Not again! - Government is proposing to allow trans-identifying boys into under 18s girls’ school sport - unless it is deemed unsafe

[Another2Cats]

Very much as the title. An account I follow on Twitter/X @ SEENinSport posted this tweet.

https://x.com/SportSEENuk/status/2041037786082329070?s=20

Apparently there is an open consultation from the Dept for Education

'Keeping children safe in education: 2026 proposed revisions'

One of these revisions is that schools may choose to allow boys to take part in girls sports. There are also other issues about 'social transitioning'

It says that there are "some" sports that "may" need to be played in single-sex groups from a certain age. Frankly though, I can't think of any school sports that shouldn't be single-sex activities.

Apart from these sort of 'maybe' sports, the new guidance says that schools will need to consider any boys requesting to play in girls sports in light of the advice on "considering requests for support with social transition"

This is from paras 96 and 97 of the draft proposed changes:

96 Some sports may need to be played in single-sex groups from a certain age to ensure children’s safety, and where this is the case there should be no exceptions. In other cases, schools or colleges may have adopted a policy of single-sex sports for reasons related to fairness.

97 Where there are no safety concerns and a child makes a request relating to
how they participate, schools and colleges will need to consider the request in light of the advice on “considering requests for support with social transition”. This means that the school or college would need to take into account all the relevant factors, including whether supporting social transition is overall in the best interests of the child, as well as considering the impact on other children and the aim of creating safe and fair environments for children to participate in PE.

Frankly, the whole thing about even considering "supporting social transition" is entirely wrong, I feel.

Link to the proposed revisions:

https://consult.education.gov.uk/independent-education-and-school-safeguarding-division/keeping-children-safe-in-education-2026-revisions/supporting_documents/keeping_children_safe_in_education_2026_draft_for_consultationpdf-1

.

SEENinSport has suggested the following:

The survey has 41 questions but Q35 is the key one for sport

If you only have a couple of minutes, you can press return for each question till you reach Q35

They also have a link to suggested answers here:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/67fa41451fd5090aa3fb410b/t/69ceb2a41c966b1fc3a00b94/1775153828864/KCSIE+SEEN+in+Sport+response+Feb+2026+%286%29.pdf

and their website page on the issue is here:

https://www.seeninsport.org/consultation-on-kcsie-2026

The consultation is open until 22nd April and if you wish to contribute your thoughts on any of the questions then the government consultation form is here:

https://consult.education.gov.uk/independent-education-and-school-safeguarding-division/keeping-children-safe-in-education-2026-revisions/consultation/intro/

Safeguarding is never the child’s responsibility. And being taught to submit to boys desires and lie about sex is a safeguarding issue.

There's nothing in the policy that 'pretends a boy is a girl'?

It allows a 10-year-old girl to enjoy a game of tennis or whatever else against a 10-year-old trans kid.

Sorry, but you're tilting at windmills here.

It's not fair to boys to pretend that boys can be girls.

Many will desist. And they will in society have to realise that no, they cannot be girls or women in every situation. That 'no' has to happen somewhere. The longer the wangling is allowed, the harder and more distressing that 'no' will become. And more than that; those boys' respect for women and girls matters. We get told constantly how much 'respect' everyone must show to these boys without it ever being reciprocal; and then we wonder why VAWG and misogyny is off the charts.

I said mixed sex lessons not sport. You can race girls against other girls within an otherwise mixed sex lesson.

If sports were strictly single sex that 10 year old girl could still play tennis with that 10 year old trans kid if that trans kid was female.

The EA says the only permissible reason to segregate sport is for either or both of safety and fairness. If a school offers segregated sports it has already decided that either fairness or safety will be compromised by mixed sex participation.

The guidance says that fairness can (not must, but can) be overridden as a criterion.

There are two options then:

either it’s suddenly not unfair to allow a cross-sex child to participate in which case the law says in black letter that it must be mixed sex throughout and this policy is moot -

or else that fairness (and it will never be unfair to boys, unfairness to girls) is sacrificed.

If a sport is segregated it must be for a good reason, and must stay so. If it’s possible to make exceptions then it must not be segregated at all.

I'm busy confusing myself now.

