DfE (Department for Education)
-
Guidance released on “gender-questioning” children
The government has published an updated draft version of Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE). This is a regular...
12th February 2026
-
Schools model policy – editable
UPDATED FOR 2025: Our whole-school model policy on sex-based rules and record-keeping, formatted as a Word document for schools...
26th August 2025
-
Model policy for schools: updated
Sex Matters’ model policy for schools has now been updated following the Supreme Court’s judgment in For Women Scotland....
29th July 2025
-
What about pronouns at school?
Sex Matters has published a model policy for schools to help them communicate clear expectations to staff, pupils and...
6th September 2024
-
New safeguarding guidance for schools in England starts to close loopholes
The Department for Education has finalised its statutory safeguarding guidance, Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE), closing a loophole...
3rd September 2024
-
A model policy that protects all children’s wellbeing
Teachers and pupils in England are going back to school this week, and are still lacking finalised guidance or...
2nd September 2024
-
Draft Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health education
The Department for Education’s statutory guidance for governing bodies, proprietors, head teachers, principals, senior leadership teams, teachers. Draft guidance...
-
Response to Department for Education consultation on national minimum standards for further education residential accommodation
Covering academies, further education colleges and sixth-form colleges, this aims to align the standards with the position on residential...
4th April 2024
-
Has the EHRC forgotten about children and safeguarding?
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published its response to the Department for Education’s draft guidance for schools...
21st March 2024
-
What does the law say about “gender-questioning children” in schools?
An analysis of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s response to the Department for Education’s draft guidance for...
21st March 2024
-
Response to Department for Education draft guidance for schools on gender-questioning children
Our final response (after our draft response) to the DfE's draft guidance for consultation, published in December...
14th March 2024
-
Responding to the schools guidance consultation
The Department for Education published draft guidance for schools in England on gender-questioning children for consultation at the end...
1st February 2024
-
Draft response to Department for Education consultation on guidance for schools on gender-questioning children
Draft version for feedback – read the DfE draft guidance for consultation.
1st February 2024
-
Lobby groups tell schools to ignore DfE guidance
The Department for Education’s guidance on gender-questioning children was published in December – but many schools are getting materials...
31st January 2024
-
Mermaids’ letter shows what the DfE needs to do to make its guidance work for schools
In December 2023, the Department for Education released draft guidance on gender-questioning children for schools and colleges in England....
26th January 2024
-
The DfE’s schools guidance – the report card
New draft guidance for schools in England has been published by the Department for Education this morning. In January...
19th December 2023
-
Gender Questioning Children: Non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges in England
The Department for Education's draft guidance for consultation from 16th May to 11th July 2024.
-
Statement on the UK government’s new guidance on sex and gender in schools
Maya Forstater of Sex Matters
19th December 2023
-
EHRC to correct inaccurate schools guidance
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has written to us to confirm that it is undertaking a rapid review...
17th September 2023
-
Schools are in danger of breaking the law on sex and gender
The Department for Education’s new guidance for schools needs to be produced soon, and it needs to be aligned...
4th September 2023
-
Keeping children safe as girls and boys in education
The first review of the UK's legal framework on sex and gender in education shows that thousands of schools...
4th September 2023
-
Getting to good schools guidance
The Secretary of State for Education is due to release guidance for schools in relation to “gender-questioning” children (who...
30th August 2023
-
Why is the government getting in such a mess over the schools guidance?
It has been reported that Rishi Sunak is planning to delay issuing trans guidance for schools after the Attorney...
19th July 2023
-
Schools guidance: the Education Secretary must act
The end of term is getting near, and Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan has still not handed...
14th July 2023
-
Letter to the Prime Minister, 12th July 2023
We wrote to the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to ask him to fix the problems created by unscientific and...
12th July 2023
-
Why DfE dithering is to blame for the trans cat-fight
Helen Joyce for SchoolsWeek
Cat-identifying children are a distraction from the fact that schools have been left to teach fiction... -
Trans guidance for schools goes round in circles
The long-awaited guidance from the Department for Education on how schools should respond to children with gender issues in...
5th July 2023
-
Why social transition in schools is not possible and government guidance should say so clearly
It is not possible to treat any child as if they are a member of the opposite sex in...
23rd May 2023
-
Schools need clear guidance
The Department for Education has promised to publish new draft guidance on sex and gender for schools and colleges...
21st May 2023
-
What guidance from the Department for Education needs to say
As a survey commissioned by Sex Matters and carried out by YouGov last year showed, there has been a...
13th January 2023
-
Don’t water down the schools guidance – a plea from a 14-year-old girl
“Cynthia”, 14, writes… I recently read in The Times that Ministers were seeking a “compromise” concerning the Department for...
19th October 2022