EXCLUSIVE: Kemi Badenoch demands inspection of school over 'cat' row

2023-06-22

EXCLUSIVE: Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch demands snap inspection over ‘pupil identifying as cat’ row

Two schoolgirls were reprimanded for challenging a classmate’s identity as a cat
Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch is calling for snap inspection of the school

Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch has called for inspectors to be sent in to the school at the centre of a row over pupils reportedly identifying as cats.

Mrs Badenoch tonight urged education watchdog Ofsted to take action over alleged ‘safeguarding issues’ at Rye College in East Sussex, and claimed a teacher who told two 13-year-old girls there are ‘lots of genders’ breached the legal requirement for political impartiality in classrooms.

She also alleged they broke the Equality Act by telling the Year 8 pupils they were ‘despicable’ for stating there are only two sexes.

Mrs Badenoch’s dramatic intervention will put further pressure on the school, which has only said it is ‘reviewing its processes’ after the incident came to light.

In the recording one of the girls says she asked a classmate ‘how can you identify as a cat’, which sparked claims that pupils around the country are wearing cat ears and tails in class – as well as claiming to be dinosaurs, horses and even the Moon.

Kemi Badenoch alleged that a schoolteacher broke the Equality Act by telling two Year 8 pupils they were ‘despicable’ for stating there are only two sexes.

But the minister’s strongly worded letter – seen by the Mail – also risks a fresh clash with Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, who has already asked the Department for Education’s regional director to visit Rye College to ensure guidelines are being followed.

READ MORE: CHILDREN IDENTIFYING AS CATS ARE WEARING ‘EARS AND TAILS TO SCHOOL’ SAYS BRITAIN’S TOUGHEST HEADTEACHER

The pair have differing views on transgender rights yet have been forced to work together on long-awaited guidance for head teachers on the contentious topic.

Mrs Badenoch has campaigned against shared gender-neutral toilets and is also currently considering far-reaching changes to equality law that would ban transgender women from female-only spaces. By contrast, Mrs Keegan said earlier this year that 16 was not too young for someone to legally change sex and has denied teachers are ‘indoctrinating’ young people in controversial ideologies.

In her letter to Ofsted Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman yesterday, Mrs Badenoch pointed out that officials have carried out snap inspections over bullying and fighting – but not ‘when gross misrepresentations of Equality Law, or of statutory safeguarding guidance, or of breaches of the impartiality duty, have been exposed’.

Mrs Badenoch’s intervention comes after Downing Street warned schools against imposing ‘woke’ views on children. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: ‘Teachers should not be teaching contested opinions as fact or shutting down valid discussions and debates.’

Rye College has said the teacher should have acted differently, by ‘ensuring that pupils’ views are listened to’.

Meanwhile a parent of one of the girls branded ‘despicable’ by the teacher defended the 13-year-old: ‘My daughter expressed a view many of her classmates and their parents would share yet she was shouted down and bullied by someone in authority.’

A college spokesman said it had updated the Department for Education on the events, adding: ‘We can confirm no children at Rye College identify as a cat or any other animal.’

Ofsted last night said it was ‘considering’ the letter and the possibility of a snap inspection.

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