Formal Complaint pshe primary

[RedCarpetRebellion]

Name changed (but I’m easy to trace for those of you I’ve pm’d with or replied to before)

Primary academy. Children with autism.

Have spent weeks emailing and meeting with school, after having discussed it all over email when the guidance updated during lockdown.

Thought we had finally had a meeting where it clicked. But nope.

Have used ssa, tt resources, gen respect printed off the dfe guidance etc to talk them through how they breeched it.

(Gender identity, cisgender, pansexual, asexual)

Received a final reply, that shows the head teacher still doesn’t understand it, or is intentionally trying to be as manipulative as possible. It reads like it’s been dictated by academy chain heads, who I trust even less than her. The safeguarding academy lead will know this is coming due to discussions around other issues about my dc.

The head has misunderstood many points brought up, repeatedly on email and at the meeting. So the points she addresses don’t actually address points raised.

However: she says gender identity is in the equality act and that they have to teach it because kids who are in class have families effected by this. No acknowledgement of the many ways in which I patiently explained it’s breeching the guidance and that gender reassignment does not equal gender identity. They acknowledged in the meeting there’s no evidence base.

She claims they aren’t teaching an ideology as fact and that the council advise this and they are the experts in dfe guidance and have verified the curriculum is fit for purpose. And that they are using the dfe accredited PSHE Association.

And recommended the national autism society page on gender identity and autism.

Now that my forehead is bleeding from continually explaining the obvious to people who don’t get it or won’t get it, I think we’ll have to put in formal complaint.

Especially if this is in any way coming from the council, because that makes this worse at secondary, so we need to know how to challenge it now.

Have forwarded it to safe schools alliance, and pm’d them here, but I’m aware that they are busy.

I would definitely want to follow their advice to copy in ofsted.

Any more advice?

Dh is very supportive about formal complaint and would back me 100%, but I’m the one with the greater grasp on all this. So it will be me having to write it again, and any input about the above non points she came back to me with would really help.

I’m sick to my stomach people responsible for safeguarding ignore dfe.

@2fallsagain @BelleOfTheProvince @TalkingtoLangClegintheDark @BoreofWhabylon @EmbarassingHadrosaurous @foxgoosefinch

& everyone else

Tia

Sorry if I've missed this but have you emphasised with them as a starting point that Gender identity is not a protected characteristic and so things like non binary etc are not required by law/ dfe guidelines etc?

I'd start with that basis, as basically thereafter teaching "gender identities" (emphasis on plural) is not required and additional unnecessary information within school.

Identities are sex/ gender stereotypes.

And Gender stereotypes are implicitly stated by dfe to be tackled and not encouraged.

It's also very likely they're relying on all the normal outside sources that they believe to be correct, stonewall included, without any understanding that all those institutions have been captured by stone wall.

Then point towards Nolan podcasts.

To be quite honest the majority of my teaching colleagues accept of the status quo of any courses and info provided by Lea, major orgs like stonewall and the NAS etc. We aren't used to querying what we are being told and sold.

Under Labour a lot of this stuff was centralised, spoon fed and quality controlled. Tories have de centralised and privatised elements of the education system in the last 10 years, thus allowing this capture to infiltrate more than it might have under previous education systems.

To be quite honest the majority of my teaching colleagues accept of the status quo of any courses and info provided by Lea, major orgs like stonewall and the NAS etc. We aren't used to querying what we are being told and sold.

To add to this; it's actually different between different LEAs (mine is still quite centralised) and even within LEAs due to academies.

I’m not bringing the equality act into, I just suggested they use the legal definition in that for their definitions. So use gender reassignment.

I have asked, very politely numerous times in email and in person to hear their definition of gender identity (and the other terms they list as above) and how that complies with the dfe pshe guidance. They have definitions of the other terms that breech the dfe and still haven’t given a definition of gender identity at all, despite claiming they are fine to use gender identity because dfe ‘endorsed’ pshe association and national association of autism do. I’ve sat with them and shown them the dfe guidance that says they don’t endorse any resources linked on the site and the letter to ssa from dfe that makes it crystal clear schools have to ensure anything they use meets the guidance.

