Testimonials

I've been a parent at our state secondary school for ten years, until recently there were no trans identified children - there are now over 20, just in one school year. My daughter came home from school in year 7 talking about the trans heroes of the Stonewall riots.  She was 12.  Then, she had a friendship break-up, a new friend had declared 'she' was now a 'he' and my daughter joined the LGBT club, although all the children seemed to be T'.  This group  was for 11-16 year olds and met 3 times a week, a teacher was only present for one session a week.

I was in Waterstones one day when when the call came from the Head of Pupil Support, 'we're just letting you know, your child has asked to be called by a new name pronouns so we're changing the register'.  He was disconcerted by my response ' Oh' he said 'if we'd known you weren't 'supportive' we wouldn't have told you'. Two teachers told my daughter they would use the new name whatever I said.  She was 13.  I managed to get the register changed back but this was  the start of the battle,  first to to get the school to recognise 'Sex' as a protected characteristic in their policies.  Then to try view school resources,  the school said 'the DofE says we have to teach gender identity', we just want to 'be kind'.

One school presentation claimed 'sex is not binary but a spectrum', named 10 different gender identities, and claimed 41% of 'trans children' commit suicide.  Another Anti-Bullying presentation claimed that 'misgendering' might be considered a Hate crime.  To be fair, the Head did listen and meet with me, but told me some teachers felt 'offended' by my views even though we had never met.  The school have many children who have been socially transitioned, at least one from primary school age. Some of the parents know and are supportive, some parents know nothing about it.

Oh, and by the way, my daughter no longer thinks she's a boy.  Most of the children who have been socially transitioned at school are planning surgery.

My daughter's sixth form told me that all students would enrol in their legal sex, using a passport as evidence. However, she enrolled as male. I was told that the reason for this is that the entry is "gender", and the Department for Education allows children to self-select.

They were not able to provide a risk assessment or clinical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, or explain how this would affect their own data and funding.

I explained that they had socially transitioned my child without parental consent, but did not ask them to reverse this in order to avoid her feeling humiliated.

They told me they were a Stonewall Champion, and also told me that they had reported all of my concerns to my child as part of a "transparency" policy. When this led to weeks of her refusing to speak to me, they said it was not connected.

Eventually, they referred me to social services because our home was "unsafe" and because my daughter reported that we were failing to use her new name and pronouns.

Following that, they told me that my correspondence - which has been polite, and contains information from reputable sources on the law, medicine and policy - amounted to harassment. They also said - underlined - that I was not allowed to share any of my daughter's mental health history, or allow her private therapist to contact them.

She is now meeting regularly with an activist counsellor at school, who told her that we were causing her "harm". When I asked for the broad outlines of their work, I was told it was none of my business and that I should trust the school. The counsellor told me that the Cass Review and new NHS England guidance were "had nothing to do with" my daughter's situation.

The case continues...

About 7 years ago my daughter, (about 13 then), told us she's trans & wants to be a boy. We've been through endless pain since. No rational parent brings a child into the world expecting them to be stolen by a state sanctioned & sponsored cult.

(A leaderless) "cult" is a word used by some de-trans people to describe what they were drawn into.

State sanctioned because advocacy organisations that have infiltrated schools (and most other government entities) have been given charitable status along with many other state assistance.

State sponsored because things like public money are spent on this. Tax payers money. Schools actually paid to be coached by these activists. Stonewall were involved with my daughters school, (I don't know if any other trans activist organisations were).

My daughter didn't tell her school but staff heard her talking about it & imposed a change of name & pronouns anyway. They certainly didn't give us, her parents, a choice or say. This massively empowered her & gave her a blind unquestioning ambition to get testosterone as fast as possible. Now she has a silly croaky voice, an Adams apple and facial hair. Our once beautiful daughter looks horrible like this, ugly (and not manly, just ridiculous). She's done all this yet she wants to find a man to date! The reality is that she's heterosexual woman & she's now ruined her future.

