"They can request another space"

[BlackAlys]

Still reeling after an inset day talk on Diversity and Inclusion. The group delivering the 2.5 hour long class showed us a video of a trans girl, primary age, happily playing with friends and their parents saying how wonderful it all was.

This very feminine looking transgirl has, in my Headteacher's mind, become the poster child who represents all children who are transitioning and he has now proclaimed a push for all trans pupils to be allowed to toilet, change, swim, play with wherever they are comfortable.

Before now, our teenage trans pupils have been offered an individual changing area/toilet cubicle for their modesty and dignity. It's worked. We don't have trans girls...yet.

I run residential trips tied to my subject area and asked about the sleeping arrangements, should the situation arise. The Headteacher now feels that a transgirl should be able to share dormitories and changing areas with girls and trans is to share with the boys.

I pointed out that our pupils with strong religious faiths will not be able to/wouldn't want to; also that the vulnerable girls with haunted pasts won't want to; I pointed out that, bottom line, we have sex segregation for a very good reason and the very basic right of dignity and privacy should be respected. I asked him how that will be navigated and he replied that if a girl objects, then she can sleep/be catered for elsewhere.

It's gutted me. Girls, move out if you don't like it.

I pointed out that Sex is a protected characteristic and he shrugged and said that we have to evolve with how society is changing.

I asked him how his daughter would feel about his desire to throw her rights to privacy away, and he told me she'd be fine with it.

He's seen had heated the story of the little transgirl and he is utterly captured.

I know my card is now marked and am wondering how I'll be treated upon my return.

*sprry - typo

Trans boys should be allowed to share with the boys

More than 1 typo - sorry!

Please help me figure out how to tackle this with my Headteacher.

As yet, we don't have unisex toilets - they're all open with doors floor to ceiling, with the sinks visible to staff on duty, I know he's thinking of making them Unisex, despite having the frightening statistics of unwanted sexually attention and, even rape and assault in schools.

My 3 daughters hate heir school unisex toilets - eldest uses a mooncup and feels embarrassed / mortified about anyone seeing
Blood on her hands so she takes wipes and bottles of water to the toilet cubicle with her.

My middle daughter is embarrassed about the rustle of sanitary pads wrappers - she doesn't know if a boy is in the opposite cubicle or
Not.

My Headteacher is about to make some huge decisions for the sake
Of including a minority, to the expense of many. He has parental support (he reckons).

He is totally blinded.

Safe Schools Alliance has some good resources on the importance of providing single sex facilities and safeguarding.

safeschoolsallianceuk.net/

Thank you. I will look through this.

There’s definitely been similar threads OP. Including a poster who tackled it very successfully with a previously full on twaw head teacher

Do a search on schools and a lot of helpful tnings will come up :)

I'm not sure you shouldn't be escalating this to the local education authority or OFSTED. The HT clearly hasn't got a grip on U.K. law and how that applies to children in the school he is responsible for.

His stance will result in discrimination against female pupils on protected characteristics of sex and religion. You have explained it all very clearly and he still doesn't get it. If it wasn't such a dangerous POV it would be mildly amusing that he has achieved such a level in education!

If you can report anonymously I would go straight to OFSTED.

This is shit but do you have the option to decline to run residentials? I think that's what I would do if faced with this policy. I would say that I didn't have confidence that I could safeguard pupils under this policy, and that I was not prepared to take the potential risk of personal liability for pupils coming to harm as a result.

I know this means kids may miss out on good opportunities but it is your professional responsibility to stand up for safeguarding.

It's gutted me. Girls, move out if you don't like it.

But then if they all decided to, they would have their own space exclusively for the female sex. Now that may not happen in practice... let's say that half of them did, then you end up with girls section and a "real girls" section. I wonder how long it takes before the trans girls start demanding to be let in to the real girls section?

Think it utterly appalling how the issues around this and other sexual matters are pushed at those who have the least ability to understand them, process them, and decide accordingly. Primary age kids FFS, what do they know at that age, and what can they decide upon. Awful.

This is what a teacher in my dds school said would have to happen but as yet they have only had one transitioner in the school (ftm).

I’m keeping a very close eye on the situation.

I pointed out that our pupils with strong religious faiths will not be able to/wouldn't want to; also that the vulnerable girls with haunted pasts won't want to; I pointed out that, bottom line, we have sex segregation for a very good reason and the very basic right of dignity and privacy should be respected. I asked him how that will be navigated and he replied that if a girl objects, then she can sleep/be catered for elsewhere.

It's gutted me. Girls, move out if you don't like it.

I pointed out that Sex is a protected characteristic and he shrugged and said that we have to evolve with how society is changing.

As well contacting Safe Schools Alliance, do have a look at the resources on Transgender Trend website specifically for schools.

The Head and Governors should be aware of their statutory responsibilities.

The Department of Education published specific guidance last autumn concerning external groups promoting gender ideology. It seems likely the Head is unaware of it and/or in breach of it.

www.transgendertrend.com/schools-resources/

This very feminine looking transgirl has, in my Headteacher's mind, become the poster child who represents all children who are transitioning and he has now proclaimed a push for all trans pupils to be allowed to toilet, change, swim, play with wherever they are comfortable... he is utterly captured

I would be concerned by a male colleague if they demonstrated such an apparent emotion-led response to a particular child especially if he then waved away the specific responsibilities he has to Safeguard all children his care.

