Mermaids in school

[LL46]

I have had an email from my child's school to say that the staff will be receiving training from Mermaids. Has anyone had this training? I am concerned that they might still be perpetuating the idea that children are born in the wrong body.

That’s worrying - I wonder what training materials they could possibly have left now they are not allowed to promote ‘wrong body’ etc.

I think I’m right in saying that parents have a right to see this sort of stuff?

You definitely can find out what this involves and you can flag the D of E guidance with them which explicitly states that they shouldn’t be teaching ‘born in the wrong body’ narrative. I would raise it with the school and maybe the DofE (I’m not sure if you can do that? Flag it with Gavin Williamson and Baroness Nicholson if the content is concerning.

Contact Safe Schools Alliance for advice. You can email them.

@gardenbird48 I don't think we would have the right to see the training material because it is for staff and not pupils. It is being done under the usual improving inclusivity and acceptance for kids which I am all in favour of - my concern is that they may be present misleading and/or biased information to staff such as using disputed terms like "assigned at birth" or conflating DSD (a preferable term to Intersex) with trans gender identity.

That makes me wish I was still teaching. I'd love to have a little chat with some Mermaids trainers.

This blog might help with some ideas of how to approach the school.

www.transgendertrend.com/questions-school-mermaids-training-teachers/

I would contact school and probably the governors too before this is due to happen, and point out that the new govt guidance from last ?September? states that schools should not use any organisations/materials for RSE which refers to children being "born in the wrong body" or suggests that not adhering to stereotypical dress/appearance/activities may mean a child is "trans", and it also states very clearly that they should not use any organisations promoting a particular political/ideological view (I forget the exact wording of that part, suggest you dig out the actual guidance).

Then you can give them the evidence that Mermaids have repeatedly done all these things, meaning that - even if they may have removed some of the most blatant bits from their latest materials perhaps? - they are clearly one of the sort of organisations being referred to that should not be used, and that even if the guidance refers to RSE lessons, presumably if they are not OK for that then they should not be OK to train teachers either.

That, and look at TGT as Chicken said!

This is a recording of a Mermaids training session for teachers from a couple of years ago.

soundcloud.com/user-407799333/mermaids-barbie-gijoe-jelly-babies-and-other-nonsense-part-1/s-v53SU

Threads discussing this training (some of the links in these threads no longer work).
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3454658-recording-of-mermaids-training

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3545977-Just-listened-to-the-Mermaid-school-training-audio

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3452489-Mermaids-given-500-000-by-National-Lottery-Sunday-Times

Training session included the jelly babies image.

This isn't acceptable and having heard some of their training on line, they won't be in line with government guidance for schools. I would contact your local MP with a strongly worded letter and also Baroness Nicholson.

Excellent points on this thread. It might also be worth pointing out that the DfE is very hot on schools exercising 'due diligence' before using external organisations. Mermaids is a political lobby group with a determination to enforce pastoral care / policy changes in schools that are untested and on occasions remove the rights of other protected groups. They also display considerable ignorance about the link between autism and trans issues in children, dreadful practice in using suicide statistics and often fail to display an understanding of the complexity of safeguarding.

Perhaps suggest that someone with professional qualifications in child psychology, child development and education might be more appropriate for the school to use to discuss such complex issues rather than a lobby group?

Not certain if Mermaids, but I think one of the lobby groups going into schools was advising teachers that if they thought the parents would not be supportive of a child's new identity, they could change the child's name and sex marker on school records behind their back. Also telling staff to promise confidentiality, which is against safeguarding guidelines - even school counsellors don't promise confidentiality in all scenarios.

To encourage you here is another thread showing us the good work Mermaids perform
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4002016-A-Transchild-the-Tavistock-Mermaids-and-GenderGP
I would let everyone, governors included, just who they are getting into bed with.

In addition to the excellent advice above: reference the DfE guidance about not only presenting one political lobby viewpoint to children as the truth, but the importance of providing other views. With the Bell case current and the DfE guidance it cannot be denied that this is training the staff in a partisan and questioned set of specific views.

So when will they be getting FPFW or Transgender Trend in to do their training to provide the view from the other side to their staff, and insure their policies and practice are not politically biased and taking advantage of being in a position of trust?

Using the word 'insure' instead of 'ensure' there was a mistake but something of a Freudian slip. Since if I was the school's insurers I would be getting a bit nervous about this.

I don't think we would have the right to see the training material because it is for staff and not pupils.

I am sure this is not true. Ask them for the guidance where it explicitly states schools cannot share the teaching materials with parents.