The fallout doesn't end there. The cult like technique of the trans movement is to distance yourself from any counter argument, (hence "cancel culture"), so estrangement from non-pro-trans-agenda parents is encouraged. The trans "movement" is actively breaking up families.

Trans is a cult with their new "god", dysphoria. No one is born with dysphoria, it takes self awareness to have it. We're not born self aware. So it takes brain washing / conversion therapy to acquire dysphoria. If you think that you've dysphoria, you can decide not to have it. There's nothing wrong with you except believing anyone that tells you dysphoria is your diagnosis & that trans is the cure. Time for schools not only to stop promoting the trans ideology but school need to correct their lies & do their best to halt the damage to another generation of potential victims.

Stop promoting this trans agenda / propaganda.

Politicians need to realise that for every trans person there's (typically) two parents involved, most of which are totally against all this. We're only just starting to find each other online, (it took me 7 years to find a help group). Our previously shouted down complaints will soon come in very large volumes. This is just the tip of the iceberg, trans titanic.

My daughter has decided to identify as "male". She is 13. She decided this and told me the day after a PSHE day in year 8.

Prior to the PSHE day she had shared no thoughts or ideas about this, and had never talked about gender or gender identity. I was careful as a mother to bring her up with a range of toys, I never gendered her activities, and do not believe in toys for boys or even in clothes for girls. Nevertheless, she preferred to play with dolls, enjoyed fairy wings, wearing crowns and loved dancing classes. She grew her hair long from being short as her own choice and loved beads, hair clips and had her ears pierced at age 12. Her favourite clothes as a small child were what she called "spinny skirts". She has a diagnosis of Autism and started her periods aged 11.

She is scared of growing up and hates the idea of becoming a "woman", it terrifies her. Her out of School activities are now swimming, drama and scouts where her chosen identity is reinforced. I believe my daughter is mistaken in thinking she is a boy and will figure this out in her own time, however I don't trust society or School to give her the space to do this, the current zeitgeist is affirmative without question and without giving children any space. Gender stereotyping has never felt so rigid and oppressive.

My daughter seems to have based her decision on the fact that she "feels like it" and because she enjoyed Thomas the Tank Engine when small and had a toy helicopter. These times are terrifying as a parent. As a child, I was also Autistic and wished many times that I was a boy. I didn't want breasts, or periods and I didn't want to be sexualised and have the expectations of being pretty that are so loaded on to women and girls. Had I been railroaded on to a path, I would never have had my daughter, I would be infertile and flat chested, living a very different life and quite possibly deeply conflicted. Growing up and self acceptance, feeling weird in your body, hating your body and learning to accept your body despite its imperfections are normal parts of being a teenager and are heightened for those of us with Autism.

Why are we medicalising and pushing children in to making lifelong decisions? Mermaids have taught and influenced teachers, MP/s GP/s .

It's a scandal.

My 13 year old daughter has socially transitioned and likes being referred to as he/him.

She grew up with no gender dysphoria, and high self confidence. There were no signs this was coming. The day after her PSHE day in year 7, she told me she thought she was really a boy because she liked Thomas the Tank Engine when she was small and now, even after demonstrating to her from the evidence of her own life how she has grown up female, liking a range of things, and reminding her that girls are allowed to like a whole range of things, wear a whole range of clothes and have a whole range of hair styles she says she feels like being a girl and a feminist is too hard, that she isn't strong in that way and that being identified as a boy makes her happier.

The problem for me is that the whole of popular culture and public institutions have subscribed to an affirmation only approach, and that I am alone in being a grown up adult who, knowing my daughter well, can clearly see that she is mistaken in her beliefs. It is like the integrity of parents and responsible adults has completely gone out of the window.

She is identified at Scouts as male, at her out of school drama group as male. She is otherwise a very rational and logical person, she also has ASD. What I dread is that she has put herself in to a corner from which she cannot then retreat. We have forgotten that teenagers don't always make wise decisions about their lives, we have forgotten that teenagers need objective and factual education and support. In addition to this, she has experienced "trans phobic" questioning and comments from other girls who were previously friends, and this has in fact cemented her commitment to identifying in this way.

