Mum hits out at primary school for teaching pupils about LGBT topics without permission
A mother has slammed her son’s primary school for teaching children about LGBT people without asking the parents first.
The mother, who wished to remain anonymous, criticised the Heavers Farm Primary School in Croydon, south London for teaching pupils about LGBT topics without asking parents first.
She told the Metro that she was “shocked” to discover her son had learned what the words lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender meant at school.
Pupils learned about the LGBT acronym (Creative Commons)
According to the mother, pupils had not had their sex and relationships education (SRE) which is more explicit and requires parental consent, making it was too soon to teach the children about LGBT issues.
She said: “My Year 4 son is just far too young to be learning about all of this. He came home the other day talking about lesbians and transgender people and I was so shocked.
“They haven’t even started sexual education classes yet, but they’re being taught all about LGBT.”
The unnamed mother added: “I’m all for diversity and for children to learn about it, but not in Year 4 when they are incredibly immature.”
In the UK, Year 4 children are usually between the ages of 8 and 9.
The pupils had lessons about several social issues (Creative Commons)
The school’s headteacher has defended the move as part of a wider curriculum on social issues.
According to headteacher Susan Papas, pupils at Heavers Farm Primary School learn about a variety of social issues including Black History Month and learning about the suffragettes.
Papas added that the lessons had taken place as part of a Pride month celebration the school was holding.
The mother said eight and nine years old was too young (Creative Commons)
Papas said: “We have a number of children in LGBT families, and we feel that it is important that they feel valued in our schools. This work forms a key part of our federation’s vision and values.
“We are planning a ‘pride parade’ on June 29, 2018, to which parents have been invited. This is planned to be a celebration of what makes the children proud.
“This can be what makes them proud about themselves and or what makes them and their families special. The children have been making banners to represent this and they will carry these banners on the parade.”
The headteacher defended the decision (Creative Commons)
In 2016, a primary school in Lancashire was criticised by education regulatory body Ofsted because the pupils did not have “a good enough understanding” of homophobia and LGBT relationships.
The school was marked ‘good’ in all other areas, but Ofsted inspectors reported: “Pupils have some awareness of different types of families and relationships, but their understanding of this type of diversity is weak compared to other aspects.
“Pupils know that homophobic behaviour, such as name-calling, is wrong.
“However, their understanding of why it is wrong, and the impact it can have on people’s lives and mental health, is much weaker than for other prejudiced behaviours, such as those relating to race, physical appearance, special needs or disability.
“Consequently, the well-being of pupils who might, for whatever reason, be on the receiving end of homophobic comments, is more vulnerable than it should be.”
