Secondary School complaint about mixed sex changing rooms. Update, school response and request for help writing the escalated complaint to governors

[TangenitalContrivance]

Hello everyone. Some may remember I asked for help with a complaint to my daughter’s secondary school in Brighton which allows Males into female changing spaces. Including swimming, without informing either children or parents.

this is clearly a safeguarding issue, borderline illegal and must not be allowed to stand.

I’m going to have to take the whole thing through a governors complaint and even higher, which I am willing to do.

please, if you can, could you read my complaint and the schools subsequent response and give me pointers for what to say in my follow up.

feel free to use the original complaint at your own school. You will be surprised how many are doing this!

Sent the email to the head, the head of safeguarding and the chair of governors asking them to circulate to everyone. Was easier than trying to guess emails.

For 2023 there’s a new bit in the generic brief about a ‘private toilet identified as gender neutral’ on each floor I haven’t asked about whether this one has been risk assessed but I am betting it hasn’t. I have some ‘fun’ quotes from America which uses the same system the DfE has added. Spoiler: it doesn’t work.
It annoys me because all these rules and regs were put in for a reason, but the last few years they’ve just been thrown in the air!

Warrior and Bonfire are right - the Children's Act and Working Together are key as is Education Act. All underpin KCSIE

The comparison to FGM is really interesting - this is the sort of thing a really good legal opinion could look at.

The fact is, we don't treat children as mini adults in any other sphere except for gender woo, so exploring whether that's actually illegal or at very least bad practice in relation to all the safeguarding focused legislation and statutory guidance would be interesting.

And age is a protected characteristic…

UPDATE:

Chair of governors has refused to pass this on to all the governors as:

"As your concerns form part of an outstanding formal complaint currently being progressed under the school’s complaints procedure, it would be inappropriate to circulate the content of your email to all governors at this time. The panel of governors assigned to review your complaint must remain impartial and have no prior knowledge of the matters raised, in order to preserve the integrity and fairness of the process."

I am thinking to respond covering the following points: Please add any you think I should include?

They treated urgent safeguarding concerns as mere complaint issues
-Safeguarding risks must be acted on immediately, not buried in complaint handling.

They hid behind the Stage 2 complaints process
Governors’ safeguarding duties apply at all times, not only after complaints are heard.

They failed to confirm compliance with the law
-Exposes the school, governors, and SLT to serious legal liability for unlawful policies.

They ignored the request to notify insurers
-Suggests a lack of seriousness about risk management and safeguarding accountability.

You must be very bored of my email updates, however. I am sending this back:

Subject: Immediate Action Required – EHRC Interim Guidance and Safeguarding Obligations

Dear xxxxx, and Members of the Governing Body,

Thank you for acknowledging receipt of my previous email regarding the EHRC’s interim update on the practical implications of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

For absolute clarity: this escalation does not replace or supersede my existing Stage 2 complaint, which must continue independently. Rather, this concerns a separate, urgent safeguarding and legal compliance issue that demands immediate attention.

As Governors and school leaders, you are fully aware of your statutory obligations under the Education Act 2002, the Equality Act 2010, and Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2024. These duties are continuous and are not suspended by ongoing complaints processes.

In light of those duties, I must formally escalate the following concerns:

• Safeguarding and compliance issues must be addressed immediately. They cannot be deferred pending the outcome of a complaints procedure.
• The full Governing Body and Senior Leadership Team are jointly responsible for ensuring legal compliance and safeguarding at all times.
• The EHRC’s interim guidance removes all ambiguity. Single-sex facilities must be based on biological sex, not gender identity.
• No assurance has been provided that the school is now compliant with this statutory requirement.
• No confirmation has been given that the school’s insurers have been notified of the risk of legal liability arising from any continued non-compliance.
• The suggestion that Governors must remain unaware of updated legal obligations is untenable. It is wholly appropriate — and indeed essential — that all Governors are aware of their legal duties and of immediate risks to pupils.

The EHRC states unambiguously:

“Schools must provide separate single-sex toilets for boys and girls over the age of 8. It is also compulsory for them to provide single-sex changing facilities for boys and girls over the age of 11.
Pupils who identify as trans girls (biological boys) should not be permitted to use the girls’ toilet or changing facilities, and pupils who identify as trans boys (biological girls) should not be permitted to use the boys’ toilet or changing facilities. Suitable alternative provisions may be required.”

It is clear that urgent remedial action is required.

