Parents at a Croydon primary school called for the headteacher to resign on 4 July after a ‘Proud to be me’ Pride parade was organised as part of the school curriculum in June, which parents planned to protest.
The parade was part of a series of events celebrating Pride Month which included children thinking about things of which they were proud, including what made their families special. Children were encouraged to wear ‘bright clothes’ to school for the event. Lessons on LGBT issues had been included in the teaching series.
Ruth Anderson, a parent at the school said: ‘We were given this whole story that it was all about having pride in yourself, but that’s ridiculous. There were rainbow flags around the school, and the kids were even told to wear bright colours. That’s not having pride in yourself, that is blatant support for LGBT. I am not homophobic, but my faith teaches me a certain set of beliefs, and I do not want my child’s school making her choices for her.’
No consent needed
Susan Papa, Heaver Farm’s headteacher, said the Pride Month celebration was running to promote ‘fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs’. ‘We are not teaching this as part of our Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) programme, and as such we do not need to seek consent from the parents.’
The parent who led the complaints called on the primary school to stop teaching pupils LGBT lessons without first asking parental permission. She said she found it astonishing that pupils would be taught what lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender mean before the children had been given general sex education lessons.
Parents withdraw children
Parents had originally been invited to the parade which was attended by their local openly gay MP Steve Reed, but due to the threat of protest, the school switched the timing of the event, told the parents by text of the cancellation and invited them to the classrooms in the afternoon to see the work the children had been doing.
According to reports, many parents withdrew their children from the school for the day. The headteacher admitted that she knew Muslim families would find the event difficult.