The whole culture of acceptance and openness, has backfired. Children need to be given the space to be children, and to be educated with facts not ideology unless a balanced view is presented, as it is with religious teaching. I worry for the future of all the teenage girls like my daughter who are entrenched in hating their bodies. If a teenager was anorexic, they would be supported and gently challenged to recover, facts would be given about their bodies and education about being healthy.

I feel this is very similar and whilst I have no doubt there are some people who have ideas of being trans that persist, and that we need not to shame or exclude them, these people do not present a healthy, well integrated self confident and happy mindset. They are not role models for children, they are people who have suffered huge amounts of internal conflict and distress, and who have lifelong battles for self acceptance.

Children can't be born in the wrong body, this ideology is an assault on the bodies of children like my daughter who has a perfectly wonderful and healthy body with which there is nothing wrong at all.

My daughter's school - a girl's school - actively promotes gender ideology.

The first thing they were told in tutor group when they arrived in Y7 was that they should choose any pronouns they wanted. They were told they were also allowed to wear pronoun pins - the only non-official badges allowed.

Many of the teachers wear pronoun pins.

According to the 'Equality Objectives' they wish to further promote and entrench gender ideology through the curriculum and via assemblies.

They also promote Stonewall and Mermaids on the school website.

The anti-bullying posters displayed prominently around the school make no mention of the protected category of sex, only gender identity though they do mention race, and religion, and sexuality.

The 'Pride' section in the school library promotes the whole LGBTQIA+++ spectrum.

An item in [Local] High School's Daily Bulletin to pupils, August 2022:

'S1-6 [School] GSA: The GSA is [our] Gender and Sexuality Alliance, and we’re back for the new year! We’re looking forward to welcoming new LGBT+ members and allies, and we want to do fun activities throughout the year. We discuss queer news, we just generally chat, and we try to do some LGBT+ activities. So if you’re interested, or even just want to learn more, come along to Mr _____’s room (_.__) on Wednesday lunchtimes, and feel free to bring your lunch.'

Why is a teacher inviting children (of 12 years of age and up) to his room each week to discuss their gender and sexuality?

Has safeguarding been considered? If not, why not?

Does the teacher have any professional qualifications in counselling in this area? Even if he has, is it appropriate to be doing so in a educational setting and without the knowledge of the children's parents?

What is 'queer news' and what are 'LGBT+ activities'?

Is gender ideology being taught as fact, and are children being told that they may have been 'born in the wrong body'?

Is the teacher encouraging children to identify as the other sex and to socially transition, despite the fact that this is not a neutral act and should not be done without the advice of a medical professional and without the parents' knowledge or against their wishes?

Is the teacher encouraging negative attitudes towards fellow teachers, fellow pupils, and parents who believe that there are two sexes and that sex is immutable?

Schools make pupils pretend boys are girls, and men are women if they say so - and that it's gender not sex that matters (Stonewall rules). Some schools say that as girls we have no right to get undressed away from boys (and men like our fathers) that say they are female.  But we know our dads are not women and even when they are arrested and we have a social worker to help us we can't talk about it at school as we would be punished for transphobia.

At my son's college parents evening (where my 16 yr old child was not present), the teaching staff member reported on my male child, direct to me, using a chosen female name for the male child. I replied to say we are following the child's personal ex-Tavistock expert psychologist's reports and showing caution, so not affirming my son with a name or pronoun change at the moment. Teacher replies, 'Well this is the name I have on the register so that's the one I will use.''

My daughter is in year 7.  She spent the last two years of primary school within the disruption of covid.  She started secondary school without the maturity and confidence that my son had when he started in pre-covid times.  Within the first few months of secondary school, my daughter started talking endlessly about her sexuality and gender identity, explaining to me that she was unsure what or who she was.

