Schools undermining trans guidance behind parents’ backs

Schools across Devon and Cornwall are under fire for ignoring Government guidance on how schools should help gender-questioning children.

According to Protect and Teach, up to three-quarters of 600 policies misrepresent equality law. An Daras Trust, which runs eight primary schools, said it would agree to withhold a child’s “LGBTQ+ identity” from their parents. For trips, staff are told to assign accommodation according to “gender identity” and consider hygiene requirements for girls using breast binders.

The policies, some of which were published after the Department for Education’s draft guidance in December, ignore its reminder that schools must not allow pupils who say they are trans to use toilets and changing rooms of the opposite sex.

‘Safeguarding failure’

One mother revealed that she didn’t know her 13-year-old daughter was being treated as the opposite sex until a teacher used the pronoun “he” at a parents’ evening.

The mother, referred to as Sarah, raised concerns that social transition is the path to “lifelong ramifications” but schools are “just trying to collect brownie points for diversity and inclusion and they are not thinking about the long-term effects”.

The Daily Telegraph’s Associate Editor Camilla Tominey commented: “If schools are still prioritising trans ideology over the safety of children and young people, then guidance alone is not going to protect the next generation.

“Laws already exist which state that parents are in charge of their offspring. It’s time for the Government to re-enforce this legislation or risk presiding over what is fast resembling the biggest failure of children’s safeguarding in living memory.”

‘Missing in action’

The Christian Institute’s Head of Education John Denning said: “The appalling damage being done to children’s minds, bodies and future lives demands urgent, decisive action. The Government needs to show leadership, rather than pussyfooting around trying to avoid being too controversial.”

He criticised the Government for allowing “bad practice to become established in schools”, by taking so long to publish its guidance on gender-questioning children and failing to fulfil its year-old promise on new Relationships, Sex and Health Education guidance.

Mr Denning said: “These parents are in a battle, their children are the plunder, the matter is urgent, and the Government is missing in action.”

A Department for Education spokesman stated: “Schools and colleges are expected to follow all guidance issued by the Government, whether it is statutory or not. Our guidance is clear that in nearly every case schools should not support the social transition of primary aged children, including not using pronouns that do not align with the child’s sex.”

Wales

Last month, it was revealed that Welsh schools are adopting ideologically driven policies on gender identity in the absence of clear national guidance.

Merched Cymru, a women’s sex-based rights campaign group, found that schools’ approaches in Wales included affirming trans identities, concealing information from parents, and allowing access to opposite sex facilities.

The Welsh Government has said that it will hold a public consultation on its trans guidance, which is currently under development, “over the coming months”.