Children as young as four were told Santa wasn’t real by a charity worker in a primary school assembly and pupils were told to demonstrate this by smashing chocolate figures with a hammer, parents have claimed.
The pupils crushed chocolate Santas and reindeers at Fleet Wood Lane School in an assembly taken by Emily Taylor, an official children’s worker from the Mary Bass Charity last Thursday.
Parents have told The Voice of the upset over their children’s experience at the assembly at the school, which does not have a religious denomination.
One mother whose youngest child at the school is four years old said: “My children said two children were asked to come to the front of the hall and smash chocolate Santas and reindeers with hammers to symbolise they were not what Christmas was all about.
“They were encouraged to do this by the offer that they could take the chocolate home afterwards and were also told that if they didn’t believe in God and Jesus they would go to Hell.
“Many of the children took that to mean that Santa was not real.
“My children were quite upset and we had to reassure them that he was and they would still be getting presents this year.”
The parent continued: “We have also found out this women [the representative of the charity] has been coming into school on a regular basis.
“One of my children has been suffering from anxiety and having dug deeper it appears this woman has been drip-feeding the children extremist views for a while and my child is scared of the demons she has been talking about coming to get him because he believes he has sinned.
“He is terrified he is going to Hell.”
Posts were also made on the Fleet Wood Lane School Parents forum on Facebook where parents shared the reactions of their children, including many saying their youngsters had said they no longer believed in Santa.
The forum members shared online links to Santa videos and letters to help the youngsters.
The furore comes as the school is due to have a long planned Santa’s Grotto in school today (Thursday).
Head teacher Mrs Rachael Cotton said in a statement: “I have written to parents stating that some of the
presentation by the Mary Bass Charity in a school assembly was inappropriate and assured them that we will
not be using representatives from this charity again.
“We have apologised to parents and children and totally sympathise with their concerns.
“The health and safety of our pupils and appropriate teaching and learning are a priority at this school and we will continue to provide them with good quality education to ensure they flourish and thrive.”
The letter states that school’s senior leadership team and the chair of governors met with a
representative of St Mary Magdalene to “discuss our shared concerns”.
It continues: “As a school we would like to personally assure you that we will no longer be allowing representatives from the Mary Bass Charity in to school to support our delivery of assemblies or the religious curriculum.
“We are grateful for the strong and positive links we have with St Mary Magdalene and we thank them for their support in dealing swiftly and effectively with this matter.
“I have spoken to the children today to help them understand the theme of the assembly in an appropriate way and apologised for how some of it was delivered.
“We discussed our core values of respect and tolerance and how parts of the assembly did not uphold those beliefs.”
The school was praised in its last Ofsted report, published in January.
“Expectations for positive learning behaviours are clearly defined . . . which emphasise respect, tolerance and well-being,” it said.
The Mary Bass Charity describes its aim as “to further the religious and other charitable work of the Church Of England” in seven parishes in South Holland.
A spokesman for the charity said: “The Trustees will be meeting before Christmas to discuss the situation.”
Mrs Cotton said of Santa’s visit to Fleet Wood Lane School on Thursday: “The children are really looking forward to meeting Santa in his grotto organised by our wonderfully supportive PTA.
“We have so many exciting plans to make Christmas magical for the children this year as we do every year.”
