King’s Maths School (KCLMS) ideology pushed on students

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I posted this on another thread but the OP didn’t like the conversation and so Mumsnet removed it.. I’m posting it again here in case it’s useful for any prospective parents. I know I would have appreciated the information before my child applied.

Here are some examples of the extreme woke ideology taught at the school:
They teach sex positivity: class discussions on sex include things like whether you should spit or swallow when someone ejaculates in your mouth, what sexual activities you would like to try and what you are going to do about it. They say they want to break down the taboos around sex and make it so nothing is inappropriate to discuss with them, eg. BDSM. As another parent pointed out, they are using an external provider for the sex education, who have been flagged to the Safe Schools Alliance.
They also have classes to challenge the norms of monogamy and being in a relationship at all.
They teach gender theory, that gender is fluid and you can explore and decide what gender you are. 2 years ago they were sending out an email to students in the first term asking if they want to change their pronouns, with an online form to fill in asking what pronoun and name you would like used at school and what pronouns and names you would like the school to use with your parents, so that your parents don’t find out. They seem to not be doing this now, maybe because of the government guidance published earlier in the year.
Earlier this term the boys and girls were separated and the boys were given a lesson on how to be less assertive so that they don’t make girls uncomfortable. An example of things they shouldn’t do is write too high on the white board because it might upset girls. Personally, I think boys can be shy and can need to learn to be more assertive so I find this gender stereotyping very unpleasant.
There is a lot about racism from a critical race theory angle. How it’s not enough to not be racist, how you must be antiracist, etc. Classes on how it’s racist that maths uses Pythagoras theorem a lot, for example, because that’s European. A lot of anti-white rhetoric, aimed at making people feel guilty for being white, and compulsory homeworks on anti-racism, such as making an anti-racist New Year’s resolution and doing research about critical race theory.
When the teachers went on strike a couple of years ago, an email was sent out explaining the motive behind the strike from the viewpoint of Marxist philosophy. That term was literally used, so at least some of the teachers must think of themselves as Marxist.
I have loads of documents showing all this and much more. These are just a few examples.
All this is fine if it aligns with the parents values, but if it doesn’t then the aggressive pushing of it is unpleasant, and it is not made clear to parents that that is what they are doing, particularly not before joining. If I had known, I would not have suggested my child apply.

Yes, exactly. These are not open discussions, there is a very clear viewpoint at the school that is the correct and acceptable one to have.
And yes, it was another parent who shared the article from the Safe Sex Alliance, but it is evidence that many parents have taken issue with the classes by that provider.

The history of maths is fascinating no doubt and, as taught for centuries, full of eurocentrism and other moral deficiencies. What I struggle to see is the relevance of any of this to the question of whether algebra is necessary and whether core maths has priority over statistics.

Because they're interesting discussion? The kids that go there are incredibly clever, and to discuss this sort of thing with their peers is probably really interesting.

So were you sent these by the school? Just trying to understand where they have come from.

Can I ask why you didn't withdraw your child?

It’s a place that only teaches 16-19 year olds where, unsurprisingly, the focus is on maths.

’All students take A levels in Mathematics and Further Mathematics. All students also study Physics in Year 12.
From September 2025 onwards, the fourth subject in Year 12 will be either Computer Science, Economics or Philosophy.’

Um, whether algebra is necessary for mathematics is actually a valid and interesting question.

Algebra was developed quite late in the history of mathematics.

It's named after an Arab mathematician from the Middle Ages.

Mathematics before that was largely geometry. Even number theory was seen from a geometrical perspective.

Modern mathematics tends to see maths as expressible through either geometry or algebra - so to choose a fairly simple example a quadratic curve can be seen as a geometrical object or as an algebraic object.

This duality is quite important because often in problem solving if you can't solve a problem algebraucslly you can solve it geometrically and vice versa.

I think that their approach is really impressive. Encouraging the students to think about and discuss questions like the ones linked means they’re teaching more than maths. They’re learning to debate and express themselves. I love that philosophy and economics are included as options. A specialist maths college by its nature has a narrow focus but they’re doing everything possible to extend the depth and breadth of learning. Obviously those who apply to the college are going to excel at maths but it’s is working hard to turn out well rounded, confident students. I’m not surprised to see it’s won The Sunday Times College of the Year and College of the year for academic excellence.

@JusteanBiscuits I agree that the history of maths is interesting - in fact fascinating. But the question of whether that history has been written by European people in a biased way - hugely important though it is - is not relevant to the question of whether algebra is necessary, or whether core maths have priority over statistics. To think that it is relevant is to commit a category mistake. The priority of algebra, or core math, is a maths question, not a question about the history of maths. I wouldn’t like anyone who fails to grasp this basic point to teach my kid maths. And I doubt that competent mathematicians have drafted the materials posted above.

