They have turned the toilets at my daughter's school mixed sex

[dumpling23]

Yup - that's it really. On a local women's rights group I'm on, I've heard that another school in our town has also done just the same thing. I'll be writing to complain. I imagine others who look at this forum might hear that the the same change has been introduced at their children's school over the next few days, so here is a copy of my letter. If anybody else is in this situation, feel free to use/adapt this template. Corrections also welcome.

I am writing to register my concerns about the changes to the ** School toilets that have been reported to me by my child. I have been informed that the single sex provision at the English Block and the Canteen Corridor have been converted into mixed sex provision, with further conversions underway. In this letter I am requesting further information in order to better understand the situation, as the only information I have received at present comes from a child.

I will state at the outset that I consider removing single-sex toilet provision and replacing it with mixed-sex provision, as appears to be the case here, to be detrimental to female pupils. It also risks breaking the law. The guidance in the Schools Premises Regulations (2012) is very clear. It states that schools must provide separate sex provision for children over eight. In June 2018, the Department of Education reissued guidance from the Department of Education on the responsibilities of school in relation to ‘gender separation’. Paragraph 13 clearly states:

It is permissible for toilet and boarding accommodation facilities to be separate as they are captured under existing statutory exceptions. Separate toilet and washing facilities must be provided for boys and girls aged 8 years and over pursuant to Regulation 4 of the School Premises (England) Regulations 2012, which falls within the exemption provided for in Schedule 22 of the Equality Act 2010.

Furthermore, as you will no doubt have noticed, the Attorney General, Suella Braverman provided further guidance to schools about toilets in her speech of 10 August 2022. She said: ‘Further, in law, there is a duty to provide separate single sex toilets, a breach of which would be unlawful under the School premises (England) Regulations 2012 and the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.

In order that I can better understand the School’s actions and assess how it fits within the UK’s legal framework, I would be grateful if you could provide answers to the following questions:

1. What is the toilet provision in the school and is it in line with the School Premises Regulations (2012) as outlined in the Department of Education guidance?
2. Did the school consult with students, staff and parents about the proposed change?
3. Did the school carry out an impact assessment (especially in relation to the protected characteristics of sex and religion) on the change as is required under the Equality Act?

If the school did carry out a consultation exercise and Impact Assessment, I would be grateful if you could share the documentation around these processes.

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Ooh has reality jumped track again and now it's a case that third spaces were the plan all along, are always provided, have always been provided, we have always been at war with eastasia, and everyone will respect male only and female only spaces and use the third space if they prefer? And we just imagined all the othering complaints and refusals and stuff as part of some group delusion? And no student or employee in a public place will be walking long distances to try and find an accessible loo because that never happens?

Cool

Thanks, it gets hard to keep up with.

I would guess that OP has not been back because she’s waiting for the response from the school.

Until then, @Boreded ’s speculation is just that: speculation.

Since it would breach safety regs, I would suggest that op having a dramatic rant days ago, would be the most likely to be speculative.

prepared to be proven wrong (I won’t be)

too many on this site immediate grab the pitchforks before using their brains…if this situation were real it would already have been picked up by the news outlets as it is quite sensationalist, and other parents would have gone to their local papers already.

please can everyone use their brains before replying :)

Boredad you forget there are a large number of parents on MN - many have indeed reported that their children's school have changed all toilets to mixed sex (secondary age so reasonably reliable). So it is in fact very possible. particularly if you live in Brighton

Perhaps wait and see what OP comes back with before pronouncing that it never happens eh?

You mean like if a woman was being denied rape support it would be all over the papers and she wouldn't be dealing with a ton of harassment and if a very well known charity was taking another to court for basically thinking homosexuality is ok that would be all over the press too?

Wow. The things I'm imagining! From behind my Pitchfork.

This stuff is intentionally avoided like the plague by the media. As any fule know.

Our secondary school has just installed two huge mixed sexed toilets.

There are no single sex provisions on that side of the school (you have to go over to the other side - it's a massive site).

So it is happening.

The girls are not happy.

They are being gaslit as to why they must accept this. It is unbelievable that this is happening.

They had two perfectly good spots and a disabled toilet. All we needed to do was one boys toilet, one girls toilet and the disabled toilet could be unisex.

Instead, we have two large unisex areas, and the girls still queuing up for the unisex disabled locked cubicle toilet.

In one breath with our safeguarding training, we were told that we were concentrating on the high levels of violence and sexual harassment towards females on the back of the national ofsted report. Then we were told about the new mixed sex toilets, and THEN told that it was a great idea and it was proven to IMPROVE behaviour. Let me guess, the boys behaviour.

Once again girls stepping in to help the boys behave.

We have over 900 girls in the school, around 500 boys and 2 trans.

But we get the unisex toilets at the expense of 900 girls who will at some point, be on their periods.

Nice one lefties.

gluteustothemaximus Re the research about behaviour, when I last looked, that allegation was being made by .... wait for it..... companies who install toilets in schools!

Girls being used in schools to tackle boy's poor behaviour is a well known phenomenon and school staff are meant to have a more sophisticated approach to behaviour problems.

Bored - there have been numerous threads on here for years about the removal of single sex facilities in schools. Too many schools have followed the Stonewall, Gendered Intelligence, Global Butterflies etc demands and made their facilities mixed sex despite the risks to girls and the legal position.

