All girls' school - safeguarding and boys issue

[wejammin]

My daughter has just started year 7 at a girls academy school. It appears (although this is only what she has told me and what I have seen for myself) that there are at least 2 boys attending who identify as girls. When I say I have seen it - one of the boys is visibly male.

The school's equality policy says "the school may exercise discretion in allowing admission of both male and female transgender students and supporting transgender students at any stage of their education at the school." I admit I hadn't read this until this week.

Given it's a girls school, I'm worried about safeguarding re sports, changing rooms, toilets and residential trips. I have an older teen boy - I know how big, and strong, they get, and how hormones kick in. I presume there are no boys toilets or changing rooms, but I don't know for sure. There are definitely no boys sports clubs.

Does anyone know the best way to approach this with school so that it is taken seriously? I mean no ill-will towards the male children. I just want my daughter to be safe.

Surely they are simply flat-out breaking the law.

I’d start there.

@Ddakji could you be more specific re the law? Or is there any published guidance available on this issue for schools? Thanks so much

Supreme Court ruling recently about single sex spaces. Sex for the purposes of places using single sex exemptions is biology - your sex at birth.
This school cannot be a single sex establishment and take children born male. It's discrimination against males not identifying as female.

If the school is advertised as a girls’ school it can only admit girls, that is to say female children. The recent Supreme Court ruling has been crystal clear on this. They are breaking the law. They are also probably breaking building regulations if they have mixed sex toilets and changing rooms for children aged over 8.

Someone like Safe Schools Alliance is a good resource.

There is no reason your children wouldn’t be safe, but I wouldn’t like this either. You are paying for a female space for your child so that is what you should receive.

The EHRC have just put revised guidance before Parliament (I think)

What?! Mixed sex spaces when they’re in a state of undress? Yup, nothing wrong with that. Girls don’t need privacy, dignity or safety. Boys don’t assault girls (fun fact - around a third of CSA cases are child on child, predominantly boy on girl).

It’s a colossal safeguarding fail. I’d love to see the risk assessment and equality impact assessment when they’re decided to lie to parents about allowing boys into a purportedly female only school. If they exist.

You need to look at their admissions policy. They are not breaking the law by admitting trans students but they should be explicitly stating their policy.

If they are a girls school admitting boys, they are. If they are admitting girls who ID as boys that’s fine, as they’re still girls.

Just seen you have said that it is in their equality policy so they have published their approach. Not saying I agree with it because they aren't in reality a single sex school, are they?

Yes they are breaking the law by admitting a subset of males. They can admit any male and call themselves mixed sex but they can't admit trans identified males and still call themselves a girl's school.

Just seen you have said that it is in their equality policy so they have published their approach. Not saying I agree with it because they aren't in reality a single sex school, are they?

Awful. Some parents of gender non conforming boys tried that at my dds all girl state - battle axe head was having none of it.

Single sex schools' exemption Single sex schools have a specific exemption under Schedule 11 of the Act so far as relating to the protected characteristic of sex and admissions. Single sex schools don't lose this status if they admit pupils of the opposite sex as long as: Those admissions are exceptional.

To clarify I'm not paying - it's a state school.

Thanks for the direction, I will look at safe schools alliance and EHRC.

They've just sent out information about the first residential in March so I'm planning to raise my concerns in relation to that. I'm worried about being seen as 'that parent' but I'm more worried about safety.

@CopperWhite I don't agree she won't be safe. My daughter is very small (in age 7 clothes) and they play contact rugby, football, hockey. At the same age my son was much stronger than her and could have knocked her out easily.

Well done, OP. Absolutely be that parent.

Nonsense. The fact of the school being single sex is the exemption.

With respect, I don’t think you know what you’re talking about and you’re posts aren’t helping the OP.

OP you are conflating two things. The legal aspect of admitting transgender boys to a girls school and how the school is accommodating that. And the second issue of your daughter being safe.

The first point is worth investigating and fighting but the second one isn’t. There are many many many thousands of mixed sex schools in the country where girls are perfectly safe. Her size and your son’s size is your perceived fear than actually reality.

Every teenage boy isn’t looking to assault a girl - but yea some do. In the same way some teachers do, some coaches do, some people in authority do. And some girls will assault other girls. If that is your actual fear then homeschool, otherwise if it’s about policy and low then crack on. But please don’t conflate the two.

If you are talking about physicality, then that needs to be taken into consideration through normal safeguarding in sport. My kid is about 14’ taller than a lot of the very small boys who haven’t hit puberty yet.

A little off topic but I really like the phrase ‘boys who identify as girls’
When people say trans men I never know whether that is a man who identifies as a woman or the other way round.

Is that allowed Admissions wise? I’m surprised that such a wooly statement doesn’t lead to appeals and the school accepting them all. That would be potentially discriminatory towards female appeals.

The fact that there is deception around the admittance of these boys to a girls school means the girls are less safe than in a school that is openly mixed sex. But I’m afraid that boys do assault girls, and girls have no saying of knowing which boys will.

Maybe I'm not expressing myself well. Of course there are mixed sex schools where girls are safe. But in those schools there is provision for mixed sex stuff. Like sport, and changing rooms.

In my daughter's new school there is no provision for boys. So when she is doing rugby, I'm assuming the boys will play with the girls. Because there's no other option. And I worry that makes her more vulnerable than if there were no boys, which is what I thought she was signing up to. That's what I mean by safety in this specific scenario.

And that's just physical safety, obviously there is safety from sexual assault, and the respect of her boundaries. I wouldn't let my 2 sons change with her, or shower with her, for her own comfort and privacy, why would I let a strange male?

The first point is worth investigating and fighting but the second one isn’t. There are many many many thousands of mixed sex schools in the country where girls are perfectly safe. Her size and your son’s size is your perceived fear than actually reality.

In mixed sex schools contact sports are separated by sex, as are toilets and changing facilities so this situation isn't an equivalent comparison and absolutely needs investigating and challenging. Perhaps the two trans identifying boys will play one a side rugby against each other, eh?

You don’t need to explain yourself to those who are wilfully missing the point, OP!

To protect yourself when contacting the school I would use/create an email where the email does not contain your name at all that it is generic like usernames on here. That way you can raise concerns and questions whilst protecting both yourself and child. See this article

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/31/disabled-child-denied-summer-camp-mother-gender-row/

Safe Schools Alliance is a great resource and they should be able to help you.

Let's not forget the Everyone's Invited website that highlighted sexual assaults in schools, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56558487