A new report will state the facilities at one school in the capital do not comply with regulations.
Toilets at schools under construction and in planning will also need to be modified where possible.(Image: Getty Images)
Toilets at several primary schools in Edinburgh will have to be renovated or modified, following two recent court rulings on gender.
A new report, due to be seen by councillors in the capital on Tuesday, September 2, will state that the toilet facilities at Maybury Primary School are now not in line with regulations.
Some other primary schools will now have to make their staff toilets open to pupils where gender-neutral toilets are not available.
However, most primary schools and all secondary schools in the Edinburgh City Council area are already compliant with rulings, reports Edinburgh Live.
The report added that work was in progress to ensure toilets at schools both under construction and in planning will be altered where possible in order to conform.
The Supreme Court ruling in April found that the Equality Act’s definition of a woman is based on biological sex. This had a far-reaching impact, including in education, where the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission released guidance on toilets in schools.
It says transgender women should not be able to access women’s toilets, and transgender men should not be able to access men’s toilets – and brought questions over allowing mixed facilities.
The second ruling, at the Court of Session in April, found that mixed-sex toilets were not permitted in Scots schools.
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In May, councillors requested a report from city officers on the effect the rulings would have on the capital’s schools.
At Maybury Primary, toilet provision “will be managed by the school management team” until a long-term solution is agreed on. At some other primary schools, locks will need to be put on external doors of sink areas to allow them to be used as gender-neutral toilets.
The report said adaptations will be made wherever “possible and necessary” at schools under construction, including Trinity Academy, Liberton High School and Wester Hailes High School.
It also found the majority of a document issued by the Scottish Government giving guidance for accommodating trans school pupils was still valid.
However, it said officers had identified toilets and changing rooms, physical education and residential school trips as areas where the guidance was not in line with the new interpretations of the law.