Mixed sex changing rooms in a Brighton secondary school - part 3 - we're really cooking now

[SingleSexSpacesInSchools]

Hello friends.

I'll let the press do the talking...

https://www.gbnews.com/news/trans-school-court-changing-rooms

I read that in a Cuddles the monkey voice from Orville the duck. Definitely showing my age!

just how I said it in my head...

@SingleSexSpacesInSchoolshave you seen this case? Not identical but has many of the same arguments
Mother sues all-girls school for ‘admitting transgender pupil’

https://www.thetimes.com/article/bff0c621-9e45-44c7-9b37-7d5001d4be35?shareToken=ff82e14a1511fc945114373138f9f4fc

I have but thank you! Very glad this is also going ahead, the more the better, its just a matter of time now

That's an awful story. Which surely is only going to have one result, fortunately. Where the hell are we when councils and schools just ignore the law?

it makes me incredibly sad that cries of ‘TERF’ and ‘Transphobe’ are shouted and written on placards about things like this when the whole point is being missed.

Well done to this mum, and all other parents embroiled in expensive and lengthy court cases.

The other case is quite close to me - there will be a difference in that the MP is Graham Stuart, who is a very good local MP, despite being a Tory 😉. I can’t see him not supporting the mum even further if she needs it.

Beverley is the administrative centre of the East Riding and a decent size market town - this isn’t a case of lack of facilities for boys as the nearby Beverley Grammar is the boys counterpart school, and very old and well regarded. The sixth form is a joint facility for both schools.

No news is still no news sorry everyone - courts are backed up for weeks / months, will update as soon as anything happens.

My daughter did get a few more cards though so that was really nice, I am going to try and take a picture - though the chocolates have been long eaten and she bought a bikini with a voucher as well which I won't share, but it's all been very supportive from everyone thank you :)

I'd got so used to your frequent updates about school emails it feels very strange to have this long period of quiet 😂The Head must be appreciating it, even if panicking about the court case outcome at the same time.

Given the EHRC guidance has been issued at last, surely the authority/ school will back down? Have the lawyers said anything about the impact?

The GLP will ride the train as long as they can, I expect. They don’t seem to care that they frequently lose in court. They still get paid, by their funders at least.

The GLP remind me very much of the SNP.
We're seemingly stuck with them both forever.
The worse they perform at their core tasks, the more they're rewarded by their supporters.
Seemingly happiest clanging around in the noise of their echo chambers.

Even though the school did rely on waiting for the EHRC guidance as a ploy to not take any action, the code doesn’t actually have anything to do with schools so I don’t know

There is a point that maybe the school has to supply compliant toilets for members of the public perhaps when they come in but it doesn’t legally cover pupils

Schools are workplaces so have to supply legally compliant toilets for the staff.

Presumably the clincher will be the KCSIE guidance which is explicit about no mixed sex changing etc?

It will be but also the schools interpretation of single sex is not the “universal toilet“ that we know to be the only proper interpretation, the school is presumably relying on the GLP interpretation

And so therefore how well they comply with KCSIE will be absolutely central.

Not to mention any implementation of “universal toilet“ will be by definition dangerous and unsuitable for a secondary school

Absolutely true, but the most recent EHC code doesn’t apply to workplaces or indeed schools they’re all separate

Quite why they are separate, I presume is historical legislation reasons

The DfE guidance this year has changed and it is all single sex but with a mixed sex toilet addition.
I honestly don’t know if the EHRC have been in discussions with schools because it’s a mess.

In general terms used by the HSE ‘sanitary conveniences’ is the toilet, ‘sanitary facilities’ includes the sink. All of this, I believe, is still guidance though it’s interesting that building standard bs6465 has made an appearance. I always think the ‘requirements’ title sounds like it’s statutory.

