Changing for PE, yr 4 (ages 8+9)

[Ginandsonic]

Due to covid the kids have been going into school in PE appropriate clothes on the pe days, but my daughter, yr 4, aged 9, came home on Tuesday and said they were told that now they will be going back to changing into school provided pe kit, in the classroom altogether. Boys and girls. She said afterwards when changing back there was a male teacher present.

Teacher has agreed to arrange for my daughter to use the toilet to change, but my daughter said other girls were crying because they didn't want to change in front of boys.

I'm posting this here because if anyone can help me find resources to push for single sex changing - even just boys in this classroom, girls in that one! - then it's the feminism board.

End year 4 / start year 5 is about the time most schools seem to switch to single sex changing.
The girls should maybe go as a group to say they no longer wish to change with the boys and the school should make adequate arrangements (which might be all girls changing in the toilets)

My child's school has girls in one classroom, boys in the other from at least Yr5. All the girls were wearing crop tops from Yr4 onwards as well (I think DD said it was opposite ends of classroom last year)

DDs school was single form, and in y5 & 6 they did PE on the same day, so all the girls went in to one classroom, and all the boys into the other.

I couldn't find anything more specific atm but this is pretty clear (below). It also specifies that a male teacher shouldn't be supervising female students changing (and not standing watching them in the classroom either). I would have thought that was basic safeguarding - it leaves the male teacher open to accusations regardless of how good he is.

I'm sure there's more out there. Check Safe Schools Alliance and this article is a good general resource on single sex spaces and the EA 2010

fairplayforwomen.com/equality-act-2010_womens-rights/

Mixed gender changing areas are less appropriate as children get older and staff need to be sensitive to those who physically mature at a much earlier or later age than their peers. Boys and girls should change separately after they reach Year 2.

www.sta.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/schools-factsheet-best-practice-for-pe-changing-rooms.pdf

Many girls have started puberty at 9. It's not appropriate.

There are template letters for schools on this page on the Safe Schools Alliance website - there's one for mixed sex facilities which you could adapt:

safeschoolsallianceuk.net/resources-2/letter-templates/

It's for secondary schools but there are useful points and questions in there to put to the school.

Thanks all!

Yes, my daughter has started puberty during the pandemic, she has body hair and breasts, and she doesn't want to undress in front of anyone, least of all boys.
Those links are helpful, though I've just noticed the schools equality and diversity policy lists "gender" as a protected characteristic and not "sex". So that's a whole other thing

This isn’t relevant to your point - but why do they make them get changed at school?

In Ireland the children just wear their tracksuits into school on PE days.

It seems like a lot of fuss having them change into a tracksuit and out of it again during the school day?

@SuperSleepyBaby my DD came home with extremely muddy tracksuit bottoms last week... Luckily her PE lesson was in the afternoon!

Poor girls, it's not okay that they fixed it for your daughter who had a parent standing up for her and didn't check in with the rest. Could you talk to other parents of girls and see if they want to check in with their kids too?

Our school has single sex changing from P1 (age 4/5).

I can't get too worked up about this (probably as I have a 12 year old daughter and lots of younger boys and not enough space) but I don't understand why your school isn't having the children come in wearing pe kit on pe days. That is pretty much the norm in most schools now and deals with this sort of anxiety.

If your daughter doesn't want to get changed in front of her classmates (and actually if she is going through a precocious puberty this is relevant re getting changed in front of the girls too) then the school need to make alternative arrangements for her. Girls can be very mean and at that age I absolutely remember my daughter coming home giggling that certain girls had hairy armpits / needed a bra. Of course I educated her and explained it wasn't acceptable but not all parents will. This isn't a boy girl thing in my opinion it is more to do with a general right to privacy if you want it.

This isn't a boy girl thing in my opinion

Really?! My 8 year old would be mortified about getting changed in front of boys.

This isn't precocious puberty @solicitoring. It's early but within the normal age range.

Puberty before the age of 7 is considered precocious puberty.

As stated by user above, year 5 is generally the age children start getting changed separately. Some schools do a classroom swap if the year group is two form entry and they have pe on the same day. It's a logistical nightmare but most schools will timetable pe with this in mind.
There is no male/ female teacher guidelines that I know of. Some schools will try and arrange same sex supervision but this obviously depends on having available and suitably qualified staff on hand. If you have two form entry and two male teachers, as is often the case in year six, the options are to have the girls change supervised by their own teacher or pull a ta from provision (which technically shouldn't be allowed because tas are often assigned to specific children's provision. There's also the complication that children should behave the same for tas but often don't, so there's a behaviour risk. Of course this depends on how robust the school's behaviour policy is anyway.
I've never worked in a school that allowed pupils to go in in in PE kit. Teachers are generally not even allowed to do it so tend to resort to getting changed in their lunch break or not bothering. It's poor modelling but there often isn't time as setting up the equipment usually takes the entire lunch period, nevermind eating.

With this in mind I'd ask:
Is there the possibility a two form entry class could change at the same time?

If a morning session could children come in in kit and change back as above?

If an afternoon session could the children swap after lunch and change as above.

If one form entry could a take boys elsewhere-short play, phonics session etc. Whilst girls change and vice versa.

Please bare in mind this is complicated by covid bubbles so normal solutions might not be viable.

Good luck.

And obviously all these solutions require a ta, which in my experience younger year groups often lack because uks2 is prioritised due to sats pressure.