Head of Education Steve Beegoo comments after the Department for Education released new proposed guidance on gender-questioning children in schools
The Department for Education has released new proposed changes to its Keeping children safe in education guidance on how gender-questioning children should be cared for in schools.
While the new draft guidance has some major and helpful clarifications, it remains that children as young as 4 could be socially transitioned to the opposite sex in UK schools, without any clinical advice being required, and on some occasions without parents being notified.
Transitioning is a major intervention
Socially transitioning a child is a major intervention in which the school community starts to use different pronouns for them, to allow the opposite sex’s uniform to be worn and often to call a child by a new name.
As with the NHS’s puberty blocker trials – chemical experiments on children to prevent natural maturing of the body – there is no minimum age at when this can be allowed to happen in schools.
No child should be lied to about their identity as a boy or girl, which is what social transition does.
But schools are being put in an impossible situation by this guidance. If social transition is to be allowed in any cases, schools are being asked to adjudicate which pupils can or cannot change gender. This is not something schools are equipped or qualified to do.
Schools would be helped by guidance that clearly stated that children cannot socially transition. Failing that, there could at least be the requirement for an independent psychologist to assess the child.
The guidance does suggest that full social transition in primary schools should be very rare (paragraph 264):
“Primary schools should exercise particular caution, and we would expect support for full social transition to be agreed very rarely.”
However, without objective measures, there will always be parents and pupils who will put schools under pressure to allow them to transition. Every child will be treated as if they are the very rare exception.
The ‘trans craze’ has already become a social contagion among our children and young people. We need much more than the tone of increased caution used in this draft guidance . This guidance still allows for this contagion to spread, even if less quickly.
Biological sex matters
It is encouraging to see that the draft guidance clearly states that children should use toilets and changing rooms “designed for their biological sex.” This is an important recognition that we can’t escape from biological reality. The guidance states:
“schools must not allow pupils into toilets, changing rooms, or boarding or residential accommodation designated for the opposite sex, with no exceptions.”
The guidance is also refreshingly clear on single-sex sports being biological:
“Similarly, where schools have implemented single-sex sports as being necessary for safety reasons, there should be no exceptions and pupils must not be allowed to participate in sports designated for the opposite sex.”
It is absurd that boys have been able to pose as girls and unfairly win school competitions or break school records. Hopefully this guidance will put an end to this obvious injustice and safety risk.
‘Living in stealth’
The clarity of the draft guidance on this point raises an important issue. The document mentions that children transitioning before puberty may be “living in stealth” as a member of the opposite sex, with even teachers unaware of their biological sex. This is impossible to reconcile with these safeguarding measures around toilets, changing rooms and sports. If these measures are upheld, it will be plain to others that their apparent identity is a fiction. And if their true identity is not known to teachers and other staff, it will be impossible to uphold these safeguarding measures.
‘Hannah’, a primary school teacher lost her job after an 8-year-old child was due to enter her class in a transgender identity. She lost her job after raising safeguarding concerns about the child. With the help of our legal team, she challenged this, but in May 2025 a judge ruled that the child has a right to hide their biological sex “for the remainder of their life”, including in particular from their future “partners” and from even from the child’s own future children.
This is plainly impossible to reconcile with the safeguarding measures proposed in this guidance.
The need to talk to parents
There is helpful increased reference to the need to talk to parents when considering a request to transition.
However, there is a chilling statement allowing schools to keep parents out of the loop (paragraph 262):
“… in the rare circumstances where involving parents or carers would constitute a greater risk to the child than not involving them, the school or college should involve their Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) to determine what action is needed to safeguard the child, before the parents are contacted or any decisions are taken.”
Which parents could this refer to? When they do not agree with the notion that their child could be ‘trans’, the T identity of the LGBT movement?
It is easy to see how Christian parents, who believe their child is born either male or female, and knit together in their mother’s womb by God, would be labelled as risks and not told what is going on with their child.
Far from ‘Keeping Children Safe In Education’, the title of this annually updated document, this will continue to allow for harmful social transitioning, without any requirement for clinical involvement, and with clauses that will inevitably result in Christian parents being kept in the dark.
A recognition of de-transition
It is encouraging to see that the document recognises the possibility that a child would want to “fully or partially reverse” a transition and the need to provide support for them.
This is the first time that the possibility of de-transition has been explicitly mentioned and supported in guidance.
Provoked by Christian parents who raise the issue of trans in schools
The process of getting the government to provide guidance on what to do with gender questioning children originated in 2017 when Christian parents Nigel and Sally Rowe found that a six-year-old pupil in their son’s Church of England Primary School was being allowed to socially transition, and the children were expected to go along with it, using the appropriate pronouns.
