Mixed Sex School - Single Sex Classes

[LadyOfTheBake]

Another what now question if anyone has any insight, My child’s school has a mixed sex intake but are taught in single sex classes. Some children have identified into the opposite sex cohort. Ie male’s taught in the female classes. Is this legal?

Why can't girls have anything just for them?
Never mind legality.
What about just sheer dignity?

Honestly it is time for men/boys to make their spaces welcoming and inclusive to males who are different.

And please don't start with transboys. They are already welcome in female spaces even if they reject it. That's their responsibility to deal with.

Agreed. I didn’t know this was the schools policy until a few weeks ago. But is their policy legal?

I don’t think it’s legal. If they have established a reason that constitutes a legitimate and proportionate aim to segregate by sex in the first place (this may even be open to challenge under certain circumstances) then they must segregate by sex, not gender identity.

If they are segregating by gender identity then they need to advertise it that way. That would be legal.

What is questionable is advertising it as single sex then assuming gender identity overrides the sex criteria.

Single sex means single sex. So any male children in the girls’ class need to be removed.

Interesting. Thank you. It’s also the other way around too. Female children in the boys classes.

Yes, but female children in a boys’ class doesn’t have the same impact as male children in a girls’ class.

Doesn’t mean they should be there, of course. Both boys and girls deserve their own things, their own spaces. It’s just that a mixed sex space is, de facto, a male space.

What never seems to come up is the impact of this type of policy on certain religious groups, eg Orthodox Jews and observant Muslims, for whom single sex education is important.

In the desire to be “inclusive” we are encouraging other minorities to exclude themselves.

The school needs to go mixed sex, as that's what it is now.

It’s mixed sex with single sex classes. Sounds like a very good way to do things to me.

I wish they were all like this! Dd is in private school largely due to the fact she couldn't focus in loud mixed sex school. In Primary boys were calling girls fat, teachers telling them they were too sensitive when they were upset about it and the boys ruled the classroom. They should have done this before VAT and there would have been less of a commotion IMO.

It actually works really well. The girls can focus away from the pressure of the male gaze and behaviour. The boys are slightly rowdier and this is less of a problem in class. But I didn’t realise until recently it’s self id into whatever you fancy. In principle this is reasonably uncommon but not by any means unheard of and is happening in every year group. I’m going to write to the school asking for clarification. I can see some upset children sadly.

My DD was originally at a mixed sex private school which had its fair share of very boisterous, disruptive boys who weren’t reined in. We moved her to a girls’ school in the end. Wish she started their at 11!

Yep! A de facto male space is a good way of putting it.

That changes the criteria.

I think the premise is a good one. I’m not a parent but I went to a girls school and am undecided as to whether it’s good or bad. On the one hand, I get that girls in particular learn better when they are taught without boys, especially is maths and science. On the other hand, I came away from school thinking boys were aliens and unable to talk to them normally. So your child’s school is, to me, the best of both worlds. Or it would be, if they did it as they said they were! It kind of defeats the purpose the way they are doing it now.

If you really want to mess with them, ask how non-binary children are accommodated.

It's not in Thanet, is it?

Because Ofsted did not like this at all.

Having had three DDs through this system I thought it was, as the school said, " the best of both worlds."

then it’s just mixed sex and they’re misselling the set up of the school to parents. I imagine private too?

I imagine that PE and PSE lessons will be tailored to the sexes. I’d also be very concerned about if they’re accessing loos dedicated to the opposite sex.

definitely ground to challenge. I think there will be a huge amount of this to do going forward

its not in NE England is it?

That’s an interesting point about phse. I didn’t think about that!