The Not Safe To Be Me Report highlights the urgent need to protect trans children
BY NIC CROSARA, IMAGE BY CANVA
While it has never been easy to exist as a transgender or gender diverse individual in the UK, in recent years it has become even more challenging. The exhausting debates about and attacks on trans rights have had a detrimental impact on trans safety and wellbeing in this country. All too often, trans children are left out of the conversation entirely. A vital new report published by Pride in Education in partnership with Cool2BTrans conveys the realities of what it’s like to be a transgender pupil today, and highlights the urgent need to protect them.
In September 2026, Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2026 came into effect, bringing in guidance on what it calls “gender questioning children”. Campaigners have criticised this term for treating trans children’s identities as uncertain or as a phase to be questioned, rather than recognising who they are. As the report finds, the guidance has done the opposite of keeping trans students safe.
The Not Safe To Be Me report was born when campaigner and Cool2BTrans founder Katie Neeves posted a video titled, Trans Kids Are No Longer Safe In UK Schools, highlighting the story of *Abbie, a 13-year-old trans girl whose education was terribly impacted by the guidance. Abbie’s parents have shared that Abbie used the girls’ facilities, with her headteacher’s permission, for two years. After the guidance was introduced, she had to change alone in the disabled toilet; rumours spread, her peers worked out that she was trans, and she was bullied. Her parents had to pull her out of the school, and she is now home educated. Abbie is sadly not an anomaly. The video, which now has over 74,000 views across platforms, has received responses from trans students across the country who shared their similar experiences.
In July, Pride in Education founder Laïla El‑Métoui – who taught under Section 28 – wrote about Abbie’s story in DIVA and warned that KCSIE 2026 risked becoming a “Section 28 2.0” for trans pupils.
Katie has stated: “Reading the comments that followed was heartbreaking. Young person after young person described being outed, shut out of toilets, bullied and pushed out of school, and many told me they are already too frightened to be themselves. This is not a future risk. It is happening now, in classrooms across the country, and every week this Labour government leaves the guidance in place, more children are harmed.”
The key findings
- Students reported deliberately not drinking during the school day to avoid having to use the toilets. Pupils described gender neutral toilets being removed and staff standing outside toilets.
- Trans children with transphobic parents said they can no longer confide in teachers, fearing being outed, and some have already been outed.
- Supportive parents have had to transition their child to online learning or home education. Others have experienced long absences.
- Many are now too scared to come out at all, with several describing suicidal crises.
- Teachers, including trans staff, say they have been made to sign up to guidance which they believe conflicts with their safeguarding duty.
- Several trans students reported that their classmates did not care about trans inclusion until an adult made a big issue out of exclusion under the guise of safeguarding.
The findings from Not Safe To Be Me reflect a consistent, documented pattern also evidenced in Pride in Education’s Inclusion or Restriction? report, which found that 100% of the trans and non-binary young people in its focus group had experienced bullying and unequal treatment at school, and 70% felt their teachers were not equipped to support them.
Inclusion or Restriction? grew out of Pride in Education’s open letter of July 2025, signed by over 5,000 people, including nearly 1,000 education professionals. The report was delivered to the Minister for Equalities in February 2026. Since 2020, Pride in Education has delivered 152 free webinars to over 5,000 educators.
Laïla said: “None of this was inevitable. Abbie’s story reflects six years of cumulative hostility, from the withdrawal of funding for tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in 2020 to the RSHE and KCSIE guidance now in force. Pride in Education began campaigning against the RSHE and KCSIE guidance in the summer of 2025, warning ministers that treating trans pupils’ existence as a matter of debate would make schools less safe. The voices in this report echo those warnings. This harm was preventable, and it is still not too late to put it right.”
Pride in Education recently published a helpful resource for those working in education who want to do more to reduce harm in light of KCSIE. It is titled Navigating the Guidance: Supporting Trans and Gender Diverse Pupils in Secondary Schools. The guide gives teachers practical steps which they can take now. It was produced with Redbridge Rainbow Community and was written by education practitioners. It opens with a critical perspective from Dr Natacha Kennedy of Goldsmiths, University of London, and includes a self-review checklist for leaders and a quick reference card for staff. The guide grew out of discussions at the Leading the Way Conference: Supporting Trans and Gender Diverse Learners in Secondary Schools, held at Woodbridge High School in the London Borough of Redbridge on Monday 19 October 2026.
Both Cool2BTrans and Pride in Education are calling on the government to act, and centre trans+ lives in their statutory framework updates next year.
What can you do to help?
- Inform yourself and read the report, which you can download at cool2btrans.co.uk/not-safe-to-be-me.
- Read Pride in Education’s guidance for supporting trans and gender diverse pupils.
- Download Pride in Education’s free Trans+ Inclusion e-book, A Practical Guide for UK Educators, written with trans, non-binary and intersex practitioners and parents. It shows how trans+ lives can still be embedded within curriculum subjects.
- Write to your MP and urge them to protect trans students.
- Support Pride in Education and Cool2BTrans. You can follow them on Instagram at @pridein_education and @cool2btrans, respectively.
- Pride in Education is entirely volunteer-run with no core funding. You can find their resources, newsletter and more at prideineducation.co.uk.
*Name changed to protect anonymity
If you are a trans person in a mental health crisis, you can call Switchboard’s free helpline: 0800 0119 100. You can also reach Samaritans (116 123), which is free and available day and night.
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