These bits are relevant I think:
5.1.24 Sanitary product dispensing machines
• Extent: Minimum one machine per female toilet suite, or as specified in the Project Brief, for use from and including KS2 onwards (may be supplied by a service provider to School/College)
• Location: In common areas used only by females, not in an individual cubicle/room and not visible from circulation areas
• Mounting height (to underside): 850-1000mm
5.1.25 Sanitary product disposal bins
• Extent: One for every female toilet cubicle or universal toilet room, or as specified in the Project Brief, for use from and including KS2 onwards (may be supplied by a service provider to School/College)
• Location: On the floor adjacent to the toilet pan
3.22 Personal care (PCS)
Table of toilets ratios for pupils and students
Note: In male toilets, for Post 16 only (including FE/colleges),
urinals can be provided with the following ratio: 1.5 urinals for every WC pan replaced. Where selected, at least 40% of facilities shall be provided as WC pans.
In schools, in separate toilets for boys and girls, at least one toilet is provided in accommodation for use by ambulant disabled pupils.
In schools, in separate toilets for boys and girls, where there are four or more toilets, one of these is an enlarged toilet for use by pupils who need extra space, in addition to any other provision.
*On each floor of any school block there shall be a standalone toilet facility provided in a room that can be secured from the inside and is intended for use by one pupil at a time.
Where there are four or more toilet rooms in a cluster, one of these is to be enlarged for use by pupils who need extra space. In each group of toilets for Reception and Nursery pupils there shall be one wider cubicle to allow staff to give assistance.
my note: this used to be called gender neutral but is not anymore.
Glossary
Cubicle - A ventilated compartment, not self-contained, usually formed by the assembly of partition panels and located within a room.
Suite(s) - Collection(s) of Spaces and Clusters that need proximity or close relationship to function, for example, administration spaces, dining and kitchens, Primary classrooms and activity rooms.
This is taken from:
Pattern Book: 3.7 Primary classrooms; 3.22 Personal care
Technical Manual: 2.7 Internal walls and partitions; 2.8 Internal doors and glazed screens; 5.1 Sanitaryware and ancillaries

If red tape and over regulations were growth areas, we'd be the richest nation on Earth.

Well, you have a point. Particularly since it seems a rather large number of schools have entirely disregarded all such regulations at the behest of political activists.

If they were actually complying or even attempting to comply it might be worth the taxpayers money spent creating the regulations. As it is....

I’m frequently struck by the staggering waste of taxpayers resources, and my own, just to do the blatantly obvious.

activists have infiltrated every level
of society like a cancer. No wonder we can’t do anything anymore. We’re paralysed as a country.

It's hard to deny that the country is now simply running on fumes.
Any business especially one man/SME is struggling to succeed, any individual such as yourself fighting for basic rights and justice that were uncontroversial just 15 years ago is fighting a tide of activism and vested interests.
Anarcho-tyranny now at all levels of civic society.
Everytime Keir Starmer is asked what his role is, and the function of his Labour govt, he replies that it's to uphold legal structures in the UK.
Sure, that's part of it, but not even in the top ten reasons for a particular govt.
This govt literally sees itself as legal-adjacent as a structure.

The thing is we have safety regs for a reason. What people should do is leave it up to the experts (or point it out and hassle them when it’s wrong 😬) then everyone stick to them. Schools have been unchecked, free for all since academisation.

For example, the positioning of a hook is designed so that a pupil won’t use it as a ligature point. The door offering outwards is so a child collapsing against a door can be rescued- hopefully in time to be saved. A floor-door gap is so you can see someone is on the floor so you can open the door. It’s common sense, and borne from all the incidents that have happened in the past and are still happening.

I absolutely agree with the safety regs. I’m also well aware of the prevalence of industrial accidents in the UK before health and safety legislation was in place it’s absolutely worth it.

the problem is activists in positions of power - like head teachers and Governors of Brighton schools, who think they know better and fight the bloody obvious even when it’s literally spelled out in black and white.

and without getting too political…. HS2 is about the most telling example of the country not being able to do the most simple of things because of bureaucratic inertia and jobsworths….. but I’ll get back on my box on that one and the civil service 🙌🙌

It's worth noting I think that from reporting like the brave @SingleSexSpacesInSchools this mother tried for a very long time - a year - to raise safeguarding concerns before starting legal action. All too familiar. No doubt she was ignored, deliberately misinterpreted and word salad employed.

Apart from anything else it shouldn't take a year to provide a clear response to a fairly simple (in this case) safeguarding concern. How on earth can they comply with KCSIE when more complicated safeguarding scenarios arise if they can't even recognise basic biology?

Edited to add: somehow lost my quote - I'm talking about the woman suing the girls school who tried to admit a boy claiming girly feelings by stealth.