I don't think we would have the right to see the training material because it is for staff and not pupils.

I'm also sure that's not true. It's really not something they should be ashamed of, they should be proud of it.

Asking this of the HT and Governors and their what less them to this decision to select Mermaids should be enough really.

If it was me I'd ask when this was decided, invoking who and how they reached that decision as well as when the training is taking place, which teachers it will be delivered to and how they will ensure that a political lobby group (which has been proven to have be controversial in a number of ways inc data breach of children and families, predators in the private children-only chat group etc) will not breach the govt statutory guidelines, and lastly how this training with be taught on to the pupils, which age groups, in what format, which lessons and/or assemblies and if there are any plans to involve other groups like transgender trend for balance.

Then take it from there. That's my advice anyway.

I'd be very interested to see how they describe trans to children without using narrow sex stereotypes.

Bearing in mind that their entire schtick was centred around the 'wrong body' idea, I can't imagine what they could possibly say to fill a few hours of training?

Pt 1 "Some kids don't confirm to 'gender norms' as propogated by adults that should know better, that's absolutely fine - there's nothing wrong with them"
Pt 2 "Some kids are unhappy, love them and find some good mental health support for them"
End.

Great, that's £500 please.

There is so much known about mermaids now it's really shocking to me that any school would want the association. It's all documented and screenshot and shows there aren't looking beyond the website.

No due diligence, which is also in the statutory govt guidelines when they refer to external organisations.

And they're not educators or have any medical experience. I would be very suspicious of any HT making this choice. Apart from anything else it's a lack of information and a lack of curiosity about who you have coming into the school.

I’ve always wondered whether schools just bring these organisations in blind and trust them or whether any staff get to see the presentations beforehand. Having seen the teacher training slides and transcript of the LGBT Youth Scotland training (thanks to FWS), I’d be wanting to know:

• What stats they use in their training- e.g. impact on mental health, incl depression, self harm, suicide ideation etc for children affirmed vs those not affirmed. I’d be worried they are trying to scare teachers using dodgy/debunked statistics in an attempt to push the affirmation only environment.

• I would want to know whether they are telling teachers to affirm children where the parent doesn’t agree that affirmation is appropriate for their child- specifically how they handle situations where a mental health professional has recommended no affirmation (actually, I would love a teacher at one of these sessions to ask that question as the role of mental health experts never gets mentioned by these orgs)

alarm bells ring. Schools should follow DofE guidance and not allow them anywhere near the schools.
Watch out as Stonewall is planning a campaign in primary schools and they "have not noticed" the change in guidance. TRANSGENDER TREND and SAFE SCHOOLS ALLIANCE are the ones to consult (and copy template letters to schools)

I’ve always wondered whether schools just bring these organisations in blind and trust them

Not schools or education, but I've started making a point of overtly mentioning the due diligence and checked qualifications to speak in the field when booking or discussing training or advisors. A lot of people looking a bit fuck, never thought of that, we should probably do that .

This has been able to happen because of people trusting each other. However society's had to move on and learn: there will always be someone willing to exploit your trust, and sadly you must always be suspicious, ask the difficult questions, think the unthinkable, and don't be lazy about doing basic background checks. Like has this person talking to you about safeguarding actually ever done the most basic level safeguarding course. Or been part of inquiry concluding that they do not have the capacity to be able to understand safeguarding.

@PIKNIK20

alarm bells ring. Schools should follow DofE guidance and not allow them anywhere near the schools. Watch out as Stonewall is planning a campaign in primary schools and they "have not noticed" the change in guidance. TRANSGENDER TREND and SAFE SCHOOLS ALLIANCE are the ones to consult (and copy template letters to schools)

When the new guidance came out, it was circulated throughout our staff and discussed at a staff meeting - it led to an interesting discussion about gender stereotyping and positive female role models. BUT, I know I'm lucky because my head is very on the ball with updated guidance and safeguarding. It was released in the midst of endless updates about COVID guidelines and schools have been navigating the most challenging time they've ever seen. They are now figuring out how to close the gaps caused by lockdown when children return and I can easily see how some things can slip by without too much consideration given.

All this gives unscrupulous lobby groups a perfect opportunity to take advantage and sneak in training laden with policy changes. We know SW are planning to target staff at primary schools. The good news is that it's so easy to show that both Mermaids and SW should be nowhere near schools simply by referring to the guidance. I echo previous posters who recommend Transgender Trend and SSA. Parents raising these points may also help teachers who are concerned but are too scared to speak up in case it affects their job (this shouldn't be the case because their concerns are valid but sadly it does happen).