Here are a few found via search but there are lots more if you trouble to research.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4012590-Mixed-sex-toilets-at-primary-school

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4215600-Ireland-will-no-longer-be-providing-single-sex-toilets-in-primary-and-secondary-schools

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4348285-primary-school-u-turn-on-mixed-sex-toilets

Grrrrrr. not ok. NOT OK. especially when rates of sexual harassment in schools is higher than it's EVER been. There's been recent reports about this.

Well - I'm back. Thank you all for your input - some of you pointed out sites I could look at and made great suggestions, so I slightly improved the letter and sent it off last week.
To clarify: the three main toilet blocks have all been converted. There are a few random single-sex toilets left, but it's a very large campus, so access to single-sex toilets is considerably diminished for all girls. My own daughter is holding off going to the toilet all day because she is usually nowhere near a girls toilet. She tells me that the school was 'given' the money and they were all told to be grateful. I presume it came from the Academy trust they are a part of. I don't really know.
At the moment there is not much to update. I sent the letter to the Head, the Governors, and the CEO of the Trust. The school has invited me in to view the toilets. I've indicated that this won't be necessary as it is already clear that the single-sex provision has been replaced by mixed sex provision and that this contravenes a number of UK statutes - and (in not so many words) that me coming to view the toilets isn't going to magically transform the toilets into something that complies with the law! (Or maybe, if I come and see them, the law will just magically change so that the toilets become legal??? I don't know!)
Anyway, I've indicated that I'm content to wait for a written response and that's pretty much where we are.
I'll update as we go. Silence ≠ storm in a teacup or that problem is/was non-existent. It just means: no news. If anybody else is in the same situation or knows anybody who has been do get in touch. Information about parents in this situation who managed to restore single-sex provision to their schools would be especially welcome. Thanks to you all again.

Well done OP, the point about big campuses and actual access to single sex toilets is an important one. I hope you get a proper response soon.

I think it may be useful for you to send your letter etc to your local MP, Cllrs and the local papers.

Thanks for the update dumpling23. The additional questions I'd be asking the school is whether they've genuinely consulted the girls? And if so, what were the (unedited) responses. I'd also ask as a parent for a guarantee that their changing rooms are not mixed sex and take a closer look at their SRE & equality policies? Schools that prioritise gender woowoo over safeguarding girls from assault are normally the ones to wedge boys into girls changing rooms because "trans etc....."

We all know that girls and women don't choose to share toilets / changing rooms with males and until the sticky hands of the trans lobby groups are prised away from education, it's only parents who are in a position to challenge this on behalf of our daughters.

Many thanks for the update. Well done.

Will be watching with interest.

My daughters hate using the school toilets as it is.

I used to volunteer at the school 4/5 years ago and the staff toilets are mixed. I was anxious washing my hands next to a teacher never mind a male one.

So you think the problem that girls have with boys in their toilets (or v.v.) is that they're offended by it, because they don't accept the others' gender decisions?

What about - feeling unsafe? having a lack of dignity? having no privacy? being gaslit?

Being offended is not the problem. I'm not offended by transwomen in the female toilets. I feel potentially in danger, from any male, and want a safe space from them. I want privacy and dignity as well.

Also, what is bio-gender that you keep going on about? If anything is biological, surely, it's someone's sex.

and even if only some of the toilets are converted, it still reduces females access to toilets, given that most of them have reasons for not wanting a mixed one. Women need more toilet facilities in a building/school/etc, not fewer

Just waiting for @Boreded , who was very confident that @dumpling23 would not be back again and 100% sure that it was only a few loos being made mixed sex, is going to pop up & tell us why dumpling’s update is a “rant” & can’t be believed for... reasons.

So there are single sex and mixed sex provisions…just as I suspected.

thanks for the tag @Sazzasez

they have given three options and so won’t be contravening any laws or gov guidance…if they were then they wouldn’t have done it.

op you should go see the toilets, see what they are really like, rather than what you’ve made them to be in your mind.

Thanks OP and other posters for the links to guidance. Watching with interest because as far as I can work out, all toilets in my DD's secondary school are unisex (shared communal space with sinks, then toilets in cubicles) and there is no single sex provision at all. It is causing some anxiety for DD 😟😡

Just adding, we had some nasty boys at my school, proper bullies who would pick on girls and I'm so glad we didn't have to share a toilet with them for further humiliation.

It can be believed, there are three options available, as expected.

i don’t think anyone ranted, just took exception to something before the facts were established.

if op updates again then I will listen with an open mind, but please can people stop tagging me in the meantime and it is tiresome

Well that’s not ok…Have you contacted them or is it just that you’ve heard from DD? Hopefully she is mistaken and she just hasn’t spotted the single sex ones yet…hoping this is the case

Me too, but older kids at the school aren't aware of any single sex toilets and when I emailed the support team to seek help with DD's anxiety and directly asked about it, the response swerved the question.

a few single sex toilets dotted around is nowhere near enough for the girls to use, given that there needs to be more provision for girls toilets at the best of times. They will be forced to use the mixed sex ones because of time and proximity, which is really not fair, or just avoiding the loos all day, which is unhealthy. And not because they're "offended".

Really annoys me that schools are doing this. I know of some who are doing this now too, and not having doors to the corridors, either, so that the handwashing area is totally open. I hope parents complain.

Hopefully she is mistaken and she just hasn’t spotted the single sex ones yet

Ever had to go hunting for a toilet you can use, uncertain that it even exists, with blood pouring down your leg? No child should should be in a school where single sex toilets are bloody hidden away in some obscure part of the building FFS.