Backlash over pro-trans teacher who scolded Year 8 pupil simply for questioning classmate’s claim ‘she’s a cat’: Campaigners demand probe into under-fire school as parent of girl who was told off thanks supporters
- The 13-year-old pupil said she was made to stay after the class at Rye College
- Teacher is heard in secret recording criticising girl’s ‘very sad’ view on gender
The parent of the Year 8 pupil who recorded her teacher scolding her for rejecting a classmate’s claim that she identified as a cat has thanked ‘those who have been kind and supportive’ to her daughter.
The 13-year-old pupil said she was made to stay after the class on ‘life education’ by the teacher at Rye College in East Sussex, who branded her ‘despicable’.
The teacher at the Church of England school – who is now facing a huge backlash – can be heard in a secret recording calling her view that gender is binary ‘really despicable’ and ‘very sad’.
In the three-and-half-minute recording, the angry teacher is heard speaking to two girls and says they would report the children to a senior colleague, and they needed a ‘proper educational conversation about equality, diversity and inclusion’.
Now, the girl’s parent has expressed fury online and thanked ‘those who have been kind and supportive’ to her daughter, according to the Daily Telegraph, which added that the row had ‘infuriated’ parents.
And Rye College has been bombarded by thousands of angry social media messages after the recording went viral.
The pupil said she was made to stay after the class at Rye College in East Sussex (file image)
One parent of another Year 8 pupil at the school who has received the same lesson also told the newspaper: ‘I understand the point the teacher was attempting to make, what bothers me is the shutting down of debate in such a threatening and aggressive manner, which I don’t believe is appropriate in an educational setting.
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‘Regardless of the subject, education should serve to build awareness of differing points of view to widen the understanding of a subject. It shouldn’t be a case of indoctrination.’
It is understood the girls will not be punished and the school regards the matter as closed.
But the incident has led to claims from campaigners that students are now having to record conversations with teachers to ‘protect themselves’.
The Christian Concern campaign group has now called for an investigation.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the organisation, told MailOnline today: ‘Teachers who raise Christian and conservative views at school, or who raise real safeguarding concerns about gender transitioning children, are being sacked and banned from the profession indefinitely.
‘Will the Teaching Regulation Agency take similar action if a complaint about this teacher and the expression of their beliefs is referred to them?
‘Thousands of children in primary and secondary schools are being forced to absorb extreme LGBT ideology without their parents’ knowledge.
‘Students are having to resort to recording what is being imposed on them in the classroom to protect themselves and expose to their parents and wider world what is happening.
‘We will stand with any pupil and family who find themselves on the receiving end of such brazen viewpoint discrimination in the classroom.’
She added: ‘For the sake of our children it is vital that Ofsted and the Church of England carry out a proper investigation as to how this school teaches and handles gender identity matters.’
And Toby Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, told MailOnline: ‘The teacher’s dismissal of the pupil’s views as ‘despicable’, reporting her to a senior colleague and telling her that if she continued to hold those views she should go to another school is disgraceful.
‘This girl was expressing an opinion held by the vast majority of British people and if the teacher believes that opinion is wrong (they) should have tried to persuade her of that using reason and evidence, all the while allowing for the fact that there is room for reasonable people to disagree about the issue.’
Rye College has been bombarded by angry social media messages, including those above
He said the teacher ‘should not have attempted to frighten a 13 year-old child with a series of menacing threats unless she fell into line’, adding: ‘That’s the kind of behaviour you’d expect in a Communist Party re-education camp in China, not a Church of England school in Sussex.
‘In this country, we expect schools to teach children how to think, not what to think.’
Mr Young also quoted section 407 of the Education Act 1996, which states schools have a duty to present children with a balance of opposing views when discussing politically contentious issues.
MailOnline has chosen not to name the teacher, and the recording published today uses disguised voices to avoid identifying those in the conversation.
READ MORE Children must not be allowed to switch identities in schools without telling their parents, Rishi Sunak says
The recording begins with the teacher asking one of the pupils: ‘How dare you? You just really upset someone, saying things like [you] should be in an asylum.’
