Boys who question their gender can sleep in girls’ dorm and wear skirts at £15-a-year posh school
Prestigious Gordon's School in Woking, Surrey, will issue guidelines introducing the use of gender-neutral pronouns and toilets
A PRESTIGIOUS boarding school is set to allow boys to sleep in a girls' dorm if they question their gender identity.
Gordon's School in Woking, Surrey, will also allow pupils to be known by gender-neutral pronouns such as "zie", wear the uniform of the opposite sex, and use gender-neutral toilets.
The new guidelines, which are currently being drawn up, will also permit boys to grow their hair long and wear make-up.
Rob Pavis, deputy head of the private school, which costs £15,000-a-year to attend, said one male student had already chosen to be addressed by a girl's name, and was allowed to wear light make-up and a dress to prom.
Several other pupils at the school have explored their gender identity.
Speaking to the , Mr Pavis said: "Parents of pupils were surprised by how open-minded we have been. Most schools are having these issues."
Transgender pupils at the school, which has ten boarding houses, will be allowed to sleep in rooms previously allocated for the opposite sex if they wish.
The school, for which the Queen is a patron, said it is making the move after becoming "aware of students who would 'come out' after leaving the school" - and wanting them to feel safe to do so whenever they felt ready.
It comes after the UK's Boarding Schools' Association issued guidance advising transgender boys should be allowed to sleep in the girls' dormitory and vise versa.
Many schools nationwide are attempting to create a more welcoming environment for transgender pupils, as increasing numbers of children question their gender identity.
The number of under-18s referred to the Gender Identity Clinic in Tavistock, London, has risen from just 100 eight years ago, to over 2,000 this year.
Earlier this month we told how a teenage girl at Frensham Heights has been allowed to sleep in the boys' wing of the boarding school.
Andrew Fisher, head teacher of the school in Farnham, Surrey, said “Our boarding houses are co-educational, but boys and girls separate at night into single-sex wings.
“One of our students, however, has a single room in a boys’ boarding house wing this year.
"The other boys are aware this student is going through questioning their identity and are not frightened or intimidated by that.”
But some parents have been left questioning the move, with parents of students at Highgate, a coeducational London private day school, receiving a letter of apology after gender-neutral lavatories were introduced.
Headteacher Adam Pettitt admitted some pupils subsequently felt "less comfortable and happy at school".
