Important piece in the Telegraph - schools cutting out parents

[Birdsweepsin]

Telegraph don't do share tokens I'm afraid but this should give you an idea of the stories

Anne’s experience echoes that of other parents who have agreed to speak to The Telegraph about their experiences as their children are swept into a gender “cult”.

Many of the teenagers are autistic or suffering from mental health issues and the parents believe that they are using the label to make sense of the world, a box in which to contain the confusing experiences of puberty.

Those who have been bullied or struggled to make friends are suddenly celebrated for their decision to come out as trans, often encouraged by their teachers.

Whilst most see little harm in their son wearing a dress or their daughter having short hair, their fear is the race toward medicalisation. Powerful puberty blockers could lead to lifelong harm or irreversible surgery.

The parents, whose stories are rarely heard in this increasingly toxic debate, have been labelled bigots and “monsters”, cut out by teachers and medical professionals and told they cannot question the decision.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/02/telling-lies-parents-anger-schools-pushing-trans-ideology-children/

My child is 9, and it’s normal for children to have the basics of sex explained to them by parents around 8-9 — they are normally all aware around that age. They do ask and work things out, you know 😂

This is also the age though that misinformation about sex starts to circulate - some of their peers are already using apps like Tiktok, and without basic sex education they spread a lot of daft ideas (I’ve already been asked a few hair-raising questions by my child about things she has been told by another child).

School PSHE at primary level (which now has a statutory curriculum so you can look it up on the DfE website) covers puberty (for both sexes) and the factual basics of sex, and some content about relationships during years 4, 5 and 6. It’s necessary because children should be able to rely on accurate information and trusted adults, not random woo circulating in the school playground.

As far as I know, gender identity materials don’t normally form part of the primary PSHE curriculum, but in some schools they could add this. (I’m hoping my child’s school doesn’t and will check this with the Head.)

If you were under the delusion that primary school children should not know anything about sex until 11 you’d be sadly disappointed. Your kid will be told not only all about it, but probably a whole load of other stuff too by the other children. PSHE is there to make sure that children have access to correct, reassuring information.

Yes totally agree with the poster above. Several of my daughter’s year six class have already started their periods. Thanks to lessons in year five they were prepared.

if you’re in that position without having any prep (from home or school) think how terrifying it would be to suddenly start bleeding.

Its vital that age appropriate education takes place.

A friend of mine is a teacher. One of the most genuinely nice and thoughtful people I know.
She's 100% behind an affirmative response and gets very frosty with me if I even very gently suggest it's not always the right thing to do. She can't see any problem with not telling parents.

Lots of girls start their periods at primary school. Sex education is essential.

One of the reasons that the age of majority was reduced from 21 to 18 in the UK in the early 70s was that primary schools had silently started putting sanitary bins into girls' toilets. So the change is not that recent - about better nutrition mostly i believe.

I'm a gender critical teacher and have to be very careful about how I speak about this at school. We have trained members of the Pastoral team we refer students to and the rest of us keep out of any discussions. If a name change is agreed by parents we go with it, when it isn't things get very tricky. I had a 12 year old girl complain to me that she was being bullied, I passed on the referral form as required. The bullying was that a classmate refused to use her preferred pronouns. I tried to explain that because he was using her name, not saying anything mean and that he was entitled to his own beliefs it wasn't officially bullying. She disagreed and was demanding he should be kicked out of the school for being a transphobe. Our Senior Team are up their eyes trying to run a school when understaffed, highevels of sickness and a plethora of students with mental health issues/ school refusal. Schools just follow (weak/confusing) guidance on gender identity.

The way it is presented in some schools is that it improves the mental health of transgender pupils who wear them. The risks get glossed over and schools are told by lobby groups that it should be up to the adolescent as to whether or not to wear a binder.

Eg, the Scottish Govt guidance says:

”A transgender boy or non-binary[51] young person who has developed unwanted breasts might bind their chest to flatten it, so they might need to wear a loose-fitting shirt or sweatshirt. Binders[52] can lead to shortness of breath, can be painful during physical exertion and there are health risks associated with wearing binders that are too tight.[53].

Binders can, however, have a positive impact on a young person's mental health so staff should allow a young person to decide for themselves about whether or not to wear a binder, to help them join in. Some transgender young people may be willing to wear a looser binder than usual during PE.”

www.gov.scot/publications/supporting-transgender-young-people-schools-guidance-scottish-schools/pages/3/

My view is that if schools are presenting the topic of binders use to pupils, they should be making the risks crystal clear and not gloss over them. Pupils should be provided with the full picture- ie the information in this study: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27300085/ which oddly, ScotGov didn’t bother linking to.

if schools are presenting the topic of binders use to pupils, they should be making the risks crystal clear

Schools are good at preparing kids for risks - with bike training, wearing hats on sunny days, not talking to strangers, th

And a lot on the Internet. So why not binders?

If kids wanted to wear elastic bands round their testicles to help them self castrate, should primary school teachers educate them on the risks or make an urgent referral for medical and mental health support due to the glaringly obvious self harm issues?