She had been taught at school that there are many genders and many sexualities.  She had also been told by teachers that sex is assigned at birth and that 'cis gender' means you identify with the sex you were assigned at birth.  The implication is that this could he wrong and she could be male.  All of this has contributed to much anxiety and has come through in therapy sessions.

I had a meeting with the headteacher and head of PSHEE to explain my concerns that children are being taught ideological positions as fact.  The effect of this is to confuse vulnerable children and promote a choice of identities and sexualities to them that are adult-led and inappropriate.  It is harmful when they are starting puberty and already uncomfortable in their developing bodies and minds.  The head of PSHEE disagreed with me that it was incorrect to state that sex 'assigned at birth' and continued using the term.  The children were also taught that trans lesbians are the most marginalised of all lesbians and that they should politely enquire as to someone's preferred pronouns before addressing them.  My daughter will comply with all of this without question.  What she has not been taught in school is that other views are also valid and that not all people believe in gender ideology.  This looks to me more like political activism than teaching.

I have requested to see teaching materials since the meeting but my requests have been ignored.

My daughters have adhd and autism. One attends the ERP unit at this school where her year 6 class works at a year 1 level, and the only children’s toilets are mixed sex with gaps below and above the doors, and basins outside the toilets (my daughter has never once used a toilet in school because of this). Her sister attends mainstream, but with equal EHCP support/funding due to disability needs. Both are very vulnerable, highly anxious and have rigid thinking. They both accept what their teachers say as the absolute truth.

The school they attend takes in more children with autism, other SEND needs and children who are under LAC than other primary schools in the area. So all children the Cass review identifies as being at increased risk from gender ideology in schools.

First I challenged why the schools single equality policy claimed gender was a protected characteristic, and didn’t list sex as one. I asked they correct this as it’s legally inaccurate. The head teacher said she would pass it onto the MAT, but it was never changed and when I asked why/requested contact details for the MAT staff responsible for policy, she refused to answer.

When the September 2020 plan your relationship, sex and health document was released I asked if the schools RSE teaching was in line with this update. The head teacher claimed it was. I asked to see the lesson plans, and while I was told she would ensure I had these the term before they began teaching this I was never given them.

Eventually I was given a ‘medium term RSE plan’ days before they were due to commence teaching it. I wasn’t given any lesson plans. This medium term RSE plan was for both sections of the school, so for the children in the ERP who work at a year 1 level.

It didn’t comply with the DfE guidance.

The section on romantic relationships listed gender identity as a topic to be taught, along with pansexuality listed with heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality, as if it were a sexual orientation. In this section on romantic relationships it said that everyone had the right to be loved. There was a definition list that included cisgender, transgender, pansexual and asexual.

I had many phone and email discussions with the PSHE lead, the head of the ERP, the head teacher, the MAT safeguarding lead and the chair of governors. And a meeting in school. I provided free resources from Safe Schools Alliance, Transgender Trend, Genspect, Bayswater, LGB Alliance, Sex Matters, Teachers for Evidence Based Education and the Cass Review interim report when released.

I asked the definition of gender identity they planned to teach and how that complied with the DfE guidance. They repeatedly refused to provide a definition. I asked they consider how they safeguard girls if they have taught them that a boy can be a girl because he says he feels like one. And I asked how they teach girls they have a right to boundaries, privacy, safety and dignity if they push gender ideology in this way.

They refused to correct the plan so I put a formal complaint in. I asked that each individual point be answered directly and individually, yet the head teacher's answer conflated several and didn’t answer others. She said they will teach the NSPCC definition of gender identity-which uses the unscientific term sex assigned at birth, claims everyone has a gender identity, that gender identity is expressed through hair, make-up, dress and interests, and encourages parents to socially transition children and schools to allow them to access opposite sex facilities.

The other stages of the formal complaint process continued to involve the MATs refusal to answer the original complaint, refusal to answer how they will safeguard girls once they’ve taught them boys are girls because they like skirts, made the claim that the evidence base for gender identity being real, and sex changeable, was ‘still emerging, so they must teach it’, and also revealed that the head teacher and had used schools funds to pay a solicitor to provide the NSPCC definition of gender identity, that still breaches the DfE guidance.

