An educational campaign group filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal on Monday as it continued efforts to reinstate the right of parents to withdraw children from sex education.

The Let Kids Be Kids Coalition, founded by a veteran Christian activist, has twice been refused permission for a judicial review challenging the government’s new relationship and sex education curriculum. 

The RSE policy, which among other things requires secondary school children to be told about same-sex relationships, came into effect in autumn. 

In a statement on its website following the latest legal setback, LKBKC said the judge “considered that all our claims on parental rights are arguable. However, we have not yet been given permission to go to a full hearing because the judge agreed with the government that there was too much delay in bringing the case.   

“This is a surreal situation because prior to launching our case the government claimed that it was premature and we needed to wait until we were directly affected before bringing it.” 

It added “on the basis of multiple established Court of Appeal authorities we are confident that we were entirely in time to bring this action.” 

The group’s campaign is backed by at least one Orthodox rabbi. 

Under the new regulations, requests by families to withdraw children can now be refused by schools in “exceptional circumstances” and withdrawal applies only to the sex education component of the curriculum, but not to health or relationships education. 

Three terms before a child turns 16, it becomes the child’s decision whether to withdraw from sex education or not. 

LKBKC is also arguing that the new RSE policy fails to pay sufficient regard to the religious beliefs of pupils.