Headteachers of prestigious private schools have been given advice on how to support pupils with gender dysphoria from a trans activist and former trustee of Mermaids.
The Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, which is a leading body of headteachers of elite UK private schools, held a closed event for its spring conference including a speech from Bobbi Pickard, chief executive of Trans in the City and a former trustee of trans charity Mermaids, titled “The Gift of Trans”.
This was followed by a talk from Dan Squires KC of Matrix Chambers examining whether the law is required to treat trans-identifying children as their declared gender, as well as the legality of excluding or admitting trans children to single-sex schools.
A group of parents of trans-identifying children, many of whom attend HMC private schools, have now raised concerns over the talk by Bobbi Pickard, which they say will present a “simplistic and glamorised perspective” instead of “offering school leaders an understanding of the complexity and vulnerability of their trans-identified students”.
The letter, from parents of the Bayswater Support Group, representing 600 families of trans-identifying children, goes on to state that a “significant number” of their members have children at HMC schools and that they are “wary of medical solutions to gender dysphoria”.
They add that it is difficult to see any “common ground” between Pickard’s experiences as a trans woman and “the current cohort of teenagers presenting with gender confusion, notably vast numbers of girls”.
‘Very serious underlying concerns’
A former parent at George Watson’s College, where HMC Chair Melvyn Roffe is headteacher, told The Telegraph that “Bobbi Pichard will support social transition and medical transition – I would be worried that schools will get the impression that they should support the social transition of children without telling the parents”.
The letter from parents refers to the Cass interim Review into the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, led by Dr Hilary Cass, which found that Tavistock’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDs) was “not safe”, with over a thousand young people experiencing gender dysphoria referred for potentially life-altering drugs by the clinic.
Some of the young people seen by the clinic were autistic or also identified as trans-racial, yet this was ignored by the centre, according to Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children.
The letter says: “The recent findings of Dr Hilary Cass highlight the need to look beyond a trans identity into what is actually happening beneath the surface in the life of a child.”
“Our children have wide-ranging and complex underlying issues such as autism, trauma and same-sex attraction. Schools must consider an approach that protects vulnerable children from harm in their teenage years, rather than rushing to affirm an identity that may be transient, or, at worst, mask for some very serious underlying concerns.”
‘Duty to inform, educate and share’
The Government is set to publish new guidance on how schools should support trans pupils in the coming weeks, which will include guidelines setting out that single-sex schools will not need to accommodate trans pupils, meaning that an all-girls school could choose not to admit a pupil who was born male but identified as female. School leaders would also be able to legally refuse to use a pupil’s chosen pronouns without fear of legal action.
A spokesperson from HMC said: “HMC believes in the importance of listening to people with a diverse range of experiences and opinions, people who many people consider to be experts in their own fields.
“We do not necessarily endorse or support the stance of any speakers at our conferences as our members rightly reserve the right to make up their own minds based on the context of their own schools.
“All HMC schools and their leadership place, first and foremost, the safety and wellbeing of all their children at the front of everything that they do.
“HMC Schools are diverse and serve the needs of a broad range of children, parents and staff and so it is important that Heads hear from a wide range of experiences and opinions when considering important issues. HMC itself has always had a duty to inform, educate and share.”
Source: Mermaids gives trans advice at private school headteachers’ conference (telegraph.co.uk)
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