One of the girls responds: ‘I didn’t say that, I just said if they want to identify as a cow or something, then they are genuinely unwell, and they’re crazy.’
‘You were questioning their identity,’ the teacher replies. ‘Where did you get this idea from that there’s only two genders?’
‘I just said my opinion,’ the pupil replies. ‘If I respect their opinion, can’t they respect mine?’
The teacher goes on to say it is ‘not an opinion’ and ‘gender is not linked to the parts that you were born with, gender is about how you identify, which is what I said right from the very beginning of the lesson’.
The teacher continues, adding that ‘there are actually three biological sexes because you can be born with male and female body parts or hormones’.
The teacher also says ‘in terms of gender, there are lots of genders – there is transgender, there is agender – people that don’t believe they have a gender at all’.
The girls say that you ‘can’t have that’. Then the teacher says: ‘What do you mean you can’t have it? It’s not a law.’
But one of the girls says: ‘If you have a vagina you’re a girl and if you have a penis you’re a boy – that’s it’.
The teacher then says: ‘Cisgender is not necessarily the way to be. You were talking about the fact that cisgender is the norm, that you identify with the gender of the sexual organ you were born with, or you’re weird, that’s basically what you’re saying, which is really despicable.’
The teacher then links the girls’ gender-critical attitude with ‘homophobia’ – but the girls deny this, with one saying: ‘I’m fine with lesbians and gay people – I’ve got nothing against them.’
Rye College is a member of the Aquinas Trust, which boasts that one of its key values is ‘promoting equality, celebrating diversity, and addressing disadvantage’
The teacher says that ‘if you don’t like it you need to go to a different school’, adding: ‘I’m reporting you to [another member of staff]. You need to have a proper educational conversation about equality, diversity and inclusion because I’m not having that expressed in my lesson.’
READ MORE ‘Schools shouldn’t tell parents if their children come out as trans as it’s a safeguarding risk’, Chief Rabbi says
The girl defends herself by saying she was respectful, but admits she felt compelled to ask her classmate ‘how can you identify as a cat, when you are girl?’
The teacher does not refer to anyone identifying as a cat in their remarks on the recording.
A spokesman for Rye College admitted to the Mail that the teacher should have acted differently, by ‘ensuring that pupils’ views are listened to’ and ‘encouraging them to ask questions and engage in discussion’ – instead of angrily shutting down debate on a controversial issue.
The spokesman said they would make sure ‘such events do not take place in the future’.
It is a member of the Aquinas Trust, which boasts that one of its key values is ‘promoting equality, celebrating diversity, and addressing disadvantage’.
The trust’s equality lead, Barry Blakelock, is also executive head at Rye College.
His official bio reads: ‘Barry believes the best education is an inclusive education – where the diversity of the real world is reflected in every classroom to the benefit of all learners.’
The trust has already been in the headlines this year over its strongly woke standpoint.
Only in February, it was criticised for setting out its plans to ‘re-educate’ children who make non-PC comments in the playground.
Rye College is a member of the Aquinas Trust, named after noted medieval philosopher and theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas (pictured)
The trust, named after noted medieval philosopher and theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas, set out its move to challenge ‘negative language and actions’ in its Equality, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion policy, by advocating staff ‘challenge negative language and actions, re-educating and using sanctions where appropriate’.
The trust runs ten primary schools in Bromley, Chislehurst and Penge in south-east London, Keston and Westerham in Kent, and Rye, as well as Rye College itself.
A spokesman for Rye College said they would make sure ‘such events do not take place in the future’.
He said: ‘We are committed to offering our pupils an inclusive education. Teachers endeavour to ensure that pupils’ views are listened to, and encourage them to ask questions and engage in discussion. Teachers also aim to answer questions sensitively and honestly.
‘We strive to uphold the highest standards across the school. We will be reviewing our processes and working with the relevant individuals to ensure such events do not take place in the future.’
MailOnline has contacted Ofsted to establish whether any investigation will take place.
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