Primary School Kids Allowed to Change Gender Under Government Trans Guidance

Pupils will be allowed to change their gender at primary school, according to new guidance published by Labour’s Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson

The guidance says primary school-age children who are questioning their gender could be allowed to use different pronouns. It cites a “significant increase in the number of children who are questioning the way they feel about being a boy or a girl”.

Critics claim new guidance puts pupils at risk by encouraging ‘a dangerous fairy tale’

The Telegraph reports:. The guidance, published on Thursday, confirms teachers must consult parents and proceed with “caution” but should accept a child’s request to transition socially.

Sex Matters, the women’s rights campaign group, criticised the guidance, saying it would encourage “a dangerous fairy tale” and put pupils at risk.

The guidance, the publication of which was delayed, states that before allowing a child to transition socially, schools must consider any clinical advice the family has received and consult parents, unless there is a genuine safeguarding reason not to.

While pupils will have their preferred pronouns respected in the classroom, children older than eight will still have to use facilities in line with their biological sex.

Toilets, changing rooms and any overnight residential trips will remain single-sex spaces.

The guidance, which addresses how to deal with gender-questioning children, says no child should be made to feel “unsafe” through mixed-sex sports, toilets, changing rooms and dormitories.

There is continued criticism of the refusal by Phillipson, the Education Secretary, to publish separate guidance to businesses on single-sex spaces.

Phillipson said: “Parents send their children to school and college trusting that they’ll be protected. Teachers work tirelessly to keep them safe. That’s not negotiable, and it’s not a political football.

“That’s why we’re following the evidence, including Dr Hilary Cass’s expert review, to give teachers the clarity they need to ensure the safeguarding and wellbeing of gender-questioning children and young people.

“This is about pragmatic support for teachers, reassurance for parents, and above all, the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.”

The guidance for schools on how to deal with gender questioning children is backed by Baroness Cass, whose review warned that children who thought they were transgender should not be rushed into treatment they could regret.

Her review, published in 2024, recommended families should be able to see a medical professional such as a child psychologist or paediatrician as quickly as possible if a primary school child wants to socially transition.

She concluded that under-25s should not be rushed into changing gender, but should receive “unhurried, holistic, therapeutic support”. She said “life-changing” decisions must be properly considered in adulthood, noting that brain maturation continues into the mid-20s.

Her review also said that children’s wellbeing and safeguarding must be at the centre of every decision and schools cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach.

Dr Cass welcomed the new schools guidance, saying it ensures “proper accountability” for teachers. …

However, Maya Forstater, Chief Executive of the women’s rights charity Sex Matters, said allowing children to transition socially at school was encouraging “a dangerous fairy tale”.

She said: “Schools are still being left with the idea that they can facilitate ‘social transition’ – which remains undefined – and that they should negotiate this on a case-by-case basis.

“They are being encouraged to think that children have a ‘birth sex’ as well as some other concept of sex. This has no basis in law or reality, and undermines safeguarding.

“It should be clear by now that allowing children and parents to think that a child who starts their education as a girl can graduate as a boy or vice versa is a dangerous fairy tale.”