Why are they discussing such things at maths school? I would understand the spirit of tolerance as we know what e.g Alan Turing went through because of his homosexuality. Or mathematicians black women working at NASA space launch... I would be very much into school that teaches tolerance and acceptance of all skin pigmentations and sexual orientations. But all that sex training is out of place. I cannot believe in it!

The resources linked to appear to be American, and talk about race in an American context. Are they being used at the school and if so, how?

I don't think the teacher is asking the question because they don't understand it. As much as anything, they are preparing the kids for university. Unlike standard 6th forms, the pupils work closely with Kings College University, learn how to undertake research, and a large percentage end up at Oxbridge colleges. Teaching kids how to debate, for lack of a better word, is a great skill.

at the school I attended, we were taught that:
masturbation was a sin
sex before marriage was a sin
contraception was a sin
being born was a sin
and that if we'd committed any of these sins, the only way to avoid eternal punishment was a 1:1 with the creepy unmarried guy who'd listen to all the lurid details then tell us what punishment we'd get now to avoid eternal punishment later.
You haven't shown me anything remotely as sick and twisted as that, or anything as likely to result in teenage pregnancy.

Debate and critical thinking are all good. But I would not ask students to debate whether say, gravity is ethical. That would be a category mistake: mixing ethics and physics. Asking the question of whether algebra is necessary in the materials above, implies that we can answer it by exposing the Eurocentric history of maths. It runs together a maths question and a history question. I am sorry but this is a sloppy attempt at encouraging students to ‘debate’. They should have debates about the history of maths and, separately, debates about maths. Like you say, these kids are super bright and can get the distinction.

Pretty sure gravity is a sin. If Lucifer had not sinned he would not have fallen to earth. Also, heaven is up and hell is down. so the gravitational field points from heaven to hell.

I went to school that couldn't bothered to give sex ed, let alone anything worthwhile.

Hence th first girl having a baby at 13. 6 babies, out of 120 kids, had been born by the time we sat out GCSEs. Why one girl ended up in hospital after consensually having anal sex that they had no idea how to do. How I was 17 and sexually active before I found out how to even give myself orgasms.

It's also why none of us recognised grooming when it happened. We all thought that teacher was "cool" for buying us alcohol, for showing the boys porn round his house in the evening. I thought it hilarious at 14 that I nearly lost my virginity to him. Because there were NO open discussions around sex.

So I'm all for kids being taught how to have safe, enjoyable sex. And they can withdraw themselves from the class, by law, if they don't want to be there.

Not the first time I have heard this sort of thing about the school. There was something on X (Twitter) a while back.

x.com/cathy_ahf/status/1706703999435415781?s=46

That poster is also concerned that autistic children are over represented at the school 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I think the concern is because of the known vulnerability of autistic children to gender identity ideology, not because of those children themselves.

No, by my child. And I also have many documents from a previous student who left after the first year due to the pushing of the ideology.

I did consider withdrawing them, but it would have been very disruptive once they’d started and made friends, and involved in many competitions, projects, etc.

Which is why I was upset that the school hadn’t been more open. At the virtual open evening they mentioned the PD lessons, but just said they were on innocuous subjects like personal hygiene.

Yes, these are the resources and documents they are using in their Personal Development classes. The ones I posted are from the course on Race.

I actually read King’s policy and I’m pretty sure it said they are not allowed to not attend the PD classes.

Student are over 16 - most will be attending university or go out to work. I think by that age they are able to think for themselves - I think you are making bigger deal than it needs to be.

I've just read the PD lesson policy, and it does not mention that students are not allowed to withdraw from class. It does say, as it's law, that parents can't withdraw their child. That's the same with every 6th form in England.

Policies are all here - https://www.kingsmathsschool.com/about/policies

It also says that a RSE SoW is emailed to all parents at the start of term and that parents can email the office if they want more information.

Ok, well it would be embarrassing for a student to ask to be withdrawn from PD lessons, and there’s nothing to say that would be allowed.
Plus, the student I spoke to who left voiced concerns about the PD lessons, and it wasn’t taken to kindly.

A brief list of the PD SoW was emailed at the end of November to parents, just with the titles of the lessons. Not at the start of term. I found during the application process that the school usually doesn’t respond to emails. Occasionally I had a very late, brief response (just about something logistical).

This approach emerges from an American outlook on teaching maths, which was originally much more open about the fact that it was ideologically opposed to "traditional" maths teaching as such teaching was regarded as racist! It is well worth looking into this if you're interested or have a maths-y child; it was introduced in some areas of the USA, for example in Oregon. The idea is basically that the concept of right and wrong answers is also fundamentally oppressive.

OP has done everyone a favour by making this thread, as there was no justifiable reason for her post (based on her own child's experiences) being deleted from the other thread. OP, I also saw you sent me a PM via getting an email notification but unfortunately I can't view it! Sorry about that. Not ignoring you on purpose, I promise.