But they still refuse to give any definition of gender identity and instead claim they are fine to teach it because pshe association and nas and council say so.

They either have zero understanding of the things I have painstakingly talked them through while providing all the ssa tt etc resources and highlighting the dfe relevant sections or they are intentionally evading my points. This has been months now, so I’m guessing the latter is more likely, especially as they refer to the council, nas and pshe association.

It feels very manipulative and underhanded and what they appear to agree to in person or over the phone is not what’s then in the plan on paper or over email. And the last one is termed final response (to informal discussion/complaints) so stuck with formal complaint route as per complaints procedure.

Sort of cross posted with Long re EA and "gender identity."

As well as the Safe Schools Alliance, can I recommend that you also contact Bayswater Support. They will provide you with a lot of help.

And do push it with the Safe Schools Alliance - they were incredibly helpful to us.

But they still refuse to give any definition of gender identity and instead claim they are fine to teach it because pshe association and nas and council say so.

The NAS guidance on gender identity is problematic, and I'll be writing to them separately about that now I've seen it.

The NAS also links to Stonewall, Mermaids, etc, so very unhelpful alongside the suggestion that everyone has a gender identity.

I can see why the school is struggling to know how to handle this when the sources they'd typically consult to consider the needs of autistic pupils are saying this.

From what the school have said, I would assume that their definition of gender identity will be similar to that stated on the NAS website. If schools teach this as fact, they are breaching the EA as they are teaching gender ideology as fact.

If you don't want to mention the EA, I think it's going to be difficult to get a different outcome from the one you've already received, not least as the school are able to show that they've consulted reputable sources which say gender ideology is fact, and are therefore doing reasonable due diligence (the problem being that the reputable sources have been Stonewalled).

A freedom of information request (FOI) to the local authority re what they have told the school on teaching GI, might help

But it breeches the dfe guidance.

@FindTheTruth

A freedom of information request (FOI) to the local authority re what they have told the school on teaching GI, might help

Will look at that after the first formal complaint is typed up ready for the first stage of formal complaint procedure according to mat policy.

But will definitely look at this next because that will influence secondary’s also.

But it breeches the dfe guidance.

Right, but the school seems to be arguing that they are departing from the guidance for good reason (i.e. to teach what NAS and the LEA advise) and this kind of deviation from the is permitted, provided they have good reasons.

The EA is clearer in terms of the obligations on schools (and the DfE guidance states throughout that the EA must be followed anyway), so if I had to choose between holding a school to account under the EA (which is well-established and understood by schools) or under a wordy piece of new statutory guidance that can be deviated from where the school has good reasons to do so, I'd choose the EA every time.

A parent complaining to a school that they've breached the EA and discriminated against their child will be far more effective that a parent telling them they disagree with the way they're interpreting DfE guidance and that some children might potentially suffer as a result, as it's not parents' role to tell them how to follow guidance when their child isn't affected.

With all due respect, OP, regardless of any other roles you have in life, in this instance, you're complaining to the school in your capacity as a parent, so your complaint needs to be focussed on that, and on the effect of their teaching on your child. The school obviously don't want you as their policy consultant, so I think it's important to be clear as to what you're trying to achieve and what is realistic here, given the context of NAS guidance.

I can partially see you points @LonginesPrime but I would question/comment on a few things:

1. The Equality Act is not well understood by schools - just look how many misstate it in their policies.

1. The Education Act is equally poorly understood, teachers often wrongly bring their political views into the classroom.

1. I disagree that your complaint, OP, needs to focus on your child. If school are not following the law and guidance then that is ground for complaint.

1. DfE guidance says parents must be consulted re RSE materials. Long document, but lots of useful info here: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1019542/Relationships_Education__Relationships_and_Sex_Education__RSE__and_Health_Education.pdf

School have sat in the last meeting and complained that the guidance is really confusing and they are struggling to come up with definitions that meet it. Their words.