Nigel and Sally were the first parents to expose the issue of children being allowed to socially transition in schools. They complained to the school which dismissed their concerns as transphobic. They complained to the diocese, which also dismissed their concerns. So, with the help of Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre, they took their concerns to the government and asked the government to intervene with guidance for schools.
The Rowes presented international expert evidence to the Department for Education (DfE) which revealed how trans affirming policies lead to ‘catastrophic outcomes’ for gender-confused children.
The Rowes, backed by the evidence, said that formal psychological diagnosis should only be made before any social transitioning should take place. They said the issues faced by gender-distressed children should be dealt with in a professional setting rather than affirmed and integrated in school classrooms. When the government still failed to intervene, the Rowes pursued a judicial review of the government’s decision. The government then settled the case in 2022 and committed to bringing out guidance.
The previous government brought out draft guidance on gender questioning children in December 2023 which was then consulted on, but not implemented before Labour came into power in 2024. This new draft guidance is the next step in implementing this promise to provide guidance for schools.
Pronouns may not be imposed on teachers
Also back in 2017, Christian Concern highlighted the case of Joshua Sutcliffe who was probably the first teacher in the world to lose his job for ‘misgendering’ a ‘transgender’ pupil. Joshua remains banned from teaching by the Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA) because he spoke publicly about his dismissal. He lost his High Court Appeal in 2024 when the judge ruled that by not using preferred pronouns, Mr Sutcliffe had failed to treat a pupil with “dignity and respect”.
The new draft guidance marks a step forwards in allowing for staff or pupils who do not want to use preferred pronouns. In paragraph 270 it states:
“the school or college must also be conscious of the rights of pupils and staff in relation to their religion or belief. However, schools and colleges supporting social transition might consider discussing options with pupils and staff such as using names instead of pronouns.”
This concession is somewhat vague with the use of the word “might” rather than “must”, and we will challenge this language in the consultation, but it is still a positive step.
Groomed
Many schools routinely have LGBT celebrations and assemblies. Even months where LGBT identities are a focus across the whole school supported by well-funded groups such as Just Like Us who specifically target faith based pupils. Pride clubs are welcomed, and children are confused.
Many are steadily groomed to choose the ‘trans’ label and come to believe it is the silver bullet to help solve their life issues. They are taught to believe in their final self-made diagnosis which will lead them to perform as the opposite gender, or as non-binary, supported by equally confused staff or activists in school. The younger this begins, the more likely they are to want to have medical interventions such as mastectomies or genital surgery to align with their confusion.
Safeguarding
As well as continuing to help ‘Hannah’, we have helped many teachers and families wrestling with this prevalent anti-Christian ideology which promotes the idea of a ‘gender identity’. The cases keep coming in. This guidance will help, but the problems will not stop until children are told the truth that they cannot change gender.
The tide is turning
With significant wins for the Darlington Nurses and Jennifer Melle this year, we are starting to see the tide turning on transgenderism. There is still a long way to go. But the absurdities of allowing people to change their gender have been exposed by these cases and others, and they are very hard to ignore. Quite obviously women should not have to change in front of a man. Quite obviously too, no one should be forced to refer to a man as a woman, particularly if he is a convicted paedophile. Anyone can see this.
The fact is that we are created male and female. Biological sex is a created reality. Denial of this reality leads to absurdities and contradictions. It is not helpful to children who may be experiencing real suffering, to con them to believe that changing gender will help them. It will not. It will harm them and cause problems for others. Sometimes it takes courage to speak and stick with the truth, even when the truth is so obvious.
Thanks to the courage of our brave clients and others, the truth is winning out in this area. Both the Conservatives and Labour have committed to better guidance than was used before the Rowes’ legal case. There has been a significant backlash in the media to the government proposing to allow children to transition in schools. We will continue to stand for truth in this area.
Action
We will provide guidance on how to respond to the consultation in the coming weeks.
We also encourage you to write to your MP, highlighting these issues and telling the stories of the confusion you have seen in our children. We also encourage you to join us at ‘Education Revolution’ on Saturday 25th April at Westminster Chapel, where courageous Christians who are involved in every part of the Education ecosystem in our country will be gathering with many other Christian organisations. Christians are starting new schools, and parents are taking responsibility for the education of their children. There is an early bird discount booking deadline coming up.
And please support us at Christian Concern as we seek to encourage and equip courageous Christian teachers, governors and parents who will not accept the false gospel of gender identity to be discipled into children, but instead stand for the truth of the Bible, and the rightful Lordship of Jesus Christ in every sphere of life and especially our schools.
