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Transgender students at boarding schools where fees cost up to £45,000-a-year are ‘being allowed to sleep in dorms of their preferred gender’ despite clashing with government guidelines

Transgender students at boarding schools where fees cost up to £45,000-a-year are 'being allowed to sleep in dorms of their preferred gender' despite clashing with government guidelines

Transgender students at boarding schools are being allowed to stay in dormitories that align with their preferred gender, it is claimed.

Fee-paying schools, some of which charge up to £45,000-a-year to allow students to stay overnight with them, have been telling trans pupils they might be able to stay in rooms that match their gender identity, the Telegraph reports.

It claims that policies by schools, including Taunton School in Somerset and Bedales in Hampshire, mean that a trans girl who was born male, could be allowed to sleep in a female dormitory and vice versa.

However, this clashes with government guidance that says trans children must sleep in dorms that match their biological sex.

The discovery has sparked concern among some Tory MPs, including Education Secretary Gillian Keegan who published the draft guidance last month.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan published draft guidance on trans pupils last month. Pictured: Ms Keegan at the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester in October

Taunton School (pictured) has a policy that allows trans students to ‘sleep in dorms appropriate to their gender identity’

Its equality, diversity and inclusion policy claims ‘as far as possible, transgender pupils and students should be able to sleep in dorms appropriate to their gender identity’. The Telegraph reports this policy is currently under review.

Bedales, in Hampshire, which charges up to £14,185 a term for full boarding students, also has a policy that appears to clash with government guidance.

A policy on its website says students who are boarding at the school should be allowed to stay in dormitories ‘according to the gender with which they identify’.

Another fee-paying school, Christ’s Hospital in West Sussex, has a policy of giving ‘careful consideration’ to requests from trans pupils to be housed in dormitories ‘different to their biological gender’.

However, a spokesperson for the school told the Telegraph: ‘Christ’s Hospital is respectful of students who may be questioning their gender, and balance this with our duty of care and safeguarding responsibilities.

‘No student who is questioning their gender is allowed to share sleeping or changing facilities with others of the opposite biological sex to them.

‘While, like all schools, we will be reviewing our policies following the recent publication of the Government’s draft guidance, nothing we do currently is outside that guidance.’

Bedales School (pictured) has a policy that says trans students should be allowed to stay in dormitories ‘according to the gender with which they identify’

The policies have sparked concern among top Tories as they appear to clash with government guidance which states ‘no child should be allowed to share a room with a child of the opposite sex’.

The draft guidance also says trans students who don’t wish to stay in a room with members of the same biological sex should only be allowed to do so after the school has taken its safeguarding obligations into account.

A source close to Ms Keegan telling the Telegraph: ‘Ministers have been clear that single-sex spaces must be protected and this has been reflected in the Government’s draft guidance on gender-questioning pupils, which is currently out for consultation.’

Miriam Cates, Conservative MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, told the paper that parents who ‘spend an awful lot of money’ sending their children to these schools would ‘probably be horrified at some of the gender ideology in these schools’.

MailOnline has contacted Taunton and Bedale schools for comment.

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