Small win for school toilets

[Itstarts]

Had this letter from DC's school. Girls made their voice heard and have got their toilets back. Go on girls!

Not sex specific, gender specific, not sure it is a win.

It's a start. Well done the girls for speaking up.

OK, wording might not be accurate but it does mean single sex.

Well done girls!

I can pretty much imagine only boys using the gender neutral facilities, so their "inclusivity" still gives boys twice as many options as girls, but it's a move away from no options for some girls so that's good.

Well done to those girls!

and yes, while the language isn’t perfect it will surely be a lot easier to point at the gender neutral facility when encountering those who don’t want to use the facility designated for their sex.

this whole mixed sex toilet experiment is going to be an expensive and entirely unnecessary cul de sac for so many schools.

It's always worth parents asking schools imposing mixed sex toilets on unconsenting children if they have properly consulted children (as opposed to listened to the Stonewall group)? They won't have - because if children are given an opportunity to "vote" they'll want single sex toilets and changing rooms.
Unbelievable that schools are so authoritarian to dismiss so many children's instinctive desire for privacy from the opposite sex.

Well done to those girls op.

But I'm struck, again, about how ludicrous this situation is.

Having internal meetings, and talking to people, making minutes, filing reports, and then writing a solemn letter and announcing seriously that yes, we've decided, after having a long hard think, that having girls toilets and boys toilets is better, than one big free for all. (With a third alternative so we can't be got at.)

I mean, it really is a little bit pathetic.

It sounds a good win but I would ask them to clarify gender specific in writing. Can a boy (male) who identifies as a girl still use the girls toilets be sure if his gender.
Well done to all the girls who got the council to change this.
I would also want to check their Equality Policy and Bullying Policy. Do they list the protected characteristic correctly. Do they include sexual harrasment, abuse and rape in their bullying policy? Ideally having a separate policy on sexual abuse. How are they tackling rape culture (see screenshot from Everyone Is Invited where you can check if your school is listed.
www.everyonesinvited.uk/schools-list-2022

Hmm, I wonder how much the school's change of heart may have been driven by the fact that it's highly Liz Truss will win the Tory leadership election, with Suella Braverman tipped to be the new Home Secretary - who has spoken out loud and clear about it being illegal for schools not to have single-sex toilets?

Wonder if the change in leadership at No 10 will lead to a rash of schools changing their toilets back to single sex?

OP just wondered if the school was Passmores Academy?

www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/20/pronouns-loos-and-uniforms-how-schools-became-the-gender-wars-frontline

Quote from the article:

^‘Our old loos were closed-off spaces. Pupils felt isolated in there. The reality is our unisex loos feel safe’ says Passmores Academy principal Vic Goddard.
The pupils have come up with their own solution to aid privacy. The boys come in and turn right, and the girls turn left. Girls were worried about boys putting cameraphones under the door, so the doors don’t have gaps that make that possible.^

Mr Goddard does not see the contradiction in his feeling that the loos feel safe and the girls and boys having to come up with solutions to combat the new system. He also fails to realise he has just made the loos much less safe in actual terms for those who fall ill, for instance with seizures or fainting, and for quick evacuation checks, by having no gaps at the bottom of the doors. He does acknowledge at least that cameraphones and boys are a problem.

No, it's not Passmores. Not an academy at all (probably one of the few non-acadamy state secondary schools left in England but that's a topic for another day).

Hmm shame for that school but a good win for your children OP. May many other schools also see sense.

Surely boys who identity as a girl can still us the female toilets?

That's the trouble with the "gender specific" wording

I notice that they say female pupils might feel uncomfortable sharing with boys.

Why not use the word girls? Or male pupils?

Good on those girls.

I’d be asking them if they meant ‘sex’ rather than ‘gender’.