Ofsted says lessons on LGBTQ rights and homophobia at Birmingham school are ‘age-appropriate’
Parkfield Community School was thrust into the national spotlight after hundreds of parents protested the inclusive lessons
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Ofsted has said lessons about LGBTQ rights and homophobia at Parkfield Community School in Birmingham are ‘age-appropriate’.
The school has been thrust into the national spotlight in recent weeks after hundreds of parents began protesting against age-appropriate discussion of LGBT people as part of the Muslim-majority school’s ‘No Outsiders’ diversity programme.
Last week, a video was posted on Twitter showing a group of adults and children assembled outside the school in front of a banner mounted to the back of a van reading ‘Our Children, Our Choice – Stop! ‘No Outsiders’.
The footage published by Salman Anwar shows a man leading the crowd in a chant of ‘Shame’ at Mr Moffat, who is gay and helped set up the diversity programme in 2014 to teach children about issues like race, disability, gender and same-sex families.
However, education watchdog Ofsted have said in a new report that lessons teaching about LGBTQ issues are ‘age-appropriate’ despite what parent’s say, the BBC reported.
Senior inspector Peter Humphries said in the report: “A very small, but vocal, minority of parents are not clear about the school’s vision, policies and practice.
“This group of parents feel that staff do not sufficiently listen to their concerns.
“Their view is that PSHE education and equalities curriculum focuses disproportionately on LGBT issues and that this work is not taught in an age-appropriate manner.
“Inspectors found no evidence this was the case.”
Parkfield Community School announced that the ‘No Outsiders’ lessons had stopped until after Easter but insisted this was always part of their planned timetable.