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?

Yes, I see what your point is, Mark, and I've responded to it.

I'm not sure you have...?

My question/point is the same as someone else's, who expressed it better: 'Can you explain why it's age appropriate for children to learn about heterosexuals families and heterosexual love stories existing but not gay or lesbian ones'?

Or are you saying you're fine with 8-year-olds learning/knowing some families have two daddies, someone's auntie might love another lady etc as well as them learning/knowing about mummies and daddies? If so, I must have misunderstood.

OK, this will be my last response. I did you the courtesy of assuming you were speaking in good faith.

Can you explain why it's age appropriate for children to learn about heterosexuals families and heterosexual love stories existing but not gay or lesbian ones'?

I didn't say that, so I don't have to explain anything.

Or are you saying you're fine with 8-year-olds learning/knowing some families have two daddies, someone's auntie might love another lady etc as well as them learning/knowing about mummies and daddies?

If it crops up, and can be explained in an age-appropriate way, yes.

The talk was by a man who identifies as a gender neutral and sometimes dresses as a woman and sometimes fancies boys and sometimes fancies girls.

🤣 funny. ‘Decade ago’…

Do send me the approved and updated version of the King James Gilead Bible of Approved Words and Phrases.

Seems you were right be to be wary, OP. I certainly don't think that's age-appropriate. Others here may differ.

😱 … and 8 year olds need to know that because…

Reminiscent of the DQST. At first you just think, why, why? Then, after a while, you realise why.

You have to complain. You were given no realistic chance to respond yet you did. You asked for your child to to be removed and your request was not carried out.

And then it turns out that the session was wholly inappropriate for an 8yo. Cross dressing, a made up identity with no basis in law, and a male adult's sexual desires are not appropriate or necessary for children.

Did he really tell the boys and girls that he "sometimes fancies boys and sometimes fancies girls"‽

Yup, parts of my post haven't aged well at all. Mostly the bit about the school being sensible. The safeguarding bit has stood up pretty well. And the being furious.

Yes

Oh yes, the school knew what they were doing all right.

Thing is schools teach tolerance and understanding of different groups in PSHE anyway. I teach it! Not sure why a speedily arranged talk would be necessary. Maybe they had booked it in and forgot to contact parents as such a lot going on at the end of term. As for talking to children about who they fancy at 8, that’s not really age appropriate. We teach that families look different ( small, large, blended, 2 mums/dads etc) from Reception age but don’t get into fancying people at all in primary.

😱

Hmm why would a grown man want to go into a school to talk to 8 year olds about wearing women's clothes and fancying boys and girls? It's a mystery!

That's bang out of order. No 8 year old child of mine would be attending that. 😒

I am so tired of this insistence that in teaching children to be tolerant we have to wheel out a representative of every religion, sexual preference, gender identity etc. to plug their line.

The lesson for children is: be caring and polite to all your fellow human beings - end of.

We don't need someone saying "I sometimes fancy men and sometimes women", or "I don't eat whatever."

People are people and we all share this one world and should be valued and respected - and that is what children need to understand. All the rest is unnecessary.

Yep last day of term too so it’ll be a distant irrelevance by the time the governors get wind of any complaints… infuriating.

Sounds like it’s formal complaint time.
So annoyed a primary school would do that (and concerned as DD is about to start Reception, a while to go yet but goodness knows which way things will veer) and yet, having lurked around the feminist boards for a while, am not surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised.

It's not suspicious in the slightest ffs.

What an idiotic comment.

The sheer dishonesty and bad faith of it all, though. We have a right to expect much better than this from our schools.

It's also "very instructive for lurkers" to see that particular poster appears to be no more

Because that person is an example of the range of human beings children will encounter in the world?

It gives OP perfect opportunity to discuss this with her child.