Glossary

A gap year is a 12 month rest from academic education or work. Its aim is so that an individual can pursue other things before embarking upon the next phase in their education or work.

This is the term used when one parent controls the other parents access to a child.

GCSE is short for the general certificate of secondary education. GCSE is a 2 year course which is studied in years 10 and 11. GCSE exams are taken at the end of year 11. A student will choose the subjects they would like to study in year 9. As of 2017 GCSEs are graded 1 – 9. A grade 4 is a standard pass in a subject A grade 5 is a strong pass in a subject.

GDPR is short for general data protection regulation. They are rules that make up the toughest privacy law across the European Union. The UK data protection act 2018 is the UK’s version of GDPR and implements GDPR rules. The data protection act 2018 superseded the 1995 UK data protection directive.

Gender based violence is abuse and violence perpetrated by one gender against another and encompasses rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and abuse. Under the sexual offences act 2003 sexual violence is a criminal offence.

A transgender child can suffer from great upset and stress caused by the fact their gender identity does not match their assigned gender identity. This can affect their mental state and all aspects of their well-being and life. The term used to describe this stress is gender dysphoria. A child can suffer from physical dysphoria where they are distressed about their physical appearance or social dysphoria where someone is using the wrong pronouns for them. Some transgender teenagers can suffer from depression, feel isolated, anxiety, self harm and have suicidal thoughts.

Gender identity is an individual’s internal feeling and belief that they are a male, female, neither or another gender. Gender identity is not the same as assigned gender

A gender pronoun set is a part of an individual’s gender expression and is specific to the individual you are talking about. Some examples are – he/him/his or they/them/theirs

Gender transition is the process whereby an individual will live as their gender identity and not as the gender they were assigned with. It is also known as the time period when gender reassignment occurs. Transition can happen with or without medical procedures and hormones. Any surgery that is part of gender transition and changes the body to align with an individual’s gender identity is referred to as gender affirming surgery (GAS), sex reassignment surgery (SRS) or gender confirming surgery (GCS)

With gestational surrogacy the surrogate mother has no genetic connection with the child. The sperm of a man fertilises the egg of a woman to form an embryo in a laboratory. This embryo is then implanted in the uterus of a surrogate woman so that the embryo can implant itself into the uterus wall and a pregnancy can start. This process is called in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The sperm and egg can be from the couple arranging the surrogacy or either sperm or egg can be from a donor if the couple are same sex for example.

According to the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC) a high ability child is a gifted individual who demonstrates outstanding levels of aptitude (defined as an exceptional ability to reason and learn) or competence (documented performance or achievement in top 10% or rarer) in one or more domains. Their ability is well above their peers and age group.

This test is used to determine the ability of a child to understand their own court case and are they mature enough to consent/agree. It examines how a child deals with the process of making a decision by their ability to understand and assess risks.

A female who looks after children in their home, who is also their teacher and nanny.

A grade boundary is the scores/marks where one grade finishes and another starts. If we use the example above the grade boundary between a grade A and B is 74 marks.

A grammar school is a type of state foundation school. They are free to attend. They are operated by a governing body but funded by the local authority. They choose their students with regards to their ability to pass 11+ examinations in year 6. The 11+ exams cover verbal and non-verbal reasoning, English and Maths. Grammar schools have a set pass mark and they will offer a place to any student who passes this mark. Other grammar schools called super-selective grammar schools will only take children who achieve the top 11+ marks. Applications for grammar schools are made via the local authority admissions scheme

An individual who is appointed by the court to look after a child and the interests of the child.

A guardian ad litem is a person chosen by the court to care for and look after the child’s interests, wishes and rights during care proceedings where social services have made an application for a care order or if adoption proceedings are contested.