GDST schools announce trans policy

Another pleased gdst old girl here! I hope girl guides read these articles!

I have an interest in this as we're planning on our daughters going to our local girls' independent if they're bright enough. I did badly in my maths A level as I was so distracted by the boys in my class. Not in a fancying way, I had a boyfriend at a different school, but as the only girl in the small class I had way too much attention on me and didn't have the maturity to stay focused.

Covered by the Times

Trans pupils are turned down by girls’ schools as threat to status

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a945d8a8-6c08-11ec-87c8-7ab22098d3fb?shareToken=8f06bb14b73303ba054204eb9976056f

DH teaches at an all-boys state school and any boys that id as girls still stay at the boys' school rather than transferring to the associated girls' school.

Ultimately, no parent who values single sex schooling for girls will be prepared to pay for their daughters to be educated with boys.

One of the obvious coed alternatives to WHS, PHS, NHEHS and SHHS and a number of other non-GDST girls schools (SPGS, G&L, FH, and more) has already had to face up to issues caused by inappropriate male behaviour.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9357225/Top-20-000-year-London-private-school-rape-culture-say-pupils.html

I really hope that the Department of Education can issue clear guidance that will allow girls in mixed schools, who are not protected by the Equalities Act, to enjoy single sex changing rooms and sports.

There are many mixed sex schools in which transgender students can identify as best suits them without impact on anyone else.

I worry about this. GDST rightly say they will allow female pupils who identify as boys to stay if they want. I also assume single sex boys schools will do the same for boys identifying as girls. However I suspect both sets of schools would not mind if such pupils transferred to mixed sex schools. Indeed I hear that this is already happening.

What about the girls there? Will their right to single sex spaces, privacy and dignity be respected. I don’t know exact figures but given the provision by GDST and others I assume that there in London private schools there are more single sex places than co-ed places. Which means that girls in coed schools are likely to be disproportionately affected by loss of their spaces and sports.

And if the obvious message is that girls in these schools don’t count, it becomes still harder for them to have their voices heard in the classroom and elsewhere.

This is excellent news. I’m hoping the Association of state girls schools will now announce something similar. www.asgs.org.uk/

@motherartichoke this is a reading I recommend to understand how dangerous it is to put adults’ desires and needs onto children.

cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-3638-8

A transgender woman is a woman, and a transgender man is a man.

The mistake you seem to be making is confusing your belief system with material reality.

I appreciate that these are your sincerely held beliefs, and of course you are perfectly entitled to hold them, but they are no different to my mind than the sincerely held beliefs of those who maintain the earth is flat, or that it was created 6,000 years ago.

If you want to believe something yourself it’s entirely up to you. But if you want to persuade people of the truth and validity of your beliefs, then you need to be prepared to back them up with a solid evidence base and reasoned arguments.

Just repeating mantras is not going to advance your case in any way. Neither will making blatantly untrue, easily disprovable statements such as Ftm people are male. Male is not a term that refers to social constructs, and biologically female trans people are most definitely not of the class that produces small, motile gametes.

The issue here is one of single sex education, and sex, as you rightly say, is a distinct category from that of the social construct of gender. For a great many people the category of sex is vastly more important than what we see as the spurious category of “gender” and should rightfully take precedence. And it’s very good to see an organisation agreeing with us.

And as for all the people worrying about how the ‘TRAs’ will react, they are only campaigning for what is, or should be, their legal right. A transgender woman is a woman, and a transgender man is a man.

But children attending school are just that: children. They are not transgender women or transgender men because they are not adults. And their legal right is to be safeguarded, to be protected from damaging ideologies, to be protected from bodily harm, to be protected from bullying and emotional abuse, and to receive an education that will teach them to assess evidence so that they make informed choices.

Finally a common sense. So pleased with this as I have listened on the radio some time ago that a girl school in London took a decision to change their name and removed the 'girls' bit due to a student filed a complaint that he/she was feeling uncomfortable- ridiculous for school to go that far to change their name

I respect that you believe that people change sex, but it is not a belief I share or agree that others should be compelled to affirm, and it is not a legal right to deprive others of their legal rights.

There are many mixed sex schools in which transgender students can identify as best suits them without impact on anyone else. To insist on a right to attend a school that has been specifically intended for children of the opposite sex, with the aim of providing something specific for that single sex, is to set out to break that boundary for personal political reasons and to attempt to remove that facility for all those other children. I don't condone an act of selfishness like that.

MTF students likewise have male bodies that can't be ignored.

Ftm people are male. That’s it. They probably won’t want to attend an all-girls school because they are not girls, and just like most boys, probably wouldn't want to be surrounded by them.

