Bit miffed by school...

[CactusMactus]

Received this email from school at 4pm yesterday:

"Dear Parents/Guardians,
We want to inform you that we will be hosting a guest speaker tomorrow to talk about building empathy for others and the importance of being yourself. This speaker is a member of the LGBTQ+ community and will share their experiences to help foster understanding and respect among our pupils.

Please note that this session is not a compulsory part of the national curriculum. If you prefer to withdraw your child from this 30-minute session, kindly let us know by the end of today, and we will make the necessary arrangements.
Thank you for your support."

So I emailed the school asking for a bit more information, I am totally cool with them learning about LGBTQ+ rights, experience and empathy for others... but there is zero information about who this person is and what their agenda is.

Full disclosure I am gender critical. And would object to my daughter being told she could be a man.

The school has not replied to me. So I am past the point of being able to choose whether my 8 year old listens to this talk or not!

Why would the school not share this information earlier? Surely this "person from the LGBTQ+ community" has had to be DBS checked prior to yesterday afternoon? Surely the school knows what the talk is about?

Any advice?

Can't you call the school and ask for your child to be withdrawn as you don't have enough information? Sounds like they left it this late on purpose. Very suspicious.

It is right?

I want to know if this person volunteered or was asked to come in. Either way... why?

The sad thing is I don't feel I can ask any of the other mums... and I am sure others will be having concerns.

The email was time stamped at 4pm yesterday and they wanted responses by the end of the day? That's ridiculous and they know it, totally done on purpose. Then you have to ask why they did that. I'd guess to hide it as lots of parents will be too busy to check emails until very late in the day, if at all.

From what I know of these speakers, it'll be 'all about me', not general stuff about treating others with consideration etc which most wouldn't disagree with.

I'd withdraw my child.

It just feels off right? Why won't they give more information?

Definitely withdraw your child. Why do 8 years olds need to know this?

Agree with the others.

Withdraw and record the phone call. Not least as you won't be able to hold a conversation and make good notes.

TQ+ isn't part of a primary curriculum. Q+ isn't even part of any Act of Parliament.

I can't get past the fact your child is EIGHT and the school is pushing this agenda. This is the age they still have some or many of their baby teeth, and believe in Father Christmas.

For all you know it could be the lovely Rainbow Dildo Butt Monkey come to spread their joy and agenda. An absolute no.

And talk about building empathy for others and the importance of being yourself is that not code for 'you must acquiesce to lauded groups, and believe they are who they tell you they are, you don't actually matter'?

I would withdraw my child. You need further information and lots of notice. The school are out of order.

Mention to governors - tell them the process was seriously flawed and needs reviewing.

I've emailed the school to withdraw. I'm rubbish on the phone and this whole thing has made me feel quite anxious already!

Most primary schools have a strong ethos of building empathy , they talk about it in assembly, RE, PE etc etc etc. They don’t need keynote speakers pushing an agenda for one demographic. Would they ask an Iman in to ask for empathy towards Muslims, or a black speaker to ask for empathy towards people of colour?

It doesn't really matter what other parents think although I understand you probably don't want to be the only one. Just withdraw your child and report to Governors. They're trying to tick a box which says 'consulted parents'. This is totally unacceptable.
Also, is it the last day of term? If it is it's been arranged on purpose to avoid any flak.
Your title says a bit miffed, I'd be absolutely raging.

Well done. Please ask for an acknowledgement.

I would phone as well and reference the email so they can’t blame not being notified in time.
Emails aren’t always seen/dealt with immediately

Not sure if you are in the UK , OP, but also strikes me this is strange timing right at the end of term. Maybe they are preparing the ground for one of the kids coming back in September with a new name and hair style, or even one of the teachers!

“Children, do you remember that lovely person who came to talk to you last term, who spoke about the importance of being yourself, well Mr X went away and thought very hard about those words …………”

The thing is, someone from the LGBTQwhatever+ ‘community’ could range from an eminently sensible lesbian, a bank manager who happens to be a bisexual man, Sarah Jane Barker (of kill the terfs fame) the aforementioned butt plug monkey or Peter Tatchell who thinks sex with minors is a good thing.

But I would bet my house on it being a man in a dress or a blue haired female they/them.

I once queried about a group who were going to provide a free sex eduction workshop in my kids primary school. I said that I needed to know a bit more information about why they were doing what they were doing - how it was in the best interest of the children. I wasn’t told why, but it was cancelled the next day, saying it was something to do with someone being ill. But no mention of re-scheduling.

If you just query and get the school to due their due diligence they discover that these things are not safe.

An 8 year old......? I'd definitely withdraw my child unless I had full and properly resourced information as to what the talk was about.

Don't wait for someone to read and acknowledge your email. You must phone.

8 year old kids don't need speeches about sexuality, gender fluidity etc.
They need to be at home playing with lego or out skateboarding with their pals

@CactusMactus you are certainly within your rights to demand that your child does not take part in this discussion with anyone! in scotland, the scottish government decided that everyone should be given those "talks" and take part in the work to do with this. I demanded a copy of the questions they were going to be asked and was emailed one page of totally innocuous stuff. i said that was not sufficient for me to decide and wanted the whole questionairre sent to me. they sent this and after reading it and seeing the very bottom of the last line I decided no! my grandson is not taking part in any of this at all!! the councils in scotland send them in to do storytime etc!! I dont think I was the only person who objected to this action and one of the posts I made regarding this on an anti snp facebook group there were well over 1500 comments agreeing with me! all because snp is an extremely "progressive" party! i do not think that discussing bananas in the same conversation as chocolate spread is appropriate for 8 year olds but this was going on in other cities!!! take from this what you wish!