During this time my girls have come home asking ‘what’s my pride?’ as if they expect adults to define their sexuality or gender identity. They have told me their teachers taught them children can be transgender- and my girl’s understanding of that was children should change sex if they are a girl who likes ‘boy things’ or a boy who likes ‘girl things’. One came home saying a classmate told the class her sister was now her brother, and the teachers backed the claim the sister is now a brother.

They then had Diversity Role Models in. When this was in the newsletter I complained, and the PSHE lead let slip that several other parents had an issue with this. I provided the links on DRM from Transgender Trend, Safe Schools Alliance, Conservatives for Women and the news articles about DRM Asda home learning pack. These show DRM using the gender unicorn-which breaches DfE- the tweets in support of highly sexualised drag queens for children, the tweets using PIE phrases of 'love has no age limit', and the recommendation of books for children that include descriptions of a 6-year-old giving oral sex as a positive way of discovering sexuality.

We had to chase school up several times, and they continued to say they were meeting with the MAT safeguarding lead to discuss this. The result was they chose to go ahead with funding DRM to access primary children, and effectively advertise the MAT support and promotion of DRM as a child suitable organisation.

After noticing a number of teachers wearing rainbow badges on their lanyards, I wrote to the head to complain that I viewed the badges as a political statement. The head replied that she didn't agree and that it was important to show to support to LGBT pupils.

When I asked how the teachers would respond to questions from pupils about the badges in an age-appropriate way, I was told they would seek advice from the external agency they are working with. On pressing the head for details about which organisation would be providing such advice, I was informed that the school staff had received training from an organisation called Free2B Alliance. This organisation's website raises a number of safeguarding concerns which I raised with the head, including the weaponization of suicide and self-harm, a youth club for children aged 9 - 14 to discuss their sexuality and gender identity and the promotion of breast binding and tucking. The head failed to address any of these concerns.

The organisation also takes an ideological approach to the question of gender identity and transgenderism promoting the idea that everyone has an internal sense of gender identity and promoting social transition as the only approach to a child or young person experiencing confusion around their gender. When raising concerns about the ideological nature of this organisation with the head, I relied on the evidence of the Interim Report of the Cass Review and yet my concerns were dismissed in a way that implied I was simply intolerant of difference.

I raised the same concerns with the Chair of Governors who was equally dismissive. Both told me that they "would not be communicating any further with me on this issue" and they considered "the matter closed" leaving me with no recourse to take my complaint further. I should clarify that the head has assured me that there has been no teaching of gender identity but the complete disregard of basic safeguarding principles and the principle of fact-based teaching is a cause of real concern.

Here’s a potted history of my issues with my girls school.

My 9-year-old came home after RSE believing that it’s possible to change bodies. And to simply get a new one if yours is not right. But you have to really really really believe you have the wrong one, and that way you can get a new one.

Of course this was message was meant to be about gender identity and transitioning. But my child is 9 and has the understanding and language skills of a 9 year old.

My child has grown up seeing me struggling with my disability, a physical battle every day with chronic pain and mobility. He’s endured teasing at school because I use a wheelchair and he’s missed out on so many normal everyday activities that kids do with their parents because I couldn’t do it with him.

My son has had to grow up understanding that my body has limitations and that it can’t be changed or cured. That I will get progressively worse over time. He has had to also accept that he has this same genetic condition, and can see his future when he looks at me.

But then his teacher told him he could change his body, he just head to really really really believe he had the wrong one. He asked me what I haven’t changed my body for one that works.

When complaining to the Head Teacher, my concerns were described as ‘difficult to balance in this day and age’ and he was in a similar position now with this topic as he was in the days of Section 28.

The requirement from DfE to teach accurate fact based information to children had been lost on him and he was completely unaware of his obligations, instead I was called out as a transphobe for objecting to teaching kids it’s possible to be born in the wrong body.

