I'm definitely in agreement with those here who think that there is a place for sex education, in the context of also learning about relationships, health issues, and maybe even parenting skills. Not 'here's how to have sex - now you go and try for yourself' but 'if you are going to have sex then take these steps to keep yourself safe from disease and pregnancy'.

I do believe that the predominant responsibility lies with the parents, but that for a well brought up child of caring sensitive parents, nothing that gets taught in school is likely to upset a child too much - if they are confused or distressed by anything that they are told then I'd hope that in a supportive family situation they'd be able to go and ask mum/dad/granny for more info and clarification, and would choose to do so. I think there is a parental responsibility to help your child cope with the things that they come up against in daily life and to be realistic about it. I am not convinced that a head in the sand 'but I don't want my child to encounter sex yet so nobody should be allowed to mention it to them' is going to cut it.

A personal example... or confession if you like. I'm in my early 30's. Went to school in the 1980's and was shown a video and given a talk first at the age of 9 (girls only) which mainly focussed on periods, and later had a lesson or two in mixed classes at secondary school that focussed more on sex & contraception. Plus at that time there was a lot of publicity about AIDS so loads of adverts for safe sex & condoms etc. None of this was news to me! I had open, liberal parents who had discussed sex with me from a pretty early age, and I was fairly interested in the whole thing from the age of about 10 or 11 onwards. Had a boyfriend at 11 where nothing progressed beyond kissing although we did talk in very general, titillated terms about what we might be able to do when we were older. At that point I hit a growth spurt vertically but not horizontally and spent the next 4 years unable to believe that any boy would want to go near a beanpole like me, no matter how much I might want them to. Did in fact lose my virginity at 15 to a somewhat older guy in a holiday one night stand situation (and yes we used a condom, at my firm instigation, with no argument from him) which served to satisfy much of my adolescent curiosity. Frankly, the only thing that made me wait til I was 15 was lack of a willing partner. I felt grown up enough to know what I wanted and was certainly adamant that I did want sex but didn't want a baby or a disease of any sort. I suspect, looking back, that had I been the kind of girl that boys fancied I might well have been sexually active a good couple of years younger than I was.
That said, I know plenty of people who just weren't interested until they hit their late teens - but who had access to all the same info from school etc that I did.

My theory is simply that different people mature at different rates, and that 'age of consent = 16' (or whatever) is a bit of an arbitrary choice. The important thing surely is for all young people to be making *informed* choices. I strongly believe that no age is too young to expect to take responsibility for your own choices & actions, and that it is a parent's job (hopefully with the assistance of the education system) to nurture that from day 1. The problems seem to arise when the child isn't helped to learn how to do that. And if parents are not doing it (which sadly plenty don't seem to) then it falls to schools, and realistically they can only do so much, even when they try.