Use the changing room you feel comfortable in

[TheRozzers]

DD has just started Secondary school. On PE days the children are told to wear their PE kit to school so they don’t have to get changed.

DD had PE today. There are boys ans girls changing rooms and the teacher told them all to use the changing room they feel comfortable with.

As the girls were already in their PE kits there was no actual changing in the changing room, it was just where they gathered before the class and left their bags.

This probably isn’t a hill to die on but it irritates me that girls have to be in their PE kits all day and can’t have their own private space in order to accommodate boys who may want to access the girls changing rooms.

Should I take up with the school or leave it?

There's a case in Brighton going on about this very issue. I would look that up and use it to write to the school

is PE the last lesson of the day or do they have to spend the day in sweaty clothes after PE?

in general, I think 'wear PE kit all day for PE lessons' is a reasonable principle to save time and fuss on changing (regardless of who uses which changing rooms) but only if kids go home straight after PE to be able to change sweaty clothes.

There are boys ans girls changing rooms and the teacher told them all to use the changing room they feel comfortable with.

Were those the actual words used, or have you paraphrased?

This absolutely Is a hill I would die on! I’d be straight in there tomorrow asking them what the hell they think they’re playing at. Do not be fobbed off - changing rooms in schools legally have to be single sex.

Yes I would take it up with the school. I’m not sure this is even allowed these days. The equality act has specifically said sex is biological not gender. what are they teaching the kids about boundaries if they flout this?

Yes you need to take this up with the school as they are breaking both the law and education department rules.
Add to that they are breaking every safeguarding rule out there

It may not be an issue in yr 7, but many older girls ought to be wearing proper sports bras for PE - they shouldn’t be expected to wear them all day FFS.

And IME the changing room teenage girls will ‘feel comfortable’ changing their bras in is one without teenage males in it.

PE was the last lesson today but it isn’t always. It was a male PE teacher and those were his exact words according to DD.

It’s that girls have to beeee kind handmaidens, and that certain sections of males will use that mandate to ride roughshod over them. There’s a poster @SingleSexSpacesInSchools
who is well versed in this matter

When I was a 15 year boy and the oft discussed question of what superpower you would want came up, being invisible so you could spy on the girl's changing room was a regular answer.

Now it's school policy.

Did they mean, because everyone is already in kit there's no need to separate, just put your bags wherever?
Every school should be aware of the changing room situation.

This was the Safeguarding training that was today sent to every single member of staff in the 38 schools in my MAT.

KCSIE (Keeping children safe in education) was updated for 1st Sept 2026.

It is a statutory duty. The schools CANNOT do the mixing of sexes any more, in toilets or changing rooms

Presumably the PE teachers don't only work for the last hour of the day.

Seems like a strange way to tell the children to just leave their bags in either changing room. Bit of a red flag imo.
Maybe have a look through all the paperwork/online info that you have access to as a parent, to see what their policies are wrt how PE lessons are managed.

Thanks for the advice. Clarified a few things with DD. All the year groups up to year 11 are expected to wear PE kits all day on PE days. So yes that means sitting in a sweaty PE kit all day if PE is in the morning.

Changing time before / after PE would be when girls have the opportunity to change into or out of a sports bra but there may be a biological male in the same changing room.

The school has decent single sex facilities. Girls and boys changing rooms. This seems like a crazy policy that inconveniences pretty much all the students and I can’t think of any other reason it exists apart from to validate trans pupils. Could there be another reason?

How is a child supposed to sit all day in school in kit they've just played football on a muddy field in?

This policy is utterly ridiculous and can only result in a severe limitation of just what exercise children can actually get in a PE lesson.

A sweaty 16 year old sitting all day in gym kit?

That's not acceptable purely from a public health point of view.

Sweaty armpits and groins just begging for fungal infections.

I would complain to the school on those grounds , this seems an indefensible policy to me.

Can you clarify which changing room your DD should use if she is not comfortable changing in front of boys? Which changing room is the comfortable one for her?

Are you having a laugh?

The best way to find out if there is another reason is to ask the school. Just write a (polite, obvs) letter/email asking why the pupils are not being allowed to change into and out of PE kit. Ask to see any written policies on this.

Parents are often concerned that they will 'get a reputation' if they ask questions, which will negatively affect how staff interact with their child. This is an unfounded fear. Schools respect parents who show an interest in the school's relationship with their child. On the odd occasion where a parent is persistently and unreasonably unpleasant and demanding it simply elicits sympathy for the child from the staff.

Erm my daughter is a girl and therefore comfortable to use the girls changing rooms with other girls.

If the boys and girls changing rooms were split according to biological sex (as they have been for many years) there would be no issue.

The issue is the teacher encouraging both boys and girls to use the girls changing room which makes it mixed sex.

Thats how I'd take it. Its just a room because no changing was going to happen.

I think Coatsoff42 is being sarcastic. It seems as though no one cares about girls comfort.

i would love to know how this fits in with the school’s teaching on consent in PHSCE. It seems as though observing consent is conditional on accepting someone’s identity as ‘valid’.

Yes, what I mean is, which changing room is just for girls? If a boy is more comfortable in the girls changing room, it is then not comfortable for your daughter, and any other girls who want privacy, so in that situation ask the school which room she should use, as both might have boys in according to her laissez faire PE teacher and neither is comfortable. Apparently only the comfort of some is considered.

sorry if that wasn’t clear.

This school is breaking the law clearly. Flag it up to the headteacher immediately. If they try to tell you its ok take it further. I realise some local authorities are now run by people who are also keen to endanger girls and women, anywhere run by the Greens for example.
Sharron Davis who is a member of the House of Lords runs a sports pressure group on this issue , she is very active on twitter as well as having a House of Lords email account it may be worth contacting her if the school keep on with their insane and unlawful practices.
And as a retired pastoral leader from a secondary school there is no reason to have mixed changing rooms at all ever under any circumstances.