Those Birmingham parents are right Teaching primary-age schoolkids about sexual matters is weird.

[OtepotiLilliane42]

I think the parents of this school were right to object to teaching primary school children about complex sexual issues. As Brendan O'Neill says, the basic biological facts of human reproduction should be sufficient at that age.
Anyway, what do others think?

Something sinister is happening in both official and campaigning circles: people are using children, very young children, to try to reshape adult thinking and society more broadly. Perhaps fearing they will not be able to convince actual adults that transgenderism is a good idea or that children as young as six can be ‘gay’, instead the new moral instructors seek to inculcate kids with these ideas in the hope that the ideas will then filter into the home and into stupid adults’ brains. It is a highly undemocratic and sly way to try to bring about social change. If you want that school in Birmingham to teach children about gay sex and trans lifestyles, then convince the parents first – don’t use the kids as moral shields against what you clearly view as the imbecilic, backward adults they tragically have to go home to every night.

www.spiked-online.com/2019/03/06/those-birmingham-parents-are-right/

Quite rocky. Other story books used in the pack challenge the assumption that a disability can hold you back. The difference is celebrated not corrected. As it should be.

Thanks Neuro

This tries to introduce a hierarchy of rights. Religion is protected just as much as sexuality.

Exactly so. That poster says that in this school we respect people's religion, disability, sexuality, etc etc

But if your religion teaches that some sexualities are not worthy of respect, then what then? Who wins that particular battle? I don't think they've thought it through properly.

This is a separate issue from gender identity, I realise. But still interesting.

There is NO conflation between sexuality: Heterosexuality, Gay: Lesbian or Homosexuality.

AND

Transgender.

Transgender is different from sexuality.

Muslims need to recognise, no more than any other religion that sexuality is not confined to Heterosexuality.

Relationships and Sex, and relationships should always come first. Relationships define our world.

Regarding Transgender, this is a subset of very few people based on body dysphoria and not on gender stereotypes.

In this current climate of rising prices such as energy hikes, council tax rises and schools sending out emails that they will only be open for 4 and a half days, one has to wonder what the actual heck is going on regarding all the extra funding for transgender pupils, when all school children face cuts, especially those who have extra needs.

There is a clash between proponants of a number of ideologies in this situation. The common denominators being that all risk the greatest harm to women and children especially girls.

The focus has to be on the pupils. The school governors have responsibility to all pupils and also to the wider community where the school is.

Its a complex situation and needs really careful considered responses.

The football match approach whereby people chose a team and take sides will miss completely the needs of the children.

'No Outsiders' has a lot of good resources but as long as adults with specific agendas prioritise their needs / beliefs then children, especially girls, will be failed.

I think the Irish cake ruling nicely covered the hierarchy issue.

You can’t discriminate against somebody because of their sexuality, you can’t discriminate against somebody because of their religion.

You shouldn’t ram your sexuality down others throats, you shouldn’t ram your religion down others throats.

Everybody has rights and everybody should respect each other. No outsiders has unfortunately just stepped over the line from inclusion to enforcing belief.

The focus has to be on the pupils. The school governors have responsibility to all pupils and also to the wider community where the school is.

Exactly. It’s disturbing that a lot seem not to realise this.

I'll say again - if this programme was genuinely responding to social issues that may affect the pupils...

... where are the lesson plans promoting the respecting of the boundaries and need for privacy and dignity of the girl pupils given the epidemic of sexual harassment and even assault taking place in schools?

Where?

Regarding Transgender, this is a subset of very few people based on body dysphoria and not on gender stereotypes.

Exactly. But It's evolved into 'gender identities' in this case. Which is based on stereotypes. Not a medical dysphoric condition. Which the EA was written to protect.

where are the lesson plans promoting the respecting of the boundaries and need for privacy and dignity of the girl pupils given the epidemic of sexual harassment and even assault taking place in schools?

Not seen any yet but I'm going to be looking carefully at each term's book from now on.

Schools need to be increasingly mindful of Safeguarding issues raised and challenges to practice and duty of care with both Tavistock GIDS and Mermaids.

It may be that vulnerable children and their families are significantly impacted by revelations about these services which have provided support.

THe children will need to be supported by school and other agencies.

