Little 'victories' - School's policies.

[TinyRebel]

A little while ago, I was perusing my children's school's policies on their website and noticed that 'sex' and 'gender' were used interchangeably throughout. In listing the protected characteristics, 'gender' and 'gender identity' was used in place of 'sex' - also on their Equality Impact Assessment template.

Cue a letter to the school, using the Safe School's Alliance letter as a basis. I knew our county council is a Stonewall top 100 champion and that the policies likely originated from there, so enclosed a little bit on policy capture and why Stonewall should not be writing/advising on policy. I also 'helpfully' printed out the policies in question and made notes/highlighted as appropriate.

I've just had a meeting with the head. The chair of governors was in agreement that it needed to be changed. They have been liaising with the HR director at County, who agreed that the policy is not in accordance with the EA2010 and will be moving to change it.

Pretty significant I hope, as I believe this template policy doesn't just apply to schools, but to employment and organisations County wide. Will be watching this space.

N.b. The school also amended their own badly written anti bullying policy (which was probably lifted from somewhere and pre-dated the current head) to remove all reference to 'transgender pupils' and 'gender identity' as this was not at all relevant in a primary setting.

[IDontOnlyLikeJazzFunk]

well done TinyRebel - that is excellent work!! A definite victory and a great way to start a 'Friday' night

[ErrolTheDragon]

Well done - and it sounds as though your correction may be adopted on a wider basis which is excellent. (Well, it's not excellent that so many bodies have been misquoting the law in the first place, obviously!)

[Shedbuilder]

Well done, Tinyrebel: have a drink on me! In this way, tiny slice by tiny slice, we'll win this back.

[Childrenofthestones]

When one door shuts another one opens.

"Arkansas Passes Law Banning Transgender Therapy And Surgery On Children"

"The bill, titled the Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act (SAFE) Act, would ban any and all healthcare related to transgender therapy or surgeries on children. "

//www.thewashingtongazette.com/2021/04/breaking-arkansas-passes-law-banning.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialshare

[Thelnebriati]

This is a great result; it might also be the case that some schools are looking for a reason to stop paying fees year after year.

[stumbledin]

Well done!

[persistentwoman]

Well done OP for taking the trouble to challenge this - that's such a good outcome. For anyone reading this who is interested in challenging Stonewall's intrusion into schools (especially as they're now targeting primary schools), Safe Schools Alliance have an excellent template letter with all the evidence about the damage this can do to children and schools:

safeschoolsallianceuk.net/resources-2/letter-templates/

[MsFogi]

Well done OP! I wish more people would take the time to challenge schools about the wording in their policies (I get the feeling I am the only one in my dcs' school and it would help me not to look like a crazed one-issue parent if others were emailing in too!!).

[Whatsnewpussyhat]

Well done

[Leafstamp]

Well done OP. For even easier ease of reference, here is some wording from one of the many excellent template letters, linked to above:

I am writing to communicate my concerns about the wording of your Equality Policy and express my doubts that this complies with the Equality Act 2010.
[Either:]
Your policy inaccurately lists ‘gender’ as a protected characteristic, which it is not. ‘Sex’ is the protected characteristic as listed in the Equality Act 2010, but it is not listed in your policy.
[Or:]
Whilst your policy correctly lists ‘sex’ as a protected characteristic, it unfortunately conflates the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ throughout the document.

Although the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ have been used interchangeably in recent history, changing political circumstances have made it necessary to draw a distinction between the two – particularly where legislation is concerned. ‘Sex’ refers to the biological, reproductive classification of people as either ‘male’ or ‘female’. ‘Gender’ refers to the social expectations, roles or stereotypes of each of the sexes. While the two are clearly linked, it is important to acknowledge the difference in order to protect both adults and children from sex-based discrimination.

I respectfully ask that you amend your Equality Policy to replace any erroneous references to ‘gender’ as a protected characteristic with the correct term, ‘sex’.

In addition, if you find that your DC's school (or indeed your own workplace's) Equality Policy includes data collection, or you are ever asked what gender you/your DC is, then the following is useful in terms of what employers are allowed to record and keep:

www.gov.uk/personal-data-my-employer-can-keep-about-me

[ArabellaScott]

Wow, that is fantastic work, OP. Well done.

[ClocksChange]

That’s cheered me! Well done!

[Cuntryhouse]

Woo hoo!!!

[StrictlyAFemaleFemale]

Brilliant stuff!

[FemaleAndLearning]

Well done. It really does work if we chip away.

[highame]

I meant to add my congratulations OP, a county wide review. Well done

[StillFemale]

Fantastic

I was feeling happy about my very minor win on getting a website related to my hobby to remove gender as an example of the protected characteristic in diversity and equality policy (they removed the list of examples and referred to the Equality Act for the list), yours is a rather more significant win

[YouSetTheTone]

Well done op!!! And I’m so pleased as well - I badgered my local primary school about this a couple of months ago and I’ve just checked their website on the back of this post. They’ve changed theirs now too! It correctly reads sex not gender!!
I’m delighted, must email and thank them.

[WeeTorag]

@MsFogi

Well done OP! I wish more people would take the time to challenge schools about the wording in their policies (I get the feeling I am the only one in my dcs' school and it would help me not to look like a crazed one-issue parent if others were emailing in too!!).

Hey @MsFogi I feel the same! I'm pretty sure I've been the only one, I'm a total spanner in the works though, constantly challenging our school. (That said, a Dad I know has challenged them this week 🎉) My son is only in year 7 so I've rocked the boat pretty early. But I failed to stop them renewing Stonewall membership, despite discrediting them as best I could and formally complaining etc, I was gutted. But I have made them look at their policies and consult with the parents on RSE/PSHE. They even sent a survey monkey the day but it was sneaky, look how they've worded one of the questions. Trying to gain parental approval to teach gender id by lumping it in with sexual orientation. I was so annoyed that I emailed them about it and told them the wording is out of order, that they are two very different things and the responses will be skewed.

Well done OP, you've done great!! 👏👏👏

[MsFogi]

Well done @WeeTorag we all need to be asking and challenging - the brainwashing is insidious in so many schools.

[Thecatonthemat]

Well done...not at all a ‘ little victory’ . There are lots of women challenging this one school at a time, and all over things may be changing thanks to you and all the others. It has no business at all in the primary school, and should not have a big place in secondary school either , apart from the ‘ some people believe...’ type of thing.

[CuthbertDibbleandGrubb]

Well done and an important victory.

[malloo]

Good for you! That's spurred me on to get writing to DS's school about the same thing.