DS's school - deep in genderwoo

I agree with everything Spookymormonhelldream has just said.

I've had 3 trans identified pupils who all eventually desisted - two after leaving school and one whilst still at school.

My impression of the eldest is that she was being pressurised into being trans by her peers, if that doesn't sound crazy: she was laid back if a teacher 'deadnamed' her. (Only her real name was on the register.) It was the other kids who started screaming 'Transphobia!'

I shudder to think what would have happened to the youngest girl if she'd been coerced into giving her pronouns to an adult. She desisted after less than a year.

Fuxking hell. No advice but solidarity OP. The recording thing would have me absolutely on the warpath though. What if a pupil 'identifies' as something then changes their mind? It's no one's business and certainly a breach of GDPR.
I'm Catholic and my DS will be attending catholic secondary school. At the open evening the Head was very clear that sex Ed is taught in line with the values of the church. It was a very thinly veiled way of saying, no woo bullshit here.

This. Plus I'd go a step further and suggest parents proactively seek out information about what their children are learning and how the school is approaching this topic both in the classroom and in policies.

Sex matters have useful info here : Use School Check to find out if a school has been captured by gender-identity ideology - Sex Matters (sex-matters.org)

It's not that hard to push back at schools, this ideology is utterly indefensible. I would encourage every parent to have meetings with schools if it rears it's ugly head.

Safe Schools Alliance; Transgender Trend; Sex Matters all have great resources.

Apart from anything else, requiring students to disclose pronouns is essentially requiring trans students to out themselves. There is no way that should happen in a school. And the data protection issues are legion.

Bloody hell. I would be taking a complaint as far as possible. This madness needs to end.

Christ what comes next identifying people by a 5 digit number?!

My former HT was castigated by a local councillor for not doing enough for LGBQT+ . He pointed out that neither was the school up the road. "That's different. It's a Catholic school."

I would absolutely consider a faith school for a child of mine, if it meant that it would save them from Mermaids and the like.

You are going to be asking for a copy of that recording right?

Just before I quit my middle management post, I was tasked with writing a Diversity Policy for my school. At that time, Stonewall was advising schools to go to Mermaids for advice on transgender issues.

I wouldn't touch Stonewall with a ten foot bargepole these days.

‘Last week they were invited in to a room, one-by-one and with a tape recorder running asked to state their pronouns, to someone not known to them at all and quite possibly a non-staff member’

surely that’s a complete safeguarding fail right there?

This is deeply sinister, it is what you would expect from communist China not the UK. Can you report to you local authority and even the police?

take the child somewhere else, no wonder children have mental health issues.

I live in France and parents quite regularly post in local Facebook groups asking about how much genderwoo is being taught in state primary schools and whether private Catholic schools are a better option if you want to avoid it.

I would worry that they have abandoned the religious stuff in favour of more fashionable ideas.

That's impressive.

I wonder if maybe people could push for the GC perspective (or associated conservative view) to be taught in schools, if they are going to be exposed to stuff about transgenderism and pronouns.

I mean teach in the sense that this is one perspective that many people have, and these are the arguments that they give.

It's actually getting to the point where I'd consider sending my child to a religious school in the hope that they will be taught less woowoo.

It's not like it's a religious school where you know what you're getting.

I doubt any of the parents were told in advance, "choose this school because these are the values that we will teach your kids".

How much time and energy do you have to devote to this? I did a lot of correspondence and meetings with my DD's school and things did change (e.g. the "Pride" club is now called the Friendly club and is a general #BeNice place rather than TRA nest.

The Safe Schools Alliance, Transgender Trend and Sex Matters resources are pretty hard to argue against so do use them.

Yes I think you need to ask them if they think it would be appropriate to take children into a room, put them in front of someone they don't even know and ask any of those things.

They need a very big rethink.

Which groups? Always good to know which ones to look out for.

Maybe you could mention that more and more employers are cutting ties with Stonewall due to their questionable attitudes towards women, children and gay people and their bullying tactics.

Do they have any links with Mermaids?

In addition to the article about safeguarding in schools mentioned upthread, Safe Schools Alliance & Genspect are a fantastic source of advice for parents.

We don't have to put up with this. Too much of what is being taught in schools is unethical and age inappropriate and sadly with the government still prevaricating, parents are having to take on schools alone.
Safe Schools Allaince have a massive range of template letters & other resources:
https://safeschoolsallianceuk.net/

Genspect also have a range of resources including direct support for parents with children caugt up in this, training for schools and advice for parents in dealing with schools:

https://genspect.org/support/

what I would ask the school is where they are getting their guidance from? Ask them to direct you to the documents that recommended this approach. The Independent Schools Council and HMC give guidance on Diversity and Inclusion, was it part of their advice to the school?
Or did they receive guidance from a charity, and what safeguarding procedures were taken to check the work of individuals involved creating this pronoun performance.

It’s worth mentioning that the Bayswater Support Group surveyed parents and found that 80% of children who wanted to change their pronouns or declared a non binary status had been bullied. What has the school done to ensure children who proclaim an opposite/non binary pronoun are not the victims of bullying. Do feel free to DM me if you want to.