Commenting on the letter from the
Minister for Women and Equalities to Ofsted Chief Inspector
Amanda Spielman requesting a snap inspection of Rye College, in
East Sussex, Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association
of School and College Leaders, said:
“There is a need for a sense of proportion here. This involves an
incident at one school in which the trust has already met with
the Department for Education to share an update on the events
that took place, and the school has said that no pupils identify
as a cat or any other animal.
“Now we have politicians, including the Minister for Women and
Equalities, weighing in over this matter in a manner that is
unnecessary, unhelpful and smacks of grandstanding.
“To be clear, we have never heard of any issues arising at any
schools over children identifying as animals. However, there are
nine million children in England’s schools so all sorts of
discussions are bound to crop up in classrooms. Teachers and
leaders are very good at dealing with whatever situation arises.
“On the separate subject of guidance over matters affecting
transgender pupils, we have spent the past five years constantly
asking the government to provide a sensible and practical set of
guidance to schools about how they should navigate this sensitive
territory, but they have been left to do this entirely on their
own and without any support whatsoever.
“Now, we have the government giving the impression that they are
riding to the rescue over this matter, when the truth is that
they have done absolutely nothing until this point in time. It is
of the utmost importance that this guidance – which we believe to
be imminent – is genuinely helpful and supportive to schools and
pupils, and that it is not intolerant and burdensome.”
