From: Mrs C Johnson On Behalf Of [Abbey Grange Academy request email]
Sent: 18 October 2023 09:39
To: '[FOI #1023986 email]'
<[FOI #1023986 email]>
Cc: '[FOI #1023986 email]'
<[FOI #1023986 email]>
Subject: FW: FOI Request - Polices

 

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Thank you for your correspondence of 8^th September 2023 in which you ask
for the following information:

1. Does your school inform the parents or guardians of a child as soon
they express that he or she might be a different gender to their sex, or a
wish to change gender?
2. Does your school operate a policy of self-ID for a child’s chosen
gender; in other words, do you affirm a child in their chosen gender?
3. Which agencies and/or professionals do you consult when a child tells
you they wish to change their gender?
4. Does your school allow a child whose chosen gender is different from
their sex to:
a. Use toilets defined according to their chosen gender, rather than their
sex?
b. Use changing rooms according to their chosen gender, rather than their
sex?
c. Take part in sporting activities according to their chosen gender,
rather than their sex?
d. Use single sex accommodation on residential trips according to their
chosen gender, rather than their sex?
5. Does your school require other children to refer to a child who has
chosen a different gender by their chosen name and preferred pronouns?
6. Has your school ever carried out an Equality Impact Assessment to
determine the impact on other children of being required to affirm a child
in their chosen gender?

I would be grateful if you would send me copies of any school policy
documents or guidance for staff on issues of sex and gender, such as your
EDI Policy, Transgender Student Policy, School Trips Policy.

We regret that we were unable to send you a full response to your request
within 20 school days, as required by the Act. This is because the
original email request from the What Do They Know platform was quarantined
by our filtering system. We would like to apologise on behalf of the
school for this delay. Your request has now been handled as a request for
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

 

Our response

We do not hold information which would answer questions 1-6 in recorded
form and are therefore unable to provide a response to these under the
FOIA. However, we are happy to provide the following explanations:

 

1. Does your school inform the parents or guardians of a child as soon
they express that he or she might be a different gender to their sex, or a
wish to change gender? 

Generally, unless the school believed this would put a child at risk.

 

2. Does your school operate a policy of self-ID for a child’s chosen
gender; in other words, do you affirm a child in their chosen gender? 

We do not operate a policy on this matter. However, for clarity we can
confirm that we do not alter a child’s sex on the school records or allow
access to any single-sex environments different from the sex they were
born with. 

 

3. Which agencies and/or professionals do you consult when a child tells
you they wish to change their gender? 

We do not but do hold supportive discussions to work with children and
families to identify options for support they may wish to engage with on a
range of issues they may be facing.

 

4. Does your school allow a child whose chosen gender is different from
their sex to:

a. Use toilets defined according to their chosen gender, rather than their
sex?  

b. Use changing rooms according to their chosen gender, rather than their
sex? 

c. Take part in sporting activities according to their chosen gender,
rather than their sex? 

d. Use single sex accommodation on residential trips according to their
chosen gender, rather than their sex? 

For safeguarding reasons, we do not allow access to single-sex
environments different from the sex a child was born with. We may consider
alternative arrangements for children who are uncomfortable with using
single-sex environments where this is reasonable and practicable, in
consultation with the child and family.

 

5. Does your school require other children to refer to a child who has
chosen a different gender by their chosen name and preferred pronouns? 

No. 

 

6. Has your school ever carried out an Equality Impact Assessment to
determine the impact on other children of being required to affirm a child
in their chosen gender? 

No. 

 

We have also attached copies of our school policies/documents which
contain guidance and policy on issues of sex and gender.

 

I hope that you find this information useful.

 

If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent
internal review of our handling of your request by submitting a complaint
within two months to the Trust’s Data Protection Officer via email to
[1][email address] . If you ask for an internal review, it would be
helpful if you could say why you are dissatisfied with the response.

 

As part of any internal review, our handling of your information request
will be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with
this response. If you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you
would have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as
established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.

 

Yours Admin Team

 

 

 

References

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