Residential trips

Do these people honestly not care about anyone else and thinks the world revolves around their child?

i am so glad mine are coming to the end of school. Fecking rainbow lanyards and pronoun declarations everywhere

I would put in a grievance that the school were expecting me to break safeguarding rules and pull out unless it was definitely single sex. But I’m aware I’m like a bull in a China shop sometimes. I think the risk assessment route may be best

Good kuck to you OP. Good on you for taking a stand. Very interested to know how it goes x

hopefully the hostel's own policy will emphasise safeguarding for all

I wouldn't count on it, I suspect they'll bat it back to the school.

Do the parents of the girls concerned even know about this? Or even the girls know?

The problem with 'but they're all friends and the girls are fine to sleep in the room with this male child they know and trust' is that next week when a male child arrives in school to join the trip that they don't know, don't trust and absolutely do not want to sleep in the same room with? The girls will be stuffed. The precedent will be set that male children have the right to identify into the girls' space end of.

The only two options really that I can see OP, and I feel for you because it is a hell of a situation to be put in:

The male child can be offered a safe, private space of their own and they and the girls gently supported to understand that safeguarding is sex based, and inclusive accommodation is to provide alternatives for a male child who does not wish to be recognised and treated as any other male child. And that it is necessary to compromise and accept blanket protections in order for going away to be possible. The girls are far too young to realise the implications of what they're kindly handing over.

The other is to no longer be available to run the trip. There is no chance that I would now be willing to take responsibility for overnight trips for any group, purely because this mess is now absolutely inevitable, will always result in a shitstorm where no one can be happy and a whole lot of bad feeling is created, a lot of emoting and high feeling and blame will get involved if you try to do your job and safeguard, and it's not worth it. God knows it's stressful and difficult enough to take kids away to try and give them a good experience: this has made it impossible. See #whywecanthavenicethings

Don’t do this. It is not up to children to monitor safeguarding rules. It is up to responsible adults to ensure that safeguarding guidelines are both secure and unequivocal.

Discriminating on the grounds of sex is a lawful reason to exclude the male child.

The law already supports this.

It's absolutely insane that anyone can suggest otherwise.

I am waiting for this to happen to me… if it does I’m going to ask a member of sky to come and them to carry out the risk assessment. I can’t have my name on that paperwork when it’s on the front of the daily mail. We also need to protect the trans child and this makes them vulnerable too.

It is awful that you are being put in this position and I hope you get support from management to resolve it. I'd also suggest seeking support from your union if you don't but that may be counterproductive, which is, frankly, terrifying.

With respect i disagree with the last bit of this. The parents and school leadership hold the responsibility here. If they make decisions contrary to good safeguarding, that is on them, not you.

If you go into battle on this, and it could turn into one, you need to look out for yourself. There are myriad women who have lost their jobs for saying very very uncontroversial things with only the very best of intentions. The mob came for them. And it could come for you, which is something you need to consider when choosing how to handle this.

Do not leave it to the girls to decide. If this boy is their friend they probably will say it's fine.

They are children and safeguards should be in place to protect the female pupils. Single sex bedrooms and facilities are a bare minimum.

It is not discriminatory to keep the biological and legal male out of the female single sex facilities.

Would the school allow one girl who says she's a boy to sleep in a dorm with 7 boys?

The male child's 'feelings' are irrelevant.

I would go down the suggested routes of risk assessment and legal advice before giving the school an ultimatum. It's an opportunity for the school to seriously consider this issue, and it can absolutely be presented as coming from a conscientious and well-meaning place (it is, afterall).Then if nothing changes you can refuse on moral grounds over defined risks

I dealt with this in a school. The parent called in the one of the trans extremist groups to threaten the school what would happen if the trans boy couldn't share a dormitory with the boys.
The staff refused to go and the trip was cancelled.

My advice would be to keep the issue as quiet as possible - don't let it become a talking point in the school. This is what Sex Matters state in their guidance for schools:
Sleeping accommodation
A school has single-sex dorms on a school trip. The Equality Act 2010 permits schools to arrange single-sex communal accommodation, for example on school trips or for boarding schools (including linked facilities such as toilets and showers). This is for reasons of privacy. As with toilets and changing
rooms, it is not appropriate to accommodate children of the opposite sex in single-sex communal accommodation (since it would then no longer be single-sex).
Children who identify as trans should not be made to feel unsafe or unwelcome sharing accommodation with children of the same sex as them, but they might also feel more comfortable with a single room.
Any teacher organising a trip away will also have to consider histories of bullying, disability and special needs, behavioural and other vulnerabilities for all children, and the layout of the site in allocating sleeping arrangements. Schools should not breach their policies on single-sex accommodation or risk
assessment about arrangements for sleep-away trips because a child identifies as transgender.

sex-matters.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Boys-and-Girls-and-the-Equality-Act-May-2021-England-and-Wales.pdf

Not exactly the same topic but maybe this face sheet from safe schools alliance may help.
safeschoolsallianceuk.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/singlesextoiletsfactsheet.pdf
I suspect the equalities act my be helpful

It is also worth asking questions?

''why arent dorms mixed sex on residentials?''

''becuase there is the risk of sexual assualt or consented sex, both carrying the risk of pregnancy''

''is there a risk of this if a fully intact 'transgirl' shares a dorm with females''

''yes''

this

I am very interested to hear what your slt suggest. I would not lead a trip with mixed sex rooms and would think the best you can offer is a room for the child in question to have their own room.

Don't do it! This has resulted in underage pregnancy in a trip organised by a friend of mine

Simply refuse, on safeguarding grounds

They go into a male dorm, or an isolated room, or you don't do the trip

End of

How is 'not sleeping in the same room as girls' discrimination?