They have turned the toilets at my daughter's school mixed sex

But we dont know do we - hence OP asking for clarification.

Or perhaps you know OP and the school and it's arrangement? In which case do let us know.

But this is most likely a case of three toilets, male, female, and mixed.

it will allow trans students a safe space to go to the toilet that doesn’t put them at risk of having to go to the wrong bathroom, and doesn’t offend boys and girls who don’t accept their gender decisions.

i think it is the most sensible option. There are so many posts about parents of bio girls who don’t want trans girls (bio boys) in their daughters’ changing rooms and toilets…this fixes that. There is still a girls only space, and a boys only space, but also a mixed space.

if people put their pitchforks down for a second, and see it as a 3 toilet situation, not a 1 toilet situation then they would realise that this is actually for the best of many/all

Nice one, OP. I'll await their response with interest.

Risk assessment needs to consider pupils having seizures and fainting and quick evacuation checks (so visibility gaps are important on toilet doors).
Also, as others have said, sexual assaults. Statistics show more than one rape happens in a British school per school day, are they more likely if the toilets are mixed sex?

You're absolutely right, Clumping. I haven't seen that point made before, and you have described it beautifully.

That's rambly.

Basically, the inclusion of boys or men in female toilets, and vice versa, takes the fully-public area right up to the cubicle door, which a) means you've got cubicles which were never originally designed for full privacy right up against a fully public area, and b) takes away a valuable semi-private area that people use to carry out tasks that don't require a cubicle but aren't really normal public behaviour.

I think part of the lack of understanding around resistance to mixed toilets is due to people not wanting to accept that even outside the cubicles, which are definitely a private space, the communal area of the ladies'/girls' toilets has a semi-private quality, so that the types of behaviour expected and the types of activity that are considered acceptable are quite different from what's expected and acceptable in a fully public space. There are things I feel comfortable doing, and seeing other people do, in the communal area of the ladies' toilets that would be a bit odd elsewhere. I mean, nobody has their bits out or anything — I mean things you might do in your own bathroom. The semi-private-feeling nature of the ladies' loos would be very much lessened if men or boys were allowed there too, leaving no comfortable semi-private space for doing makeup or rearranging your clothing or adjusting your prosthetic leg.

There's a gradient of publicness between the truly public areas outside the loos, the corridor leading to the loos (sometimes, depending on building layout), the ladies/gents loo overall, and the individual cubicle. The semi-public, semi-private nature of the communal area means it's okay that there are gaps in doors and that toilet noises can be heard. If the cubicle were to directly abut a fully-public area, you'd want far better separation from the outside.

Indeed, Clumping. A proper enclosed bathroom means you can check who is there and decide whether you feel confident to make such an adjustment.

The open areas make that far harder.

The first person who actually popped into my mind when I thought of effect on disabled people was a schoolfriend of mine who occasionally had to hoik her skirt up a bit to do something with her prosthetic leg. Not always very appropriate in the classroom or corridor, but fine if you just quickly duck into the loos. If the loos are mixed she's either got to do that in a grubby, cramped cubicle, or do it with boys around.

But it's much broader than that, and the nature of disability is that people have needs that they have to meet in ways that the rest of us don't even know about, so equality impact assessments rarely have access to the information they'd need to evaluate the effects of changes on the enormously varied needs on disabled people.

I know that this is more of an issue for girls, but honestly, it’s horrible for boys too.
Thinking of my fairly quiet boy, heading into the loo and there being a gaggle of giggling girls in there whispering and laughing if they hear a fart etc. Yes it’s not as bad as a sexual assault (or fear of assault) - but most, if not all boys and men DO NOT want mixed sex toilets - they aren’t thinking “yay, I’ll get to harass girls”, they’re thinking “I don’t want girls hearing me take a leak, or worse!”. It was mooted at my husband’s work and after they canvassed opinion, no one wanted it.
It’s not just about assault, it’s also hugely about privacy and dignity.

That's a point, I wasn't thinking of the knock-on effect on those who need the accessible loo.

When I think my primary school banned boys from the wee (only a few metres long) passage that led to the girls’ toilets on the playground on the basis it led only to said loos so they’d no business there (with painted markings on the ground as a reminder, even) all this seems so much madder. The school even had us changing separately for PE in Year 6 - the music room was across from our classroom & the girls (there were only about a dozen of us in the class of over 30) went along the corridor to change.

How is it that schools, some that have been going for literally hundreds of years (as opposed to the mere 130ish years of my primary now) have so utterly lost their heads on this?! Almost everyone involved in running a school will at some point have attended one. A combined staff between them should remember what school loos are like for students. And cumulative years of school loos existing & children being punished for certain things relating to their [ab]use/cleaning staff complaining about issues should have been all the information required to make it clear This Is Not A Good Idea - as Safe Schools Alliance, amongst other groups, help explain in this factsheet. (Just thought I’d make that available for anyone struggling to understand why single-sex facilities are needed…)

Sorry, my meanderings aside (it does just break my wee brain, the casting aside of safeguarding rules because Be Kind): excellent letter @dumpling23, I hope things go well with the school & look forward to reading your update(s).

In light of ‘everyone’s invited’, the level of sexual assault should factor highly in any decisions such as these.

Very good point Clumping.

Plus, if more student use the disabled loos because they feel uncomfortable with the mixed ones, that will impact negatively on those who can only use the disabled loos.

I was wondering about the cost element too Dino

How much did it cost?
which budget did it come from and who signs off on such things? LEA?

Here we go again I’m appalled yet again girls safety and privacy is eroded. Doesn’t matter if your daughter is 3 or leaving school next summer she needs privacy.

Such decisions by school show an incredible lack of understanding of the pressures girls feel going through puberty, especially concerning periods.
These decisions also fail to recognise the increase in verbal/physical sexual assaults teenage girls are subjected to.
I hope more parents write and complain where it has happened. Please also write to MPs to make them more aware of this issue.

Thank you for that letter. I'm marking my place here in case I need to find it to copy and paste

Excellent letter. I have boys but if the school they go to ever change to mixed toilets I will be using your letter to complain.

As others have said this is also a mental health and disability issue. Bathrooms can be tricky places for kids at the best of times, if you do a poll of kids at school they will cite using the bathroom and it being dirty or a bit scary as one of their main issues.

My child is a boy, but constipation is a big issue because of his disability and this is not uncommon. It’s taken some time to work with the school to get him used to the toilets.

So not only is the school railroading equality rights and single sex needs, it is also making a whole host of disability issues worse. Foolish!

Same.

At this point I consider the removal single sex spaces to be an act of aggression against the female population. I won't say anything else for fear of being banned

Then, if in the UK, almost every school you have worked in has probably left themselves open to legal action, from parents of all children, as they have not provided the necessary, and obligatory, single sex facilities.

Neither my teen boy or teen girl would use unisex toilets at school. It's bad enough that they are used for vaping and general antisocial behaviour anyway.

It is a disgrace that any school is still trying this 😡

I would also mention the need to spend the school’s very limited budget responsibly and not to negligently waste money on projects that contravene the law.

Does anyone know the process by which spending decisions are justified and held to account? They might fear this more than waiting for a girl to try to take them to court for discrimination or the gov being bothered to act?

Unless you work with very unusual boys, many of them will leave piss on the seats and floor.

Girls then have the unenviable options of wiping it up themselves, or getting it on their clothes and bums. Gee thanks.