Secondary School complaint about mixed sex changing rooms. Update, school response and request for help writing the escalated complaint to governors

I agree, but for places that didn’t used to be so private as they were single sex.

edited to clarify

Absolutely they'll be loads of cases both immediately and in the future.
I think this could be like historic sex abuse cases, things will have happened in 'single sex spaces' to young people and it will be decades before they feel able to talk or take the institutions to court.

yes, this is true.

this ruling is likely to have been needed before the schools gender questioning guidance was finalised.

EHRC should be able to clarify for schools too.

Well that's bleak. Hopefully a positive knock-on of the SC ruling will be giving orgs like the EHRC a kick up the arse.

I have no doubt that guidance will be being picked apart @WarriorN . I posted it merely as a reference point for the OP to see what advice schools were being offered following this judgement to support their letter and to try to deflect what arguments could be thrown back.

And whilst I agree with the sentiment of ignoring the unions and the like @BonfireLady , these larger bodies are the guides that schools have to go by. Schools are run by teachers, who are trained to teach, and are not trained in the nuance of law. Governing bodies may have a legal brain within them, most will not.

Schools are having to take guidance from somewhere. How are teachers supposed to know if the union or SSA are on the right side of the law with their advice? Both offer convincing arguments as to why they are correct in their opposing arguments.

Some schools are ignoring Cass, existing guidance and breaking the law. Others are very much not breaking the law but doing safeguarding properly, including single sex spaces.

This fact I hope will mean the "it's so complicated" defence won't wash. There are enough school leaders who have shown sufficient intelligence not to put children at risk at the behest of adult political activists. I hope this means those who have capitulated to anti safeguarding TRA rubbish will face full responsibility including losing their jobs

The EHRC didn’t want to know when I tried to tell them about toilets last year.

agree - @Globulesthis is a good thread breaking down the issues with it.

https://x.com/matildagosling/status/1913892996208067032?s=46&t=A2fpFNgDRyXF2d6ye97wEA

i would not trust any external company of any description that’s not SSA, TT or SM on anything at the moment. Hopefully the EHRC will provide everything schools need to know.

Great work OP.

I'm hoping after the SC ruling there will be renewed pressure on the government to clarify policy for schools, and I think your case could be part of that.

They've been allowed to just quietly ignore the draft guidance as if there's no issue, but the issue is there and readytoexplode.

Schools are ignoring Cass and supporting social transition and they are ignoring the Equality act and not protecting single sex spaces.

I hope they are going to be coming under some serious scrutiny very soon.

I rewatched a bit of Life on Mars the other day. It took me back to when the DfE quoted 1974 H&S at work legislation when I asked for risk assessments for their 2023 designs, which aren’t suitable for lots of children for safety reasons.

edit: pressed post too quick

Ha! Didn't spot that either 😂

There's going to be loads of court cases, isn't there?

If schools don't start grabbing this with two hands, rather than obfuscating behind "it's all too complicated, we're waiting for guidance" etc then yes, I should think so.

The draft Gender Questioning Children guidance made it very clear where it was repeating existing law. Toilet and changing room provision was a section with much of this in it.

If schools and their governors continue to rely on this tactic, it's going to get very expensive for them I should think.

Yes, the DfE does need to pull its finger out. But KCSIE exists now and so does lots of other legislation. Schools need to wake up, stop assuming that the unions have got it right and read the law for themselves.

Heh! Never noticed that! 😄

Love 💖the archive URL! Was that deliberate, do you know?

Well done those parents. It's disgraceful that Scotgov is still dragging their feet on this. There's going to be loads of court cases, isn't there?

This great news is one step closer.
It’s the ‘lockable’ bit which is a problem in that they can’t truly be secure as you have to be able to get in. So kids may prat about and open them up from the outside.
Now the real bit for discussion is privacy v safety. If there’s going to be lots of mixed sex toilets how do they cater for that? Lots more security? Or open them up (door gaps) so you can see if anyone has collapsed and how many children/adults there are in each one?

To add:

There is legislation which stipulates separate toilets for each sex for schools from the age of 8 in England. Apologies if this is a repeat of something already up thread:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/1943/regulation/4/made

IANAL but I can't imagine there is any wiggle room on this with both this and the Scottish ruling.

The SC judgement is simply good timing, as obviously children in schools won't have a GRC (possibly some in 6th forms but unlikely, given the "2 years as the opposite 'gender'" stipulation before applying), in that it seems to have given the whole country permission to state facts out loud.

Great work OP. It really is a phenomenal letter.

Also, this may be of interest... a court case in Scotland about mixed-sex toilets in schools. Yes, it's Scotland but it refers to the EA so my understanding is that it would apply across the UK:

https://archive.is/CntyW

Short thread on X (scroll up from here ⬇️):

https://x.com/SunriseDances/status/1915055444588138592?t=HNb-GaBquQltYzktDBX4cg&s=19

Screenshots below for anyone not on X.

Great work, well done. Let's hope appropriate safeguarding is restored at your children's school asap.

I do think this will be an excellent template for others to use too.

Let's hope they respond appropriately. If not, there are an army of us willing to support a legal challenge.

Good luck!

Yes, this is great work you've done, @TangenitalContrivance . I very much appreciated your "I'm not taking any any shit on this" tone! 💪

Well done, Tangential - you've certainly put in the hard yards. I look forward to reading the next piece of evasive waffle they try to fob you off with.

Good luck!

@Globules it's had a lot of challenges on Twitter and they've had to edit what they said, so probably best not to follow it - see all the QTs / corrections https://x.com/edaptuk/status/1912780273869115554/quotes

That page also now has a sort of disclaimer at the top saying how much feedback they've had!

Just popping on to commend you @TangenitalContrivance. This is a huge piece of work, and not easily carried out in the current climate. I already feel like you’ve given a lot of us courage to tackle things similarly, so thank you.