Girls’ school group will not admit trans pupils
A LEADING girls’ schools organisation says it will not accept transgender pupils because it fears they will ‘jeopardise’ schools’ status as single-sex institutions.
The Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), a group of 23 private schools and two academies, has updated its gender identity policy guidance document to include a new section on admissions.
It is able to operate a single-sex admissions policy without breaching the Equality Act because of an exemption related to biological sex.
But the guidance says: ‘The GDST believes that an admissions policy based on gender identity rather than the legal sex recorded on a student’s birth certificate would jeopardise the status of GDST schools as single-sex schools under the Act. For this reason, GDST schools do not accept applications from students who are legally male. We will, however, continue to monitor the legal interpretation of this exemption’.
The guidance, shared with schools last month, says female pupils who begin to transition while at one of the GDST’s schools should be supported to remain there for as long as they want to. It says an application for a gender-recognition certificate can be made only from the age of 18, but pupils might begin to ‘transition socially’ before this.
‘A trans student attending a GDST school will be supported to remain at the school post transition as long as they wish to do so,’ it says. ‘All schools have a responsibility to ensure that measures are put in place to enable them to thrive at their school.’
The GDST educates around 19,000 girls aged three to 18 in England and Wales and is headed by chief executive Cheryl Giovannoni, a former advertising and marketing executive.
It said the guidance – first reported in The Sunday Telegraph – was drawn up ‘in collaboration with experts, teachers and students’.
The Department for Education said: ‘Supporting all children in a school can involve balancing complex and sensitive matters, and schools are best placed to work with parents, pupils and public services to determine the best approach.’
But Julie McCulloch of headteachers’ union the ASCL said ministers need to provide better advice on how best to help trans pupils.
‘They will be supported’