Stonewall advising our secondary school

[StonewallSchoolInfluence]

Have name changed for this.

Backstory - start of this term, the school announced all toilets were to become gender neutral (by taking signs off doors and removing urinals). There was a big fuss, school eventually backtracked and only made some blocks gender neutral. I personally had an email exchange with the deputy where I was lectured about being kind and inclusive. / Then this half term there was a PSHE newsletter saying y8 covering gender identity, with links to Stonewall. I contacted PSHE lead to express concerns about this.

Just had a newsletter from the head, with a lot of talk about inclusivity, mention of trans awareness week, and that the student leaders have been working with 'relevant charities' about LGBTQ+ issues. So I enquired which charities, and of course, it's Stonewall.

Any thoughts where to go from here? Do I wait for any issues to arise and then tackle them? Do I contact them now to express my concerns?

Has anyone had similar?

Bearing in mind, I don't want to do anything that would put my kids in an awkward position, this is nothing to do with their views or them personally. And I'm a bit worried I already have a reputation.

Being a parent with a reputation is the way to go. I now get immediate replies from the Head of DDs school as they know I mean business! It is exhausting but it is worth it.

Why must we ‘be kind’ at all costs to school aged “group a” who feel they don’t want to use the boys loos, yet it’s fine to be unkind to “group b” who will give themselves bladder problems by not using mixed sex loos (as they feel unsafe and undignified)?

Surely if “group a” were actually the same as “group b” (as we are told they are, and therefore ought to be treated as such), they’d be told to suck it up buttercup (like group b) and told to “be kind” to “group b”?

@Womanwall thanks for asking, I've not done anything yet, just making a plan. No further info on the Inclusion Quality Mark, there was so little online, I will email the school soon and ask.

I have managed to link up with one other parent (hi if you're reading!) and we're going to have a meeting with the school I think. And before that I'm going to attend a local feminist group to see if I can get any relevant local advice and/or find any more parents to join us.

@KittenKong yeah it's bonkers. I had a long email exchange and they backtracked on making all the toilets gender neutral. And o definitely wasn't the only one - the other parent I'm now in touch with had done the same, and I'm sure there must be more of us! It's not even about being gender critical, it's that a lot of the girls won't use mixed sex loos and the school needs to provide for all students.

[quote StonewallSchoolInfluence]@KittenKong yeah it's bonkers. I had a long email exchange and they backtracked on making all the toilets gender neutral. And o definitely wasn't the only one - the other parent I'm now in touch with had done the same, and I'm sure there must be more of us! It's not even about being gender critical, it's that a lot of the girls won't use mixed sex loos and the school needs to provide for all students.[/quote]
Exactly this. Wanting to uphold single sex spaces, wanting our children to be taught facts and not ideologies is about common sense, not necessarily about being gender critical.

Gender critical = sexual realistic.

Sex not sexual (my autocorrect always does that)