Primary school’s U-turn over gender-neutral loos

Parental backlash over privacy after bathrooms opened to all pupils

A PRIMARY school was forced into a U-turn after dozens of parents complained about a decision to make the toilets gender neutral.

The row broke out at moredon primary School in Swindon after it introduced a gender-neutral toilet policy, which saw its shared bathrooms open to all pupils.

The toilets were not modified, meaning urinals remained in use in the boys’ toilets despite girls being allowed in. The school admitted it made the change after being ‘challenged’ by an outside body to provide more ‘inclusive’ toilet facilities.

But the decision, which was made without warning or consultation, was met with anger by several parents who have forced the school into a swift U-turn.

One mother, who did not wish to be named, said she was concerned that it could ‘normalise’ the use of toilets by people of the other sex.

She said: ‘it makes kids think it’s normal to be sharing toilets with other sexes but when you go out, you can’t do that.

‘it’s not like Asda or mcDonald’s have gender-free toilets so why do the school think it’s acceptable?’

Another parent said: ‘it’s almost like they are pushing liberal views on the kids, especially when the kids start asking why they are gender-free and the teachers explain about some kids wanting to be the other sex.

‘What happens then, they start thinking, ‘‘Am i actually a girl’’ or whatever? it’s stupid, just leave things alone so kids can be kids and enjoy their time in school before they get to secondary and it’s all work, work, work.’

Although most parents were against the changes, the main objection centred on privacy and the fact nobody was informed. Speaking anonymously, a mother of an eightyear-old at the school said: ‘The first i heard was when he come home and told us there was a little girl in the toilet while he was using the urinal.

‘i also heard that there was a little girl with autism who was upset and scared, as a little boy went in and was watching her while she was on the toilet.’

parents claimed they had struggled to get answers. The school later returned the toilets to being gender separate.

in a statement, headmistress Anna Wilcox said: ‘The school was challenged by an external body about the toilet facilities. With the best of intentions, for two days we made a change to school policy.

‘On reflection, we recognised that while our intentions were right we didn’t take the best approach. We’ve listened and taken on board the feedback from some of our parents. We now have both unisex and single sex toilets in school.’