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24th February 2026
05:02pm GMT

Primary schools shouldn't 'come down too hard' on students who are questioning their gender, says the Education Secretary.
Bridget Phillipson was appearing on LBC's Call the Cabinet, when she was asked about allowing young boys wearing dresses to school or going by feminine names.
Phillipson said that schools should take a 'watchful approach' and work alongside parents, but that they should allow “children just to consider who they are to behave in ways that might not be aligned with their sex or their gender.”
She added: “So if a boy wants to wear dresses, we should just, if we allow that to work, children will experiment at different points, they will consider who they are.
“Taking a watchful approach, not coming down too hard on that actually reduces what we see in terms of children moving towards a more medicalised model.”