A mother has removed her seven-year-old daughter from school after pupils were made to watch a graphic cartoon showing a couple having sex.
The Christian Institute has a copy of this video but has deemed its content too graphic to show on this website.
The controversial Channel 4 sex education DVD, Living and Growing, is recommended by the Department for Children, Schools and Families according to a council education chief.
The Government plans to make sex education compulsory for primary schools but to do so the Children, Schools and Families Bill must first be passed by Parliament.
The video shows a naked couple chasing each other around a bed and then having sex, while a voice-over gives a detailed description of the action.
It was shown to seven and eight-year-old children at East Wold Church of England Primary School.
Lisa Bullivant, from Legbourne in Lincolnshire, was so alarmed by the “graphic” content, she took her daughter out of the school and placed her with another school.
Mrs Bullivant said: “The cartoon was very graphic. My daughter was frightened and children have unfortunately been copying what they have seen.
“Seven to nine-year-olds should not possess this knowledge. There is no educational or psychological benefit or need for children of this age to have full knowledge of what sexual intercourse actually entails.”
The school insists it sent a letter inviting parents to view the video ahead of showing it to pupils but Mrs Bullivant and several other parents could not make it to the meeting.
She said: “We had no reason to think we needed to. You never think in a million years that would be taught to seven-year-olds.
“We had faith in the head teacher and the school that all they would be learning would be basic puberty. It should have said in the letter children would learn how to have sexual intercourse.”
The school’s head teacher Lesley Thornes refused to comment.
Mrs Bullivant has voiced her concerns with Mrs Thornes and the school’s governors. She is now seeking a meeting with the director of education at Lincolnshire County Council.
Debbie Barnes, Assistant Director of Children’s Services at the Council, said: “The DVD has been recommended for use in schools by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and is seen as appropriate for the age group.
“We are sorry Mrs Bullivant has taken this view, but we are happy with the school’s approach in using the DVD for the benefit of its pupils and their education.”
Thousands of the Channel 4 sex education packs have been sold to primary schools across the country since its release in 1999.
A Channel 4 spokesman said: “Living and Growing has been in the marketplace for nearly ten years and has been very well-received by the educational community.
“Living and Growing was developed in response to requests for a resource that promotes sex and relationship education as a developmental process.
“One of our most popular series, it has successfully supported schools and primary care trusts across the UK to address one of the most sensitive themes of the healthy schools curriculum initiative in a factual and age-appropriate way.”
However, the Living and Growing series has a history of prompting protests from parents.
In 2007 a primary school was forced to reconsider its sex education policy after parents complained about the controversial resources being used for their five-year-old children.
Sherwell Valley School in Torquay, Devon, planned to use the government-approved materials but angry parents complained that the Living and Growing video, which includes detailed descriptions of the effect of touching private parts, was inappropriate and offensive.
In 2006 families campaigned unsuccessfully against the introduction of the classes for five to seven-year-olds at Dobcroft Infant School in Sheffield.
And in 2003, horrified parents pleaded with Cambell Infant School in Dagenham, Essex, not to use the material.
The Government plans to make sex education statutory for children aged five and up from September 2011. Parents will lose their right of withdrawal when their child turns 15.
Under the Children, Schools and Families Bill, sex education will become part of the national curriculum and control over the content of lessons will be taken away from school governors and given to Whitehall officials.
All publicly-funded secondary schools will be forced to teach children how to access contraception and abortion services.
Both primary and secondary schools will also be forced to teach children that unmarried unions are equal to marriage.