There are similar problems for boys, with many having wet dreams before they have learnt anything about them.
Experts are now urging schools to look again at their PSHE and sex and relationships education (SRE) curriculum to tackle the gaps.
The warning has come within the latest edition of the Sex Education Forum’s education resource The Puberty Issue.
It includes the results of research involving more than 2,000 young people aged 11 to 25. It shows that 24 per cent of girls start having their periods before tackling the issue in PSHE/SRE. Fifteen per cent said they were taught nothing at school about menstruation.
For boys, 38 per cent experienced wet dreams before having learnt about them and more than half said they were never taught about this aspect of puberty.
The SEF’s resource says that schools often leave puberty education to the last minute and treat it as a “big talk”, when it should be “an on-going conversation”.
The Puberty Issue provides teachers with ways of introducing puberty in an age-appropriate fashion. It includes features on:
- The factors that may be contributing to a current increase in early onset puberty in girls.
- How the adolescent brain develops during puberty.
- Using art to express the emotional aspect of puberty.
- How a child in every class could start menstruating before leaving primary school, and the practical steps schools can take to support them.
Lucy Emmerson, SEF coordinator, said: “A question at the heart of many children’s feelings about puberty is ‘am I normal?’ and too often this goes unanswered at school and home.
“Leaving education about puberty too late can cause unnecessary fear and confusion, and is a failure to prepare children for adult life. With spring around the corner, we hope that schools will take the opportunity to talk to children about how things are growing and changing in the world around them, and how puberty is a natural part of life.”
The Puberty Issue is available via www.sexeducationforum.org.uk