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?

@BridasShieldWall I was genuinely wanting to know where the ‘comfortable’ allowances are made, and where are they ignored. The use of the word comfortable has really annoyed me, when complaining about these things generally results in women/girls being called names and penalised and ostracised, which is not ‘comfortable’ at all.

Exactly. It's not about what one person feels comfortable with.

What happens if a girl who identifies as a boy, wants to use the boys changing room. Is that ok. Howd you feel about your son sharing. Is that different.

This thread isn’t about that though. Start a thread about boys if you want to talk about boys changing rooms.

What if Hitler wanted to get changed isn’t relevant either.

Jeez. My kids do sport last thing, and when they get in the car to pick them up (well, the 15 year old, the 12 year old doesn't smell yet) it's RIPE. I can't imagine how awful it would be stuck in a classroom with 30 teens fresh from PE all day!

Yes contact the school.

I think the PE kit all day policy comes from a lack of time to change, and that some children are uncomfortable changing in front of anyone.

Ouch, that needs to be a TV advert in Australia... nicely put!

No this tread is about kids in changing rooms. Its all trans related! And get to f**k with your Hitler reference!

In practice, it sounds as though they just don't expect anyone to use the changing rooms as changing rooms.

Exactly.

'Ignore the signs, the changing rooms are mixed sex' would at least make sense, but 'use the changing room you feel comfortable in' is just confused.

Start with a mild email to the school 'DD said this .... this can't be right can it?'and see the response.
Could mention the new guidance but maybe as part of follow up.

According to the guidance you've posted the school are following it. If no child needs to get changed then problem solved. The only issue I can see is from a hygiene perspective and PE being at any time other than the final lesson. Do they have astroturf pitches or is it grass? Grass would allow you to make your argument in a less pitched way. I say this because at school my daughter would never have used the showers after PE but my son did - mainly because after some sports it was absolutely necessary. Does the school have a pool too? Have they explained what happens for swimming because you can't not change for swimming.

Which is also the changing room legally mandated by KCSIE.

The only reason the school will have done this is to avoid following KCSIE, and thus swerve complaints from TRA staff/parents/students.

Commonsense people need to shout louder than the rights-stealing, child-harming ideologues.

So another "well if boys can't have it then nobody can" solution. Where I would like to make clear solution would be in sarcastic quotes if I hadn't already used quotes.

And imagine the PE teacher having to direct them to "changing rooms" where they're no longer allowed to change with that line about feeling most comfortable. Either that teacher is cringing inside, or they're a believer feeling super smug about getting to roll out the most comfortable line even though it's not actually relevant.

It's not a solution. We all know it's not a solution. My kids are stinky enough if they've had PE and changed back into uniform as school don't seem to offer showers, PE kit all day would be an assault on everyone's noses as well as uncomfortable for the poor kids.

Make some noise as parents - politely, but make some noise. School won't stick with this as the majority of teachers will be hating it too. Everyone except the PE teachers really, being the only people who never have to teach a class after a PE Lesson.

No it isn’t. It’s about the daughter of the person who starts the thread.

I think the 'just wear your kit to school' is actually a good solution IF PE was only in the afternoons. In terms of timetabling it could be done by doing double lessons, so, for example, all of year 7 do PE Monday afternoon for two hours, rather than half of them doing it Monday morning, half Tuesday afternoon for one hour each or whatever they currently do it. That way they can just go straight home and get changed. That would also benefit any kids who are generally shy about changing, limit opportunities for bullying, and also just saves time - otherwise in an hour's lesson the first and last 10 minutes are spent changing. They could even bring lunch earlier for the relevant year in order to have enough time.

If nobody was changing at all then the school could have a point - if they are just using the changing rooms to store the bags then essentially they aren't using them as changing rooms at all - they could just as easily stick them all in one room, or even in a classroom. There would be no need for the 'where you feel most comfortable' line because comfort wouldn't come into it, just 'everyone stick your bags in room A to keep them safe.'

The problem is that a) often toilets are within the changing rooms, which pupils might want to use and b) as you say, even if they aren't changing their whole outfits, if they know they are going to be in their kits for another 4 hours it's not unlikely they'd want to swap bras/put deodorant on, etc. In which case they are using them as changing rooms and need to be segregated.

If your daughter has repeated this verbatim, "There are boys and girls changing rooms and the teacher told them all to use the changing room they feel comfortable with," then the wording is meaningful. It's not the case that they keep their PE kit on all day and dump their bags, or the teacher would say something like, "Use either changing room to leave your kit," or "Put your kit in the nearest changing room." "Feel comfortable with" has a particular meaning, and if even one pupil wants to change the rooms need to be single sex, and this must be enforced.

I'd be following up up with the school.

Thank you, I can’t find anything about this do you have any more details @Yewlez?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5507367-mixed-sex-changing-rooms-in-a-brighton-secondary-school-part-3-were-really-cooking-now?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Most schools get pupils to wear their PE kit- saves time. Pupils should be using the facilities based on their biological sex

Ask what school policy is on this

I don’t understand why you can’t wear a sports bra all day. I do all the time ( this is separate from the wearing PE kit all day that you exercised in first period which is a bit minging).

Depends what sort - if you’re doing high impact and your boobs need the ‘compressive’ type they’re really not great to wear for longer than you need to.

but how is it separate? surely it's all part of the same thing - even if you find sports bras comfortable (I really don't), they will be the item of clothing that's closest to your skin so likely sweaty/smelly.