I am a high school teacher in Scotland. Towards the end of 2017 I became increasingly concerned by the current transgender ideology and its negative impact particularly in the following areas:

· children and young people in schools
· women's safety, equality and fairness
. data gathering on ‘sex’

My concerns remain.

Children and young people in schools

Following staff ‘training’ by LGBT Youth Scotland I and other members of school staff were alarmed at the speed at which gender identity ideology was promoted within our school community. The lives of some of our most vulnerable young people and their families were affected. I received emails on two occasions, requesting that parents are not informed when their daughters have chosen to self-identify as boys, one as young as 13 years. These emails were sent from the LGBT club teacher and not a guidance teacher, nor was there any diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Freedom of Information requests to sixteen Scottish councils at the time showed that this ideology was being introduced into schools by local authorities across Scotland, apparently without any consultation, evaluation or risk assessment.

Emails have continued announcing name changes, in one case the seventh name, and pronouns of a number of girls wanting to be boys. The acceptance of gender identity ideology in our schools has created ‘trans kids’, in our case all girls.

Staff are asked to ‘affirm’ the desires of the girls even knowing many of the girls have other mental health issues and are not receiving psychological help. Boys have expressed their discomfort and embarrassment to me personally at the possibility of a self-identifying girl using their changing areas or toilets, but feel silenced by the fear that their legitimate feelings of non-consent may be perceived as ‘transphobic’. In one case a boy was told by the PE teacher that it was ‘equalities’ and should not say any more.

The issue of toilets and the move to mixed sex provision is also not insignificant. Girls’ and boys’ wash areas are shared and open to view to staff. It should not have to be said that the needs of girls in managing their periods in a safe and boy/male free area should be considered. There is evidence already that girls are missing school as a result of this.

Further concerns were raised nationally by parents and teachers regarding the points listed below from the transgender document Supporting Transgender Young People Guidance for Schools in Scotland:
• Children ‘should be supported to explore and express their gender identity regardless of their age’ and ‘it is important not to deny their identity, or overly question their understanding of their gender identity’
• Teachers are advised not to ‘disclose information to parents or carers without the young person’s permission’
• Transgender pupils should be allowed to choose which toilets / changing rooms they use. Children who feel uncomfortable about sharing facilities with someone of the opposite sex can wait until after the transgender child has finished or use alternative facilities such as an accessible toilet. Parents with concerns about their child sharing toilets and / or changing rooms with a pupil of the opposite sex should be reminded of the school’s ethos of inclusion, equality and respect
• Transgender pupils should be able to compete in the sports category they feel most comfortable with, male or female
• Parents should not be informed if their child is sharing rooms with pupils of the opposite sex on school trips
• If a parent is ‘struggling to come to terms with their child’s identity’ teachers are advised that it ‘may be useful to approach the local authority’

I would also note the following concerns:
• Parents have not been included in discussions regarding the transgender guidance, some have found out to their alarm through newspaper articles
• The consent of young people has been compromised since they are unable to question others entering their private spaces. Young people who feel uncomfortable with others of the opposite sex in their changing areas have been labelled transphobic and lectured on equality
• Safety issues are arising for girls losing sex protected private spaces
• Safety issues are arising for girls in contact sports
• Gender stereo-typing is reinforced, not reduced
• Research has shown that the increase of rapid-onset gender dysphoria is now a major concern
• Young people of faith have been labelled transphobic for questioning the trans ideology
• Girls who bind their breasts, encouraged in the document, are at risk of causing tissue damage

A Children’s Rights Impact Assessment regarding this document was published on the 30th January 2018 showed a potential eleven violations of children’s rights in the document Supporting Transgender Young People: Guidance for Schools in Scotland. It is clear that councils across Scotland, have advocated ‘best practice’ that blatantly disregards the rights and protections that all children should be afforded.