I am totally against people pretending that boys are girls and that girls are boys.

However, some children will enter secondary school with this pretense ongoing and schools need some help to manage this situation.

These children should only use provision of their actual sex, despite this pretense - so correct sex toilets and changing rooms.

In primary school sports are likely to have been mixed sex so the change to secondary may cause some issues for a school.

I think the clause is to provide schools in this situation with some guidance on what to do - and it allows them to take a holistic view for the child - but also to balance this against the needs and rights of others.

So a girl that has pretended to be a boy at primary might retain the name and uniform at secondary but still has to use girl's facilities. It might be assessed that they could join in badminton, but not football with the boys due to safety.

A boy who pretended to be a girl at primary might also retain the name and uniform at secondary - but again must use boys facilities. It might be assessed that they could join in dance but not athletics due to fairness.

Ideally pretending people are something they are not would get in the bin - but school are asking for how to manage the current situation.

100%

A girl can enjoy tennis or whatever against ‘trans kid’ who are also female. She doesn’t need to pretend her opponent is actually a boy.

Male ‘trans kids’ can enjoy playing tennis with other boys.

You know full well the whole point of ‘social transition’ is to make other children lie and pretend you are the opposite sex.

@AStonedRose This is where we disagree. 'A trans kid' is a statement of belief - a belief I do not share.

There are children pretending to be a different sex to the one they actually are.

Schools are having to manage this situation as they have to respect this belief, but also should be respecting other's who believe this to be a nonsense and somehow keeping both groups safe and balancing their rights.

This guidance is about keeping children safe, which is why safety is its most important factor.

Also important is acknowledging that the Equality act's ability to allow sex segregation is related directly to biological sex, so not to 'belief' of what sex/gender you are - usally called gender identitity.

Never dawned on you that girls might not be telling you what they really feel, given you dont come across as being open to alternative opinions?

This would not stand up against the SCJ, as MyAmpleSheep explains so well.

The govt are planning to change the law. In order to avoid having to enforce sex based protections for women and girls.

I’m baffled. If sports or activities are separated by sex then boys can’t participate with girls regardless of their unverifiable feelings about themselves.

if the sport or activity is mixed sex then anyone can participate.

No it forces a girl to play tennis with a boy if he wants to.

The govt are planning to change the law. In order to avoid having to enforce sex based protections for women and girls.

Do you have a link or is this just your personal speculation?

They are a party of total misogynists.

they will destroy women’s rights and gay rights on one hand to appease the trans activists and from the other end to appease the Islamists.

I hate them

I think a lot of people think of 'trans kids' as being 7, or someone who the class has known. only as presenting as the opposite sex for the whole of their school life.

What about the 15 year old boys who discovers his inner trans? Why would girls be happy to be in a yoga class with him?

Quite. If single sex sports exists for a reason then who is anyone not of that sex to say the reason is null and void if they say so.

Yes they are reviewing the Equality Act provisions.

See the thread and the article out last weekend; the evidence is pointing (along with this, and Philipsons minions at the court case against the EHCR) that a re write of the EqA is in progress. Which would be why she is sitting on the guidance.

Bloody awful civil servants imposing their misogynistic religious beliefs on us. I despise them.

But single sex sports at a competitive level is entirely different from school PE which might be single sex, or mixed sex, or predominantly one with a few boys/girls requesting to join the others - and that being assessed carefully depending on safety/fairness and other aspects to the wider group. (and not necessarily having anything to do with gender ideology at all)

This is about school PE, not competitive sports guidance.

And if it's fine for him to do yoga with them, then how do you then say no, he can't use their changing room with them? Or shower with them?

At what point will he (and the girls) be told that there are limits to his choices, and that the boundaries protecting the girls are not permeable?

I don't think there is any problem with saying a boy can do yoga with the girls but must use the boy's changing rooms.

I can see that there could be a supervision issue for the PE teacher though.

This itself could be the reason a school would say no

The men doing yoga don't come into the women's changing at my gym.

My daughter was injured in 2021 by a boy identifying as a girl who was playing netball with the girls and using their changing room. The school would not have anything said against it, as the boy “was at risk playing football with the boys”. It went as far as ofsted in the end but the boy was still allowed.