Advice: schools socially transitioning children without parental knowledge or consent.

[Libby55]

Hi,

The school I work in is socially transitioning children by changing their names and pronouns without informing parents. Adults working in school are supposed to keep this a secret when communicating with parents. I believe this is a safeguarding issue and that the school is harming children. This is something I know little about and I'm asking for help because I'm looking for an organisation that specifically campaigns against schools harming children in this way. My colleagues share my concerns but are afraid to raise their concerns. My union seems to have adopted gender identity politics. I have to do something: I can see children being harmed. If any of you know of a teacher's group that is lobbying against the practice of socially transitioning children without parents' knowledge or consent, please let me know. I would like to get involved.

I can't offer advice sorry but just wanted to thank you for being concerned.

I think it's outrageous that schools are telling staff to keep this sort of thing from parents, it's really sinister.

Can you leak it out secretly? Do you trust one of the parents who could post it on Facebook?

I would lose my job if I spoke with parents about it. I want to openly challenge the school using whatever legal means are available.

https://safeschoolsallianceuk.net

Can you contact safe school alliance? They seem to be the go to for information and support.

You could technically report it as a safeguarding report. If the school choose to ignore it it is still officially logged and so will cover yourself from being complicit.

Obviously this could paint a target on your back, but I've personally reported things that the school have handwaved away. One time I only verbally reported and got caught in the fallout even though I wasn't complicit, but having an official record can help protect you from the inevitable fallout.

Safeguarding 101 - an adult and you have ‘a secret’...

@Libby55

I would lose my job if I spoke with parents about it. I want to openly challenge the school using whatever legal means are available.

Yes, I see your point.

Hopefully you'll get some good advice on how to do that

Thanks, I will contact the safer schools alliance. I hadn't thought of reporting it officially. This sounds like a good start. I think I can live with the target on my back. It's the kids and their families I'm concerned about.

This is, without question, against safeguarding principles. It’s actually a serious breach in my opinion and you should escalate to governors/Ofsted.

Safe Schools Alliance will give you good advice. Good luck.

Every single safeguarding training I've ever been on have encouraged reporting even if you don't think it's significant as can identify patterns etc.
Especially if this is a child that likely has a catalogue of previous concerns with mental health etc. I'd say I was reporting it to help build up that picture.
Your school should have more than one safeguarding lead(this structure is there to avoid the lead themselves being immune to reports). Go to the person most likely to listen.

It’s not lawful and schools that affirm without parental knowledge are opening themselves up to a potential lawsuit:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/35e99aa2-b038-11eb-b844-593e41a4a1a5?shareToken=77fd5ea8746d4fdc993d7571a2a9cff1

How do the school manage to keep it secret? Don't other kids mention it, or are they told to keep the secret?

Hello @Libby55 please email [email protected] and they will be able to help you.

It was the safeguarding lead who told me that it's our school's policy to not tell parents. As my union has adopted gender identity policies, I find myself isolated. But I will contact the safer schools alliance!

Another recommendation for Safe Schools Alliance OP. Unfortunately what your school is doing is common, but it goes against all safeguarding protocols. Good luck with fighting it.

You should have a second safeguarding lead in your school. Can you go to them?

Even the police and social services can only remove parental rights / responsibilities in a dire emergency and only for a limited time. They have to go to court if they want to stop parents having rights over their children.
The idea that schools think they have the right to do this is not only delusional - it's dangerous. There's data going back decades to show that children alienated from their parents (often in the care of the State) do poorly in terms of life chances, qualifications, mental health etc
This is so dangerous it's off the scale. If parents don't know about their child's vulnerabilities, mental health issues then they can't safeguard them.
FFS - how have we ended up here?

Yes, I can go to the next safe guarding lead in line. The problem is that this isn't not about a single student. My school routinely socially transitions children and keeps this a secret from parents. This means my concerns are about the school possibly being in breach of safe-guarding laws. And it's possible that the school is acting on advice from the local education authority. Under any other circumstance, I could call a union meeting and seek advice from my union, the NEU. However, the NEU seems to have based their policies on gender identity politics.

Para 14 of Working Together to Safeguard Children (statutory guidance) states very clearly:
"Anyone working with children should see and speak to the child: listen to what they say; take their views seriously; and work with them and their families collaboratively when deciding how to support their needs "

There's also the Whistleblowing legislation to protect employees if they expose safeguarding breaches - it's specifically mentioned in the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance for schools.

I'm not suggesting that you do this OP - just highlighting what is out there in terms of guidance.

I am dealing with similar (although I hope less immediately critical) issues at my school. The only way I got anyone even to listen to me was to keep saying “safeguarding” in a louder and louder voice, and I had to escalate beyond the DSL.

It’s a real battle. I don’t think they are particularly wedded to the ideology but they are afraid of upsetting the people who will make the most fuss.

So we have to be the ones who make the most fuss.

My advice is to do thorough research (posters here will really help you and SSA is great, also Transgender Trend) and to keep chipping away with the facts at your fingertips.

(NEU are worse than useless in this, I agree.)

Good luck!

But this is nothing to do with safeguarding. Maybe get a real hobby or something?

Several actual teachers have posted and know their stuff about safeguarding. If I thought you had anything to do with safeguarding pumpkin I'd be worried.
Why don't you do something useful like change your username to pumpkinspiceovaryhaver?

Sorry for feeding trolls.

Sorry for feeding trolls

Keeps them busy and off the streets

@PumpkinSpiceWoman

But this is nothing to do with safeguarding. Maybe get a real hobby or something?

I’d say protecting children from the falsehood that they are the opposite sex is a very worthwhile ‘hobby’

OP., definitely contact safe school alliance. Children should never been encouraged to keep secrets from their parents.

I too would say contact Safe Schools Alliance and Transgender Trend www.transgendertrend.com/schools-resources/
This is screenshot from above page where they are quoting DfE. It says collaborate with parents so I would say they are going against the current guidelines.

Thanks for all the advice! I will contact the safe school alliance and take it from there. For anyone who does not work with children: please understand that social transitioning, for the majority of children, brings about a steep downhill decline in their mental health.