Every 30 seconds, police in the UK receive a domestic abuse-related call. In 2025, over 2 million women and girls aged 16+ experienced domestic abuse and 2 women a week are killed by a man in England and Wales.  

I'm Faustine, a university student and a survivor of domestic abuse. I am calling on the government to make Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) compulsory up to the age of 18 and in all educational settings, to help them spot the signs of domestic abuse and have healthy relationships.

I was only 16 when I entered a violent, abusive relationship and just 20 years old when my perpetrator was sentenced to prison for domestic abuse-related offences against me. In school, I was never taught about what coercive control looked like, or that what was happening to me had a name. I didn't have the words for it; I just knew something was very wrong.

We know that education is so much more than simply Maths, English and Science and that education plays an important role in preventing violence against women and girls, combatting misogynstic attitudes and improving sexual health outcomes. So, why is Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)  only compulsory up to 16 years old even though young people have to legally stay in education until they turn 18?

16-18 is exactly the age that young people start their first serious, romantic and sexual relationships, and data shows that 16- 18-year-olds are at risk. 16-19-year-olds experience the highest rates of domestic abuse of any age group in England and Wales and high rates of sexually transmitted infections too. Furthermore, in April 2026, tragically, the first domestic abuse-related suicide of a child under 18 was formally recorded, and the Fordingbridge case, in which three teenage boys were convicted of raping two teenage girls, showed the country just how urgent peer-on-peer sexual violence among children has become.

It makes no sense, to survivors like me, who were abused at that exact age, that children aged 16-18 have no mandatory education on relationships and abuse. This is a dangerous, negligent gap in the law. And the government HAVE the power to close this gap before it costs another young person their safety, or their life.

If you believe every young person deserves the educational knowledge to navigate life outside of the school gates and have safe, healthy and happy relationships, then please sign this petition that calls for RSE to be made compulsory for all children up to the age of 18.

I am asking you to:

SIGN and SHARE this petition.

WRITE to Education Secretary Lucy Powell and Prime Minister Andy Burnham, asking them to make RSE mandatory up to age 18 — so every young person has the skills to confidently navigate relationships safely and recognise the red flags of abuse before it's too late.

Thank you for all your support. I know just how much this education would have helped me and so many other teenagers who have experienced domestic abuse at such a young age. Let's make this education compulsory for the next generation of 16- 18-year-olds!

Faustine