Sex education teaching for four-year-olds proposed

Teaching sex education to four-year-olds could soon be on the cards in England, following a recommendation by two leading sexual health charities.

Brook and the Family Planning Association have called on the government to introduce this earlier on in a child's school life, reports the BBC.

Such suggestions are due to the soaring rates of abortion and sexually transmitted infections amongst young people in the country.

It is hoped that reaching youngsters earlier with information on the topic could help reverse this trend.

"All the evidence shows that if you start sex and relationships education early - before children start puberty, before they feel sexual attraction - they start having sex later," said Brook's chief executive Simon Blake.

The organisations have also urged Labour to make sex education more prominent on the curriculum for all ages.

Sexual health clinics are now based at around a third of England's secondary schools, recent research by the Sex Education Forum has revealed.