This post is to give you, concerned parents, enough information to write to your child's school (or their old school) and ask if the schools policies are both lawful and inline with the Cass Report.
It is essential we keep momentum on this going, and the more schools that are contacted across the entire country, the more this will be a national conversation. Head teachers talk to each other, if enough of them get this email there will be movement.
Please write to your headteacher, your governors REGARDLESS of if your school uses the Brighton Trans Toolkit or not - the legal advice below will force the school to reevaluate their policies inline with the law and Cass immediately.
Most of this post below was kindly provided by a Brighton support group, PSHE Brighton, with full permission to share widely.
The legal advise given by Karon Monaghan KC linked below is of central importance. Our children's schools are not following the law and we believe putting children at significant risk.
Here is a copy of an article from The Observer which focuses on the unlawfulness of the Brighton and Hove City Council Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/13/schools-in-england-and-wales-using-gender-toolkit-risk-being-sued-by-parents
The advice from Karon Monaghan KC who has reviewed the Toolkit found it to be emphatically unlawful. A copy of the advice is available via this link: https://content.doyleclayton.co.uk/hubfs/Advice%20of%20Karon%20Monaghan%20KC.pdf
Karon Monaghan KC is the leading equalities and human rights KC in the UK https://www.matrixlaw.co.uk/member/karon-monaghan/ .
Monaghan on Equality Law, published by Oxford University Press, is the authoritative guide to the law in this area and is routinely referred to as an authority in court cases and cited by Judges in their judgements: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/monaghan-on-equality-law-9780199603237
Therefore, her advice is authoritative and cannot be readily ignored.
As set out in the article one family has written to Brighton and Hove City Council and to their local school requesting the Toolkit is withdrawn. The legal advice is relevant across the whole of the UK, including Scotland and across any school (nursery, primary, secondary or 6th form or academy school and any local authority). The family have waived legal privilege (confidentiality) on the Advice so that it can be used by any other parent, governor, teacher, or social worker in the UK in circumstances where they may not usually be able to access such robust legal opinion.
If you live outside of Brighton and Hove, you can send a copy of the Monaghan Advice to your school or local authority and ask them to provide evidence that their current policies and practices within the school/council are lawful in line with the Cass Report (Final Report – Cass Review) and the Monaghan Advice. If those policies are not in line with this legal advice, you can request that policies are withdrawn. You can also ask to test any third-party providers curriculum content against the Cass Report and Monaghan Advice to ensure that this too is appropriate and lawful.
If you live in Brighton and Hove where we know the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit is applied to all schools and social services and was authored by Allsorts Youth Project, you can write to your school (Headteacher and/or Chair of Governors) and/or the council, attaching the Cass Report and the Monaghan Advice and request/advise the following:
"The school immediately withdraws the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit. Reminding schools that failure to adhere to the law places them at risk of legal action by any parent with a child registered at the school. Stating this does not commit you to taking that legal action.
The school immediately review all their policies and practice pertaining to responding to gender-distressed children and safeguarding to ensure its lawfulness in accordance with the Cass Report and the Monaghan Advice. For schools to be assured that they are compliant, the safest mechanism is for them to adopt the DfE Draft Guidance for Gender Questioning Children on an interim basis until such time as the final guidance is published by the Government.
The school immediately withdraw all PSHE/RSE curriculum materials created internally and those provided by third-party providers pending review of lawfulness in line with the Cass Report and the Monaghan Advice.
The school immediately cancels all assemblies, lessons and curriculum activity using material published by or presentations from Allsorts Youth Project. There are legitimate concerns about the lawfulness of Allsorts Youth Project materials being used in schools or this organisation conducting classes or assemblies as they are the authors of the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit. Until such time as all content has been reviewed and is in line with the Cass Report, the Monaghan Advice and Government guidance, PSHE/RSE lessons should follow the DfE Draft Guidance for Gender Questioning Children and pay close attention to the Government Review of RSE which is due to publish soon."
If contacting Brighton and Hove City Council write to the Leader of the Council, Bella Sankey [email protected] and you can copy it to your own local councillor, the names of which you can find on the council website and tend to use the same formation of [email protected]. Also copy your correspondence to Deb Austin, Director of Children's, Schools and Families [email protected]
If you are a social worker you may wish to provide the Cass Report and the Monaghan Advice to your local authority and ask for assurances that all policy, practice, and training is compliant with it. Also relevant for you is the judgement in the Rachel Meade employment tribunal which protects you from discrimination for asking this question or holding gender critical beliefs. (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65c10bf3704282000d752266/R_Meade_v_Westminster_City_Council_and_Social_Work_England.pdf)
Please - write that email today