreams'.

Bernadette Smith, 35, says Keeble Gateway Academy have "failed" her daughter, Alice, after she learnt about the experience during sex education lessons. She says Alice - who has autism - was left in floods of tears as she couldn't grasp it properly and now thinks she's experienced a wet dream whenever she wets the bed.

Bernadette, from North Yorkshire, received a letter from Alice's teacher notifying her that the Year 3 class would be learning about Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) - a compulsory element of the primary curriculum. The mum has said she would have "never" permitted Alice to participate in the lesson - despite withdrawal only being available for certain modules taught in year 6, under the SCARF PSHE guidelines which the school follows.

Bernadette, a stay-at-home mum and carer from Thirsk, said: "I wasn't comfortable with her learning that yet - she doesn't understand social clues yet.

"She's three years behind her peers socially and emotionally.

"Now, at home, if anyone has any accident be it one of her brothers she always asks if it's a wet dream.

"If she wets her bed, that's a wet dream.

"The school are trying to say it was age appropriate, but they've failed her on all these things as they haven't consulted me which they are supposed to do with a SEND child.

"There are supposed to be barriers in place.

"She was taught in a full class and for a SEND child it should be in smaller classrooms or focus groups.

"She has recently started acting out in ways she wouldn't normally."

Bernadette received the email on May 23, informing parents their children would be taught about the subject - which the letter goes on to say, "became a legal requirement in September 2020 for relationships and sex education to be taught across the school, in an age and developmentally-appropriate way."

The module was being delivered under the Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience, Friendship (SCARF) PHSE programme. SCARF define "menstruation, wet dreams and masturbation as falling with Health Education not Sex Education, and therefore part of the statutory requirements".

However, the email subject didn't contain 'RSE', only 'Growing and Changing', and the body of the email provided no link to the SCARF website - which the school have subsequently apologised for.

Bernadette believes she wouldn't have overlooked the email if 'RSE' had been included in the subject line. She said: "Around the time this email was sent out she was having a hard time with her PSHE lessons and her grandad had cancer - it all built up.

"It should have mentioned exactly what they were teaching topic wise."

Bernadette also believes that it shouldn't be assumed that "no response from parents should be deemed as consent to teach children RSE."

She also claims that she only discovered that nocturnal emissions were part of the curriculum during an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) meeting for Alice. She said: "What is disgusting to me and her dad, is if I'd not been having her EHCP meeting, we would never have known she'd had that class.

"My argument is that there was no information about her being taught that, there was no link for the resources and there was no option to opt out."

A Keeble Gateway Academy spokesman said: "Keeble Gateway Academy takes all parental concerns seriously and has already addressed this matter directly with the parent involved.

"The school follows the Department for Education's statutory guidance for Relationships, Sex and Health Education and uses age-appropriate materials from the SCARF curriculum, which is widely used in primary schools across the country.

"As this matter has been responded to directly with the parent, we have no further comment to make."