Agenda item - Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit (4th Edition)

Report of the Executive Director Families Children & Learning (copy attached)

RESOLVED: That the Committee

(i)             Agreed that the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit is needed to support schools in supporting trans and gender exploring children and young people;

(ii)            Noted the progress in reviewing the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit V4 and agree that it is released for wider consultation;

(iii)          Agreed that a final version of the report is presented to June 2021 CYPS committee for sign off.

67A Council Nurseries Only Open to Critical Workers and Vulnerable Children

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the use of officer urgency powers by the Interim Executive Director, Families, Children & Learning to agree that Council nurseries should only be open to critical worker and vulnerable children from 7 January 2021.

67.1    The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Families Children & Learning which provided an update on the progress of version 4 of the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit. The report was introduced by the Partnership Adviser Health & Wellbeing and was accompanied by Mr R Gingell (Allsorts).

67.2    Councillor Grimshaw thanked Mr Gingell for attending the meeting and was pleased that the toolkit which was a valuable resource for schools who were supporting children.

67.3    Councillor Nield said that the toolkit was an important document for all children at school not just for those who were transitioning.

67.4    Councillor McNair said that he was a member of SACRE and thanked officers for ensuring that they had had an opportunity to feedback on the possible changes to the toolkit.  He said that the document raised a number of issues including whether gender was socially constructed, some possible confusion between the words for ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ and the insistence that teachers use gender neutral language which he did struggle with. It was important that all Council documents were balanced and accurate, which he was sure this document would be and that they were inclusive of all children in their approach otherwise it could be undermined. He asked whether all members of different faith communities had responded to the consultation and asked if SACRE would have the opportunity to see the final document before it came back to this Committee. The Partnership Adviser Health & Wellbeing confirmed that there had been changes to the toolkit in response to the comments from the faith community, and she would send out the latest version to SACRE as requested.

67.5    Councillor Allcock said that the Toolkit was very good, and reviewing the document was helpful and gave an opportunity for debate on the issues covered. He was pleased to note that other local authorities now used this toolkit.

67.6    RESOLVED: That the Committee

(i)             Agreed that the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit is needed to support schools in supporting trans and gender exploring children and young people;

(ii)            Noted the progress in reviewing the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit V4 and agree that it is released for wider consultation;

(iii)          Agreed that a final version of the report is presented to June 2021 CYPS committee for sign off.

67A Council Nurseries Only Open to Critical Workers and Vulnerable Children

67.1    The recommndation in the report was agreed without discussion.

67.2    RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the use of officer urgency powers by the Interim Executive Director, Families, Children & Learning to agree that Council nurseries should only be open to critical worker and vulnerable children from 7 January 2021.