Top public school axes its uniform rules to help pupils with gender issues
It means boys can turn up wearing a skirt and blouse
A LEADING private school has become the first to scrap its uniform code to accommodate transgender pupils.
All children – regardless of gender – now have the option of wearing a skirt and blouse or trousers and shirt.
Brighton College in East Sussex said the changes to its uniform codes, which go back 170 years, would make it easier for pupils who identify with the opposite gender.
The school said it is reacting to a changing society that recognises some children have ‘gender dysphoria’ – a medical condition where a person is distressed because they feel they were born the wrong sex.
Headmaster Richard Cairns told students this week that the uniforms for boys and girls will be replaced by a ‘trouser uniform’ and a ‘skirt uniform’ for all pupils up to the age of 16.
Girls who identify as boys can wear a tweed blazer, a tie and trousers. And boys identifying as girls can wear a skirt, a bolero jacket and an open-neck blouse.
At least one pupil has taken up this option already and a handful of families have made inquiries for their transgender children.
The children’s original genders have not been revealed by the school, which has about 900 pupils aged 11 to 18. Mr Cairns said: ‘This change follows requests from a small number of families. It ties in with my strong personal belief that youngsters should be respected for who they are.
‘If some boys and girls are happier identifying with a different gender from that in which they were born, then my job is to make sure that we accommodate that.
‘My only interest as headmaster is their welfare and happiness.’
Parents with transgender children will be required to write to the headmaster advising him of the sitexpected uation in order for pupils to be allowed to change their uniform. Mr Cairns said: ‘Traditional uniform will be worn but the type of uniform will be a matter for the individual boy or girl, always assuming parental support.’
Sixth-former Fred Dimbleby – son of BBC broadcaster David Dimbleby – said pupils at the school had welcomed the move.
He said: ‘I am really proud that I have been educated in a school where there is no concept of the norm, of conformity and of the way to be. I also know that students who are gender-fluid or, for any reason, decide to change the uniform that they wear will be accepted, supported and encouraged by the whole school.
‘I think it would be great if all of schools took up this idea.
‘Secondary school is such a formative period for people so it’s important to encourage people to be who they are and who they want to be.’
The school, where fees are up to £11,780 a term, had the first openly gay head boy at a British public school when Will Emery, then 17 years old, was voted into the role by staff and pupils for the 2013/14 academic year.
The non-gender uniform policy was the result of discussions between Mr Cairns and the school’s gender society.
Sixth-former Amy Arnell said: ‘ There really is no negativity towards this new policy at school.
‘When the headmaster announced it, no one was really surprised.
‘There is just no reason not to do it if it makes people feel more comfortable about themselves.’ The gender identity development service at London’s Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which assesses transgender children from across the UK, reported referrals increasing from 97 cases in 2009 to 697 in 2014.
Brighton College was named UK School of the Year 2013 at the Independent Schools Awards in November 2013.
It has pioneered progressive gender policies already by allowing girls to play in the boys’ first XI cricket team. The school states that it ‘believes inclusion should be based on merit, not gender’.
Sir Anthony Seldon, who is vicechancellor of the University of Buckingham and a former headmaster of Brighton College, said: ‘This is a sensitive area, obviously, but the lead given by Richard Cairns seems both compassionate and enlightened as it is giving his students the freedom to choose. He is being truly innovative.’
‘Follows requests from families’