Accordingly, I now formally request that the Governing Body and Senior Leadership Team:

1. Immediately review and update all relevant school policies to ensure full compliance with the EHRC interim guidance and the Supreme Court ruling.
2. Provide formal written confirmation that xxxxxSchool will implement the required changes without delay.
3. Confirm that the school’s insurers have been notified of the potential liabilities arising from any non-compliance.
4. Confirm that the Chair of Governors and Safeguarding Governor have personally reviewed this issue and are satisfied that immediate safeguarding risks are being appropriately managed.

If the school is unwilling or unable to provide these assurances, I will have no alternative but to escalate these concerns to the Department for Education, Ofsted, the EHRC, and any other relevant safeguarding authorities.

Please confirm receipt of this escalation and provide a prompt written response.

Yours sincerely,
xxxx
Father of two pupils at xxx School

Great work, OP! 💪

(it took me ages on MN to figure out why people kept posting that odd yellow swan!}

You are doing sterling work OP. Well done for not allowing them to fob you off

Good work agreed.

(If you want a laugh on the 'swan' someone mentioned on here opening it on its side, from her boss, and wondered why she'd been sent a 'willy' )

Well done OP.

Your point about insurers is particularly key. It's ridiculous, schools would be absolutely liable now without a leg to stand on if any incident arises.

This is really good.

You're absolutely right. Saying they have to wait for some long winded complaints process before responding to a safeguarding concern is really concerning.

Posting this here for information. A powerful summary from Transgender Trend about the implications for schools of the SC judgment. It exposes the appalling discrimination against girls in schools and the complete failure of the education establishment to safeguard children.
Well worth a read and may be of some use to the OP down the line:

https://www.transgendertrend.com/uk-supreme-court-judgment-schools/

Well done, TangenitalContrivance, I admire* *your tenacity! If, in the entirely likely event that the wheels come of for them, none of them will ever be able to say that they didn't know.

I thought that was one hell of a piece. Wake up and follow the bloody law!

Look at this from the DfE school specific brief:
Drafting note continued:
In Secondary Schools:
• Whether the school requires single sex or unisex toilets.
• Whether hand-washing areas in toilets should be open on to the circulation space or enclosed by means of a door.
• Whether the school has a specific requirement (with justifiable reasons) to not have the standard floor to ceiling cubicle systems.
Generally:
• Any differentiation between toilet facilities for different age or gender groups?

That’s why some schools end up with just unisex toilets. The manufacturers and designers are quoting the DfE to them.

Can somebody explain to me, as if I were a five year old, why Ofsted have never popped their heads above the parapet to opine about unisex loos/changing rooms and dodgy PHSE lessons etc?

It seems exceptionally unlikely that they wouldn’t have encountered questionable practices.

Well Ofsted used to be Stonewall Diversity champions.

You are brilliant, brilliant, brilliant OP. Well done! Keep on holding their feet to the fire.

‘Inclusive’ design, ironically to one group. Because designers were catering for that group, they forgot about (or ignored) the impact on the others. That’s what it is with toilet design anyway.

@TangenitalContrivance You are utterly brilliant - I come back on here regularly to check for your updates... Just the opposite of boring: So powerful, so persistent, so clear, so very very much needed.

I am cheering you on every step of the way

A huge thank you for doing this - both for your own DC and will I believe help many others around the UK.

What #love your advice said.

You are incredibly kind to say so thank you, these letters are built from the huge amount of support and ideas from here, Bayswater and my own local parents support group, not all my own work, I hope it can help. I might see if I can get other Brighton parents from Mumsnet to contact their own schools and get this changed Brighton and Sussex wide!

That would be SO brilliant - wow! Yes, changing brighton and sussex wide!! What a coup that would be...

Interesting case on reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/transgenderUK/comments/1kcd7hh/daughter_no_longer_allowed_to_use_girls_toilet_at/

"Hi I’m not sure if this is the right place to post. Yesterday I got a call from my daughter’s school that she is no longer allowed to use the girls toilet. She now has to use a different toilet that’s located out on the playground. (She is trans) the school has said they had received an email from our local council saying that trans children are now not allowed to use the toilet they identify with. I was under the impression that they didn’t have to enforce this legally. Is it worth going to the school and saying my daughter should still be allowed to use the girls toilet? (Sorry if I sound completely clueless)"

Interesting case on reddit:

Would we be right in thinking that this person still has male equipment, so actually has a choice of the boys toilets or one across the playground?