Transgender Guidance in Schools

15548

25/08/2021

FOI

I would like to request the following under FOI legislation: 1a) Do your schools have a policy for provision of toilet and changing room facilities for transgender pupils?1b)If so, please provide details of this policy.
2) How many of your schools currently have gender neutral toilet facilities? Please provide the number of schools with gender neutral facilities, and the total number of schools in your area.

3a)Has your education department been made aware of any transgender-related bullying incidents recorded by your schools in the last 3 years (August 2018- 2021)?

3b)If so, how many incidents?

3c)Of these incidents, how many have been reported to police?
4) What advice has the council provided to schools on supporting transgender pupils in general? Please provide a copy of the latest advice/guidance, if any has been issued to head teachers/schools in your area by the council.

5)What discussions has the local authority had regarding the Scottish Government's transgender guidance, issued on August 12?

1a) The Council doesn’t currently have a policy for provision of toilet and changing room facilities for transgender pupils. However schools have worked with young people to ensure all the necessary adjustments are in place if required.
1b) None

2a) 15 schools currently have gender neutral toilet facilities. An additional 5 schools have gender neutral toilet facilities in the Early Learning Centres.
2b) 61 Primary Schools and 9 Secondary Schools.

3a) Yes. They are recorded on the Bullying and Equalities Module within SEEMIS.
3b)From August 2018- August 2021 15 cases were recorded however the system records it as Gender Identity or Trans Identity, there is no way of separating this figure out, therefore we refer to S17 of FOI(S)A 2002 and declare that the information is not held.
3c) Scottish Borders does not hold the information requested, therefore we refer to S17 of FOI(S)A 2002 and declare that the information is not held.

4. Scottish Borders work with the guidance issued from Education Scotland. We currently employ LBGT Youth Scotland to support schools within the authority.
5. As yet we have not had any formal discussions with Head Teachers about the guidance.

Transgender Guidance in Schools - Freedom of information requests