Schools should be very cautious about continuing to promote transideology and/or use materials and guidance from organisations which are now being scrutinised & whilst a government enquiry into the rise of children seeking treatment for 'gender dysphoria' has been called for.

The previously linked set of lesson plans by Andrew Moffat of No Outsiders includes one based on a book and video by PopnOlly.

schoolsnet.derbyshire.gov.uk/site-elements/documents/keeping-children-safe-in-education/anti-bullying/challenging-homophobia-in-primary-schools-lesson-plan-2016.pdf

This lesson plan links to the PopnOlly website and you would imagine this would be taken by teachers and parents as an indication that this website is suitable for primary school children to use. On that website is a link to the PopnOlly YouTube channel, which contains this video:

The video encourages young children to fill out the government consultation on reform of the GRA using Stonewall's template answers.

I don't know about anyone else, but if I were the parent of a primary school child, I would not be happy with this. At all.

We looked at one of the lessons from his book. It used a picture book aimed at very young children, alongside a set of questions about the Equality Act

I'd forgotten about the EA one. Dead right that from a purely technical POV it's terrible. So much so that I was surprised it and one or two more were written by the same person as the others. I wonder whether he's used existing resources for much of the scheme and tacked on the questionable bits?

I too think Betty nails it about the problems (with several lessons). The age appropriate ones are making kids think, the age inappropriate ones are just telling kids what to think.

lang that website is being shared as a good resource to use on Twinkl Facebook groups, which anyone can join.

I did see transgender trend also linked once too however.

Twinkle makes me weep at times.

But if your religion teaches that some sexualities are not worthy of respect, then what then?

And what if your sexuality means some religious ideas are not worthy of respect?

In both cases the school has to acknowledge that there is a conflict and that both views are acceptable under British law.
Taking discriminatory action against those that hold those views/live in a manner that reflects those views is the unacceptable part.

This is why these concepts need to be introduced in an age appropriate way, with adequate contextualisation.
For some kids thlis will set up very personal conflicts, but the choices they make should be as an informed young adult, able to better negotiate the pressures of external agencies, whether that be LGBT lobby groups or conservative religious organisations/family rules.

Personally, I’m raising my kids as atheists, but that doesn’t mean they can bang about telling everyone that Jesus is shit. School is the site where all sorts of different upbringings make contact.

recent thread re Twinkl:

OP WhenIs TheEasyBit wrote:

"Twinkl has fallen for the rainbow guff
For non-teachers, Twinkl is a huge part of many teachers' lives. They produce colourful, generally reasonable quality resources- worksheets, displays, vocabulary mats etc. Their stuff links closely to the National Curriculum and they add topical stuff for eg Olympics, royal weddings etc. They are seen as trustworthy and run Facebook groups that thousands of teachers follow and use as a place to discuss issues and ask for help.

Today they have posted 'If you do one thing tonight, read this blog: Trans teen "What I wish my primary teachers had understood " '. There are accompanying resources.

I am not a Twinkl subscriber so I can't see everything, but I can link to the blog which includes things like "why can't toilets be gender neutral?" and sleeping arrangements on residential trips.

Some teachers pay their own subscription to Twinkl, others work in schools that subscribe. They are a huge part of the education landscape and seen as very mainstream, establishment even. It alarms me hugely that they are peddling this stuff with no reference to the equality act. It has the hallmarks of them having asked the wrong people to advise them.

Could any MN Twinkl members who feel as I do let Twinkl know about Transgender Trend so that they see an alternative viewpoint at least? And perhaps express some disappointment about the disregard for girls' rights, eg Year 6 girls having to share toilets with boys as they deal with periods for the first time. "

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3516454-twinkl-has-fallen-for-the-rainbow-guff

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6811197/Primary-pupils-Muslim-parents-left-outraged-gay-assistant-heads-LGBT-lessons.html

A meaty and balanced article, bar tge fact it largely ignores the "T".

There is a problem. It is right that children understand that homosexuality should be and is accepted in the society they live in.

However should primary aged children be taught that a person can change sex, when biological evidence suggests they can't? And how do you introduce the tricky wuestion of gender dysphoria to this age group, or indeed what is trans.

Sex and gender are not the same. The first is challenge enough in some parts of multi cultural Britain. Please DfE, Stonewall etc, pick your battles and dont conflate two unrelated issues.