The updated Department for Education guidance...

www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-your-relationships-sex-and-health-curriculum#using-external-agencies

Useful explainer from TT...

www.transgendertrend.com/department-for-education-rse-guidance-schools/

Complete dereliction of his safeguarding duty.

Who is your DSL (hope it’s not him!!), and your safeguarding link Governor? Once you’ve armed yourself with the resources pp have provided, you should approach them.

Ofsted, and as outlined in SSAUK.

Point out to him that a trans girl could get an actual girl pregnant and would he like to deal with the parents and their law suit in that situation?

Keep at it OP. You know you are right. Just show the law, the evidence and your fact-based argument.

@R0wantrees

This very feminine looking transgirl has, in my Headteacher's mind, become the poster child who represents all children who are transitioning and he has now proclaimed a push for all trans pupils to be allowed to toilet, change, swim, play with wherever they are comfortable... he is utterly captured

I would be concerned by a male colleague if they demonstrated such an apparent emotion-led response to a particular child especially if he then waved away the specific responsibilities he has to Safeguard all children his care.

I don't want to cast the Head in too bad light - he's young and enthusiastic and I can utterly see how the plight of this young transgirl has captured him (and that's without me even mentioning the medicalisation for life and the risks that bring) but his knee jerk reaction to be 'inclusive' irrespective of all the other information that's out there, alarms me.

He's stoic and a total grafter, but the ease of his 'capture' is so disappointing. He really, really isn't seeing the bigger, more realistic picture here. He isn't stopping to consider anything else.

@RabbitOfCaerbannog

The updated Department for Education guidance...

www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-your-relationships-sex-and-health-curriculum#using-external-agencies

Useful explainer from TT...

www.transgendertrend.com/department-for-education-rse-guidance-schools/

Thank you for that @RabbitOfCaerbannog

Useful article by ExcelPope (a school governor) identifying how Safeguarding should work:
(extract)
"I spend a lot of time designing policies and procedures, and what I tell people is this:- Imagine a worst-case scenario occurs. There is an official investigation, where you’re asked “What did you do to prevent this happening?”. Now imagine what answer you’d like to be able to give to that question in that scenario – that’s the starting point for writing your policies.

In that vein, here’s a scenario.

You are the head-teacher of a secondary school, with pupils aged 11-18. A police officer arrives at the school and asks to speak to you. They have found a video on a porn site which shows the changing-rooms at your school, including a number of girls, who appear to be aged 13-15, in various states of undress. It has clearly been filmed with a concealed camera-phone.

The video has been taken down, but not before it had tens of thousands of views. The account that posted it has been traced to a student at the school who identifies themselves as trans and was, in accordance with the guidance, allowed to use the female changing rooms.

The police need a female member of staff to view the video with them, to identify the 20 or 30 teenage girls who appear in it, so that they and their parents can be informed that they have been victims of voyeurism.

What did you do to prevent this happening?" (continues)

There are around 2.2 million males aged 13-18 in the UK, no matter how much experience you have with children, with trans people, with trans-children, you cannot absolutely assert that none of them will abuse, or attempt to abuse, the guidance given in a manner that infringes of the rights of other students.

This isn’t about demonising all trans people, or suggesting that any given one of them would act in such a manner. This is about the risk presented by the guidance itself, whether that risk can be mitigated in a manner which is proportional to the potential seriousness of the outcome and whether the risk is, in part or in whole, outweighed by the risks of not implementing the guidance." (continues)

excelpope.wordpress.com/2019/02/28/the-unaskable-question/

@Zinco

It's gutted me. Girls, move out if you don't like it.

But then if they all decided to, they would have their own space exclusively for the female sex. Now that may not happen in practice... let's say that half of them did, then you end up with girls section and a "real girls" section. I wonder how long it takes before the trans girls start demanding to be let in to the real girls section?

I remember a reddit thread about exactly this. It was not in a GenderCritical group but something to do with law. A trans woman first wanted advice on how to get access to the women's dressing room. They were given advice and later reported their success in gaining access.

A couple of months after that there was a new post. The same trans woman wanted to know if there was anything in the law to compel the females to use the women's dressing room. The female women had all started going somewhere else...

his knee jerk reaction to be 'inclusive'

Hopefully at some point he'll realise he's not being inclusive to all the girls. That he's risking being horribly unkind to some of them.

I don't want to cast the Head in too bad light - he's young and enthusiastic and I can utterly see how the plight of this young transgirl has captured him (and that's without me even mentioning the medicalisation for life and the risks that bring) but his knee jerk reaction to be 'inclusive' irrespective of all the other information that's out there, alarms me

It should be alarming to anyone who works with children and your alarm bells are sound. Those in senior leadership roles have to be able to rationally consider the Safeguarding implications first and foremost in any situation.

We're in Wales. I'll have to check what Kirsty Williams has to say. With all politicians, I'm really
Not feeling very hopeful here.

@BlackAlys I would go with the nuclear option. Discuss P Bunce with them and how they were recognised for an award even though they only present as a woman for part of the time. Ask how he feels about that degree of inclusivity. If he feels that is ok I’d follow him into the gents toilets as I would be identifying as BlackOsian today