Sex Matters get some NSPCC school guidance changed - what has and what hasn't chaanged

[IwantToRetire]

In his response, dated 25th September, to our letter, CE Sherwood responded to each of our concerns.

• The revised briefing now says that, wherever possible, staff supervising children changing should be the same sex as them.
• It also says plainly that having children of both sexes in the same changing area becomes less appropriate as they get older.
• It quotes Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE), the statutory safeguarding guidance for schools in England, which says that children aged 11 and over must not undress in front of the opposite sex, and refers to KCSIE’s guidance on “gender-questioning” children.

We welcome these changes, but the charity has declined two of our requests, and we think schools still deserve clearer direction on what they should and shouldn’t do.

https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/nspcc-fixes-some-flaws-in-latest-schools-guidance/

NB extract above are just the "headlines" need to read the article for full detail.

Unbelievable that a children's charity has to be pulled up on the advice it's been issuing, they're supposed to be The authority on keeping children safe.
The Corporate mindset that threw that out of the window in a mindless desire to conform too the political trend of the time is beyond infuriating.
Thanks to SM and others for all the hard work they're putting in to hold these corporate elites to account.

Agree with @TheywontletmehavethenameIwant and thanks for sharing this @IwantToRetire

I don’t know much about what guidance schools have to follow but doesn’t it get confusing when different organisations are putting out advice? Isn’t KCSIE the definitive authority for schools? If so why would a charity however well established seek to issue its own guidance given that KCSIE is statutory?

I don’t understand the ‘wherever possible, staff supervising children changing should be the same sex as them.’

That seems so open to abusive interpretation. Who decides if it’s not ‘possible’?

Surely it should be something like ‘adults must not be with children changing of the opposite sex’?

In primary school the vast majority of staff are female, so it could be difficult to supervise boys changing with a same sex staff member.
In all schools I’ve worked in, children have changed together up to Year 5, when they’ve been split. More recently though many schools ask their children to come to school on PE kit on PE days.

Sex Matters state that
"The NSPCC says it would welcome greater clarity on adult supervision in both KCSIE and the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s forthcoming technical guidance for schools"

This tells us a lot about who has been influencing safeguarding practice at the NSPCC. Why would the NSPCC need government advice before stating that men shouldn't be supervising teenage girls in changing rooms / showers?

It's because the "men are women when they say they are" brigade have, until now, been able to influence how the NSPCC frames safeguarding.

Well done Sex Matters for compelling the NSPCC to once again centre children rather than transactivism in their work.

A good question with the answer suggesting that transactivism still has a hold on the NSPCC.