Primary School application asking for 4 year old's pronouns

Request meeting with head before end of term - I would go ultra woke - clearly x is biologically a [...] but I think it's really important to understand that such small children are still finding their place in the world and shouldn't be pigeon-holed into one box of other so early in life, I would expect primary school to be a safe place for all children to get to know about themselves and their place in the world without any undue pressure to declare their pronouns or claim or affirm a gender identity. I would prefer that children weren't referred to as girls and boys and separated unnecessarily into girls and boys groups and the like except for toilets and changing. I think we can all agree that in the 21st century there's no need for regressive stereotypes can't we?

So with respect to pronouns I think if a teacher is talking in front of a child they should use their name, if they're talking or writing about a child they should use a sex based pronoun at least up to the point where the child requests otherwise and children should never ever be asked to confirm their pronouns as it creates an undue pressure on them to affirm or deny elements of their personality they may not be ready to share.

Gender is the name for the Sex field in SIMS. Quite possibly due to historical responses of 'Sex? Yes please, hurr-hurr' from men. It's annoying but in itself, we can't do anything about it apart from rant on the Internet for decades about them being two different things

Pronouns, however, aren't there at all.

I could have had fun on that form with my DD who, age 4, "lived as a dog" for a large proportion of her time.

I could have put "speaks Doggish" under Second Languages Spoken (one woof for a yes, two woofs for a no, and lots of panting and yapping and whining).

And I could have put "Needs to drink water from a bowl" under Special Dietary Requirements.

Ironically, even in her dog identity, she was still female.

This pronoun stuff is so unhelpful.

Crazy. My Son would have said he was fireman sam at age 4.

We had this and I crossed out gender and put sex. They even asked for emergency contacts gender and again I crossed it out and put sex. I didn't mind being that person in the end.

“ he’s a boy. Except when he’s a train.”

GDPR... you can collect data in relation to protected characteristics, one of which is sex... but not other data. Gemder is not a protected characteristic and the department for Education guidance on gender is to use age appropriate language and not to suggest that children can be born in the wrong body.

I would seriously consider a long letter including the fact that gender is a set of regressive stereotypes that is particularly harmful to women but also harmful to gender non conforming males. I would copy the governors and send it to the head.

If it's a paper form, answer only those questions you feel comfortable with.

Regarding pronouns, I would state that while you would support an adult requesting to be referred to as the opposite gender if they were respectful of your personal boundaries, you do not think it is appropriate for a primary school to be seeking that children assign themselves to a set of stereotypes or to suggest by asking this question that sex can ever be changed.

I rejected a school place when I realised they had a Stonewall logo on their sign.

I think the issue at Primary level is 1) kid culture at the moment is surprisingly stereotyped: Girls are ballerinas, boys are mini footballers. 2) Children believe whatever adults tell them. Some of the training in this area has strayed into dangerous territories eg encouraging secret keeping or gaslighting that penises are like big clitorises.

If your kids don't fit their sex stereotype, if they are non neurotypical or gay, the combo of the regressive wider kid culture and the misguided faux progressive belief of the school = your kid saying they are trans. An adult can choose what they do with their body, but I think all children deserve to grow up in healthy bodies, free from the sexism and homophobia that adult trans people report from their childhoods.

This. It's all they need.

I'd just cross the whole line out and write N/A at the end of the line.

Leave it blank and write - sex - male underneath.

Surely not 😮

I would send a copy of this to Baroness Nicholson and Miriam Cates as a minimum, and mention that the Cass interim review said that social transitioning isn't a neutral act. This would be a big red flag for me but it's not like you can "just" change schools.

I'm afraid I wouldn't hold out much hope for anything useful from a talk with the the head. Or maybe try it, then give a summary to Baroness Nicholson and Miriam Cates MP? You don't need to give loads of personal details but an outline would be enough, I'd think.

Would Safe Schools Alliance be able to help, as Leafstamp suggests?

Suddha · Today 14:49
This school is obviously pushing gender ideology. Are you sure you want to send your child there? It could end up being very problematic in the long run

That is what I think too but it is probably too late to find another school at this stage, and the other alternative of home schooling is probably not feasible either.

This ought to be against the law. Would you consider writing to Sajid Javid, Baroness Nicholson, Jacob Rees Mogg, and your MP as well, OP?

Thus doesn't bode well, OP. Could your child go elsewhere, somewhere with some common sense?

This school is obviously pushing gender ideology. Are you sure you want to send your child there? It could end up being very problematic in the long run.

Is there space to write "where do babies come from?"

I would leave it blank and when your son starts school make sure you ask for RSE resources and attend any open evenings on the topic etc. I would check their Equality policy now to make sure they are not conflating sex and gender. Also worth looking at RSE and Behaviour policies to check for anything that indicates they are promoting gender ideology.

You probably know that Safe Schools Alliance have loads of good information on all this.

Can you write N/A?

I started a new job recently, badly needed it so didn't want to kick up a fuss and that's what I put when asked for pronouns. Relieved to discover since I started working there that so far I've only seen two HR people with pronouns in their email signature, nobody else seems to have added theirs.

Why is everyone making life harder?

Would be tempted to write 'none of your business' actually.