I explained the above appropriate definition of gender reassignment that would meet it. They agreed appeared to agree at the meeting but are now back tracking (and despite requesting minute she never sent them).

The pshe is non statutory guidance, so as a primary school they don’t have to mention gender identity at all, but if they do they must follow the guidance. It’s not my understanding (from here, ssa, tt and dfe) that they can refuse to follow it. It’s a mainstream primary that takes in high number of kids with disabilities. Nas has no bearing, if they use that as a resource they are responsible for checking it meets the guidance, according to dfe. PSHE Association is not endorsed despite her claim it is, which again I’ve shown them in person the section of guidance that says this.

It doesn’t matter if council say it meets the guidance when dfe say it’s schools responsibility not council. Everyone on fwr knows many councils have been ignoring dfe so it’s the schools responsibility, they can’t out source that and claim it’s fine.

I don’t think it is a difficult document to understand. If I can understand it as a parent then teachers who are trained in this should easily be able to. However I’ve given them numerous resources and talked them through where and how they are breeching it numerous times.

It’s a primary school. Teaching ten year olds basic facts isn’t complicated. And the guidance is the easiest by far for primaries to follow, verses secondaries. The fact they still won’t after a couple of months of discussion would indicate there’s a serious problem.

Whether it’s a failure of their understanding or intentionally ignoring it or deferring to higher ups with their own agenda it’s not ok and is harmful to all the children including my own vulnerable dc.

Yes @Leafstamp their equality policy misstates the equality act. Which I have told them about repeatedly, including senior mat staff, yet it’s still ignored.

They agreed appeared to agree at the meeting but are now back tracking (and despite requesting minute she never sent them).

I know it's more work (that you shouldn't have to be doing), but in these kinds of situations, I have often found it helpful to send my own summary of what was discussed and action points/responsibility/agreed timescales by email to attendees, inviting them to let me know if I've misunderstood anything.

With some schools/orgs I've had to do this every time and with others, they cotton on pretty quickly to the fact it's in their interests to swiftly send round minutes before I get in there with mine!

I should have done. But it was in the middle of meetings and visits about secondary and kind of got worn down.

If felt like it finally clicked with them, but I guess I need to learn not to trust them. As she’s saying this is ok’d by council I guess it’s a good lesson to learn before secondary where we will need to address it also…

I'm not meaning to be a pedantic dick posting this OP.

www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/breach-breech-usage

Just think in a formal complaint it's important to get it right.

That’s ok, ty.

My grammar can be appalling despite English literature and language MA!

It’s a long time since I studied and I worked in residential social work (just svq3) and not for 12 years so I have reverted to my secondary level default grammar, which is poor at best!

@RedCarpetRebellion if you don't mind coming back to your old thread, can you tell us what happened in the end?

I have a call this afternoon with my DC's school, fighting this same battle. I'm really hoping your complaint had a positive outcome and you're not still fighting 3 years later!!

You might find these threads from @Vebrithien helpful - it took a while but ended up with some very positive outcomes.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4713725-please-help-gender-not-sex-on-a-school-protected-characteristics-poster-just-spoken-to-the-head?postsby=Vebrithien
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4733278-sex-not-gender-no-outsiders-changing-the-equality-act-depheaddsl-captured?postsby=Vebrithien

Waves!

Thanks @Vebrithien and @dunBle - the call went ok I think but I've followed up with my notes in writing to make sure I understood correctly. The main thing I wanted to make sure was that the kids weren't being told that there were more than two biological sexes and that was clearly accepted on the call - but let's see what happens when my notes are reviewed...and when the lesson materials are sent for me to have a look at. They're produced by an organisation called Medway which I haven't heard of before - PSHE Association approved, but that isn't a guarantee of quality as I know they approved materials from Barnardos in the past that had to be withdrawn as it didn't match government guidance.

I used a lot of your resources @Vebrithien so thank you! and also Sex Matters schools check website!

Huzzah @Xiaoxiong

Glad to hear that the phonecall seemed to go well. Doubly glad that any resources I've found were useful!