They are children - girls often hitting puberty who are told that they can fix their uncomfortable developing bodies by "changing sex". They need sensitive support, time to grow and develop and safeguarding from the influence of self interested adults persuading them they've been born in the wrong body fgs.

It's good to read an alternative view well argued, thank you motherartichoke. I'd question your use of male and female in the gender context, but of course I would.

I think single sex education is just that. I think boys are not men and girls are not women, they are still growing and developing.

I understand the point that is being made in this case, but I completely disagree with it.

Sex is biological, but gender is a social construct, so to allow people who are biologically female but identify as male (ftm) to attend the school, but not the other way around, doesn’t make sense. I think this because the school is for girls only for the social side of their lives, as in who they interact and work with.

Ftm people are male. That’s it. They probably won’t want to attend an all-girls school because they are not girls, and just like most boys, probably wouldn't want to be surrounded by them. I do think it is unfair to kick trans pupils out if they have been at the school before their transition, but overall this decision is backward.

And as for all the people worrying about how the ‘TRAs’ will react, they are only campaigning for what is, or should be, their legal right. A transgender woman is a woman, and a transgender man is a man. Don’t try and take away their education just because you disagree with their identity.

Well done, GDST.

Oh yes and it was delicious to see that Maya Forstater is a GDST alumna. Hoo boy. No wonder CGD don't know what's hit them.

Cynically though they are a private organisation who need to keep the majority of their paying clients happy. So an easier decision than for public sector bodies…

As an ex-GDST girl this was fantastic to see. GDST goes where Fawcett, Women's Aid and all the rest fear to tread! I'll be writing to them in support.

It was inevitable that they (and other single sex schools) would have to take an explicit position on this.

Firstly, their business model relies on parents who want single sex education for their daughters. If they deviate from that they are toast. So it is excellent that by this policy statement they have been really, really clear that the consequence of admitting any boys, even ones who identify as girls, is that your single sex school is not single sex anymore. Once you admit one boy you have to admit all the ones who pass the entrance exam.

Secondly, if they became mixed sex, it would almost certainly put them and their member schools in breach of charities law as they would no longer be centering their founding charitable objectives. And it would be totally impractical as the schools do not have the facilities or space for mixed sex safeguarding (separate locker rooms etc).

So in the face of prospective parents (and quite possibly some staff) who are committed gender ideologues and would seek to erode single sex provision, they had to have a clear policy on this, otherwise you would get people continually testing and weakening the boundaries.

It's a bit disappointing that it's not come out in the form of a full throated I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR defence of girls' single sex education, but, actually, we don't need that. All we need is that organisations be grown-ups, calmly defend their boundaries, and centre girls. That is what GDST have done, and that is a radical act (I'm sorry to say) in itself.

I list all respect for the GDST a few years ago tbh after the appalling way they treated my dd.

She started one school which then closed so she only attended for one year. Moved as they merged to a gdst school. She had a scholarship and rest made up by a bursary and she had severe medical needs. I gave all her letters and evidence of this to the original school.

The existing nurse moved to the new school and she knew the medical info plus I assumed the letters etc were transferred too…..

My daughter became more Ill. The head of pastoral care started saying she didn’t believe it as ‘saw her smiling sometimes with friends’

Then I was given a deadline that in 48 hours I had to get up to date consultant letters or they’d remove her funding. Miraculously I got the proof and submitted it .

The following term they refused to put in place adjustments for exams stating she ‘wasn’t dyslexic so they refused’ and if I sent a carton of Juice for a break they would need it the day before to ensure I hadn’t tampered with it to write any info in that would enable cheating in an exam wtf

She was banned from the medical centre and told there would be no adjustments made as they didn’t believe the medical conditIons were genuine

They then asked us to remove her and we declined so they called social services and said I’d made up everything and had not submitted any medial info and they suspected dd may be being abused and kept away from education . They said I refused to take her in when DAILY I was dropping her off and picking her up

They were hateful . The gdst are awful. So this is all just self promotion as they don’t care at all. It’s a business and they are ruthless

RoaringtoLangClegintheDark
It's incredible what a relief it is to hear a group of schools speaking out in favour of the rights of girls for a change. I do know that there are a growing number of Heads up and down the country finally realising the damage that's being done to children via social contagion, some trying to deal with safeguarding issues generated by unsupervised LGBT groups and others under siege from cross parents about the serial gaslighting of their children by adults with an agenda. This move will give them confidence but with Stonewall (according to Nancy Kelly) leading the charge to embed themselves in primary schools with the very youngest of children, it's going to be an uphill struggle.

But back in the real world, it’s excellent news to hear of an organisation coming to such a reasonable decision that doesn’t disadvantage girls, for a change. A very welcome relief.

Well done GDST.