Aidan O’Neill QC, a top human rights lawyer says the guidance is based on ‘a misunderstanding or misrepresentation’ of the laws particularly regarding ‘the role and rights of the parents to determine issues around the child’s welfare and upbringing’. He concluded, ‘the Scottish Government is acting contrary to human rights law in supporting and promoting this gudance’.

I have spoken extensively with the headmaster and depute heads and joined our council’s staff equalities group. I have specifically pointed out the illegality of our current equalities policy and that it is against equality law to compel pupils and staff to use 'preferred pronouns'. I have been listened to fairly but the situation remains unchanged.

My Year 6 daughter had her PSHE lesson a few weeks ago. I asked to see the slides as I noticed that the consent form mentioned something vague about gender.

The slides muddle up gender and sex/sexuality in a way that is potentially confusing to children. I objected to the use of terms like 'cisgender' and 'demisexual', which I think normalises the language used by gender ideology. I believe gender ideology is very harmful to children, especially girls, and we really shouldn't be telling primary school children that they need to discover their "identity".

In a discussion with the headteacher, he told me they had to use 'approved providers for PSHE material' - in this case Twinkl - and they didn't feel confident enough to create the slides themselves in case they got something wrong (although they did in fact amend some of them based on my feedback).

1. Year 7 son had lessons about pornography.

2. Teachers had training provided by Mermaids in February 2021. It is not clear if this was also given to pupils.

3. This year June 2022 the school has been flying the progress pride flag. In my view, this does not indicate that the school would be a safe environment for kids to express gender critical or religious concerns.

4. They have recently opened a new dining hall with mixed-sex toilets.

5. The next sports day will feature mixed-sex sports. This will only disadvantage girls.

My 14 year old autistic daughter attended this online school this academic year. She had been anxious and depressed and was unable to attend her old school. I informed the school that she has gender dysphoria at the beginning of the year. In consultation with her psychiatrist we decided to follow a watchful waiting approach. I told the school that we were not affirming her so we call her by a gender nickname and avoid using pronouns as she found female pronouns upsetting. Our goal was to neither affirm nor deny. We wanted to find out why she was feeling this way. The school accepted this but then stated that if my daughter asked her teachers to use male pronouns they would do so as they had to listen to the voice of the child. I sent them two statements from 2 psychiatrists recommending no male pronouns, that her situation was complex. They completely disregarded medical recommendations as well as the wishes of us the parents. I started a formal complaints procedure against the school however the process was halted by the school as they said I did not have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria for my daughter. They would not accept the 2 psychiatric statements as evidence. Their primary concern was responding to her belief that she is transgender whilst completely disregarding that her autism, depression and anxiety could play any role.

The school also refused to acknowledge that using male pronouns on my daughter was social transitioning. Their outlook was completely ideologically and I had no other way to complain. It seems online schools cannot be held accountable for their actions.

The school celebrates Pride month and as far as I know there is no explicit teaching of gender ideology in the classroom. However, it is shocking that the school believes it can dismiss medical advice in conjunction with the wishes of parents in a complex situation.

For the whole term (not just for June), the inclusion 5ft noticeboard in the main hall has had I Am Jazz as a recommended book for KS2 but this is visible every day to all girls, as young as 4.

The book includes the line "I have a girl brain but a boy body" and is reinforcing gender stereotypes.

Never did I think that "girl brain" would be used in my daughter's school in 2022. On top of this there is all the gender identity ideology in this book and other books used in my daughter's primary school.

I am the parent of my fourteen-year-old daughter and I am submitting this on her behalf. This is her testimony, written by her:

I'm a 14-year old at Secondary School, and my school is presenting transgender ideology as fact, and encouraging this trend among kids my age. I'm going to talk about the stuff going on here in this testimony.

We've had various lessons discussing this, throughout year seven to year nine (the year I'm in now), all in support of the "fact" that if a boy wants to identify as a girl, then we must all call him "she", and that if we say he isn't a girl then we're "transphobic" and "hateful". It's blatantly biased and presented as the truth, and they've been labeling words like "butch" and certain pronouns as transphobic.

