I met with the Safeguarding Lead a year ago about the PSHE materials, transgender policy and inappropriate behaviour from their LGBTQ+ lead. At that time I was told that the materials did not cover gender identity or use ‘the Genderbread man’ and my concerns about the policy were unfounded as it was not followed. For example, the policy stated that if girls were unhappy about a boy sharing their facilities they would have to go elsewhere, not the boy – I was told the boy would be given a separate provision. The safeguarding lead has now moved to another school in the MAT and I believe didn’t know the content of the policy and was unprepared for the meeting.
At the time I also raised my concerns about the LGBTQ+ lead (English teacher) as she was very overzealous in her teaching. She frequently turned the subject to sexuality and highlighted any references she perceived in texts to LGBTQ+. She has been very forceful during ‘rainbow’ events and gets annoyed if students don’t want to participate e.g. face painting with rainbows. She also uses her Twitter account to promote the events and encourage students to donate to Stonewall. Since I complained the Twitter activity has decreased but the events continue.
My younger daughter started in year 7 in September so I contacted school again to make sure gender identity wasn’t being taught as fact in PSHE. The new Safeguarding Lead sent me the materials and I discovered they do use the Genderbread Man and teach that ‘sex is on a spectrum’ and all about gender identity. They allowed my daughter to miss this lesson but have not responded to my concerns that this is inappropriate for all pupils.
I have just looked at the policies again and the transgender policy has been removed. There are no policies on the MAT website, however I am aware that this policy is still used at other schools within the trust so I am concerned this has been hidden from parents.
The PSHE Association provides the materials for lessons. I don’t know anything about them but couldn’t see the Genderbread man on their website so school maybe used undisclosed sources as well.
They used to have a LGBTQ+ club which I assumed was a safe space for children to talk. I’m told by other parents that their children were taught about different types of identity and there was not the opportunity to talk, however none of my children have attended. I don’t know if the club still runs.
I am aware of two children attending the school who have socially transitioned, one without the parents knowledge. The safeguarding lead assured me this would never happen but is clearly not the case.
They had a Rainbow day in November but I was told this was focussed on anti bullying. If that’s the case why the rainbow aspect? Bullying can be about anything not just LGBTQ+.
A Pride Festival is planned for June. I have no details yet but am concerned about the content. The school seems to be heavily bias towards LGBTQ+ and there is no diversity. I have raised this but not seen any change. The only other event on the calendar is World Book Day.
I am very worried about the message my daughter is receiving at school and consider the teaching, reluctance to engage and deceitfulness around policies a major safeguarding issue.