Schools in England will be required to stop transgender pupils from using toilets and changing rooms that do not match their “biological sex” from September, under new statutory safeguarding guidance.

The updated Keeping Children Safe In Education (KCSIE) guidance, published by the Department for Education, comes into force on 1 September.

It states that schools must not allow pupils to use toilets designated for the opposite biological sex from the age of eight, or changing rooms from the age of 11, “with no exceptions”, even where a pupil has made a request to socially transition. Overnight accommodation on school trips must also remain single-sex.

Where a pupil does not want to use facilities matching their birth sex, schools are told to “consider” whether they can offer an alternative, such as a self-contained toilet that locks from the inside, but only if this does not compromise single-sex provision.

The guidance also sets out detailed expectations around social transition.

Schools are told they must not initiate any such change, and should act only in response to a request from a pupil or parent, with a formal decision made together with parents.

It says “a decision relating to social transition may not be the same as a child’s wishes”, allowing schools and parents to decide against what a child wants. Parents must be informed of any request in almost all cases, unless doing so would pose a “greater risk to the child”.

Schools are also expected to revisit existing arrangements, including for children who transitioned before the guidance was published, and to keep detailed records of all such conversations.