This has been a growing trend over the years I've been at Secondary School. One of my best friends is a girl who now "identifies as a transgender boy", the teachers are encouraging her and referring to her with "he/him" pronouns. Honestly, I'm scared to refer to her as "she" now since I'll be labeled as transphobic and ostracized.

It feels like all my friends have been radicalised. The school's teaching us this ideology, shoving it down our throats and presenting it as complete and utter fact, my friends are buying into it and any opposing opinions against these lessons will be branded as "hateful". We're all kids, and almost all of us think there is only one right point of view, and this ideology is being presented as such.

What they're teaching us doesn't make any sense but any opinion different from what they're saying is mocked and scorned and silenced. I can't speak without being ostracised and hated. This has to change but I'm scared to speak up.

An appalling RSE lesson on homophobic bullying. Parts ok, but hidden therein was this scenario for the kids to act out: teenage girls encountering an older male in the female toilets.  Anyone alarmed? Well clearly they are transphobic

Last year my son attended an RSE workshop. He came home saying he had been taught that there were more than two sexes, and that children could go on puberty blockers. He asked the presenter how a boy would know they felt like a girl and the trainer said they might like pink and unicorns. My son said that was sexist but was given no response. After the session my son to a friend there were only two sexes and was shouted at by some of the girls who called him transphobic. I complained to the Headteacher who told me my son shouldn't mock genders (?) and that the incident didn't reach the threshold of unkindness.

I managed to get a copy of the presentation which included presenting beliefs about gender identity ideology as fact - including the idea that everyone has a 'gender identity' which is different from their sex. There was also a diagram with a Disney Rogue at one end labelled 'boy' and a Disney princess at the other labelled 'girl'. In the middle was 'non binary'. None of the slides about reproduction and anatomy were labelled as being male or female, girl or boy. Only the body parts were labelled.

I took it up with the school and mentioned my concerns in a general manner in a mum's whatsapp group. I was threatened by the school and told to be careful about saying anything defamatory on there. The school refused to concede that teaching gender identity ideology breached DfE guidelines which require materials to be evidence based and factual. In fact they said people who took my stance and didn't keep up with changing science were akin to creationists.

I also checked the school's equality and RSE policies, and sex had been replaced with gender throughout. The protected characteristics were listed incorrectly with gender replacing sex, and gender identity and 'cross dressing issues' replacing gender reassignment.

I escalated my complaint to a Governor panel review, who agreed to revise the RSE and equality policies (this has now been done). The provider was not invited back this year.

This year, a new provider was contracted. They refused to share materials with parents, and suggested speaking to parents through an online zoom call the night before the presentation was due to be made to the children so that they could guide parents through some of the materials so that they wouldn't be misinterpreted or taken out of context.

Many parents were concerned, particularly when an online questionnaire was sent to the children which talked about pleasure and touch, and whether they knew who to go to if they were worried about their genitals.

Pressure was put on the school to back down and to postpone the presentation to allow parents more time to see and discuss the materials, and the workshop was eventually cancelled. We were then told it would not be rescheduled. I still have no idea what was in the materials.

Following the meeting at school, a teacher also sent a message to all the kids on the year on the internal messaging board with text copied from the 'Bloody Good Period' website - (a website about menstruation) and then linked to the website itself. The text and website referred to 'people who bleed'. I checked the website and couldn't find a single instance of where the words women or girls had been used. I complained to the school and the post was removed from the internal messaging board. The school said it was not as a result of my complaint.

In Year 7, at the start of LGBT History Month, I witnessed a lesson delivered by my daughter's form teacher. It was pure queer theory. It said that people who are sexually attracted to each other do things like hold hands. It included political opinion as fact: the UK should be more like Canada in allowing self-ID. It said that therapy for any trans-identifying child should be criminalised. People can be born in the wrong body, and can transition to fix this.

The school refused to discuss my concerns about the lesson. Most staff wear rainbow lanyards, and many put pronouns in their email signatures.

My daughter is no longer in that school.