To think that a RECEPTION teacher shouldn't have said this ???

[AutumnalPumpkin]

My daughter goes to a catholic school (it was the only school available to us) we are not a religious family, but it does not bother me that she is being immersed in religion. After all, she will only make her own mind up later in life anyway. But this is relevant.
They use god in almost every part of the day, and in all aspects of learning.
As those who are not religious will know, we and a lot of others view god as "made up" or a myth, if you will.
Now this brings me to where I have a problem - her reception teacher has picked up on some of the class talking about unicorns. A typical 4/5 year old thing... and has proceeded to tell them that Unicorns, fairies and dragons etc are all made up, and do not exist.
This is absolute insanity to me!!? They are 4/5 and all have wonderful vivid imaginations.
We regularly take my daughter to "the fairy forest" and she immerses herself into it and tries to find clues to where the fairies could be hiding, and loves to think that at nighttime all of the magical creatures come out to play.
She's now come home saying that it's all untrue and they are made up.
I'm actually really upset about this.
How can you push the belief of god, and they go all out for Santa etc. but actively shut down the belief of magical creatures ??

Sorry but as a Catholic I’m a bit irritated that you put anything about religion in this at all, it was totally unnecessary. Terrible she’d say that to kids that age, they totally should be left to it at that age but it’s got nothing to do with religion or God!!!

I'm beginning to think literacy is as non-existent as a unicorn too, given the fact that you haven't actually read what you're replying to, which anticipated and addressed your superficial one-liner reply.

🤣🤣🤣
Do you actually believe that “Irish people” believe in leprechauns?! As in really think they exist, not just enjoy a small part of our culture? We’re not thick, thanks 🤣

As much as I left the Catholic Church even I’m a bit offended by it and the comments, that catholics, are running round due to their religion telling kids unicorns are not real. It’s utter nonsense, and totally ignorant, it could have been any religion in the op that believes in a god. Telling kids unicorns aren’t real is nothing to do with any religion, catholic or otherwise.

This really isn’t a Catholic thing.
This is one teacher pointing out a fact.
Im sure that same teacher will be reading make believe stories to the kids in school too.
To those who have commented about Santa clause. He’s StNicholas, so believed by Catholics although the whole coming down the chimney stuff isn’t.

The tooth fairy isn’t a religious thing ( correct me if I’m wrong MNs ) but our Catholic schools have special envelopes to put fallen teeth into so the kids can go home and put them under the pillow. So schools are quite happy to play along with the fantasy.
This teacher has made a one off comment, which is correct.
No ones stopping you correcting her if you want.

Why insult me? Why assume I haven’t read what I replied to? Yes people have a right to believe what they believe in. Why can someone believe in god and not unicorns? Is it because one is an acceptable belief and one is not? I’m sorry my superficial one liner offended you but it is an entirely accurate one liner. 🤷

Teacher here. I’d say the majority of kids - and I mean that age - will know they are mythical and correct the teacher if she/he said otherwise.

I’ve also taught in Catholic schools and was brought up Catholic. I’m an atheist since an adult but I’d say that if you draw tenuous parallels between a young child’s belief in unicorns with an adult’s belief in God then a faith school isn’t for your family. We will be avoiding faith schools as they aren’t for us, despite them being the best by far in our area. I’d hate to take a space in an oversubscribed school when a child who is being brought up in a religious household could miss out.

It's not. There are extremely strict Catholics out there, and you met one. They're a tiny minority. One of the Protestant arguments against Catholicism was that it was far too tolerant of what they viewed as magic/superstition/pagan leftovers.

i disagree with the poster who said not to complain. Pleeeeease do, in fact, go to formal complaint that your child’s faith in unicorns has been undermined. And come back to tell everyone how you get on. Teaching is a tough profession, teachers deserve a bit of a laugh occasionally. And you’ll become the stuff of staffroom legend, following in the hoof prints of those elusive unicorns themselves! (Sorry to be snide but really? When teachers have so much on their plates?)

I too don't think it's a Catholic thing as such, it's just one teacher taking things a little far. Both mine went to a Catholic school, not through choice, we're not religious - but the 3 local primaries were full at both intakes.

We've had some teachers who really are full on with the religion. Some, not so. We've had some who wouldn't entertain any magic of Christmas, such as Elf on the Shelf, some who have even come in dressed as an elf. The one thing that has never happened however is Halloween, but that doesn't mean you cannot carry on your own traditions at home. Just be prepared for them to be a little sad when all their friends are having Halloween discos at school and they're not. We still did the whole trick or treat thing when they got home.

Even though it was a 3-18 school, I pulled both of mine at secondary stage as I didn't feel they were "rounded" kids. They had no interaction with children of other race or religion. Other faiths, whilst taught, is very brief. I just felt that as we live in a multi-cultural society, I wanted my children to mingle a little more and be exposed to the "real world", so to speak.

The eduction they received however in primary was very good, I have no regrets that they went there.

This is extreme, even for a catholic school. Be sure to tell your DD that God doesn’t exist too.

We will still do the tooth under pillow thing as a kind of cultural tradition but I will say “some people believe in fairies but most people don’t.”

I remember being told there was no such thing as Father Christmas and learning about death. Both are memorable as they knocked me for six as a child. We plan to tell our little one about Santa but we intend to say he brought a small amount of gifts while we/family bought the rest. It’s a tricky one, I think…

It's not true that all Catholic primary schools destroy the magic. In fact some go on Christmas class trips and learn how to be elves and look for fairy doors, print out unicorn and dragon pictures to colour in and thoroughly enjoy and encourage children's imagination and magic alongside the religion. The only thing they really don't do it celebrate Halloween.
Obviously every school is different but in reception you're supposed to actively encourage a child's imagination and roleplay and Catholic schools have to be tolerant, accepting and teach about other religions and beliefs, too.
I think you're well within your rights to be upset and if I were you I'd complain. It's one thing if another child tells your kid that the tooth fairy doesn't exist, but there's no way it's acceptable for a teacher to do that.
I'm sure you can get the magic back for your little one...I remember one year my son had been told by a friend with older brothers that Santa wasn't real...didn't take long for us to get him back into the magic! Good luck x

Don't be absurd!

I have quite a lot of experience around Catholic school leadership (secondary not primary) and there is no rule book for this one, save for the fact that children deserve to be treated with respect and with love. It may be that the comment unnecessarily crushed a small child’s fantasy (and that makes me uneasy about it), but equally, Catholic schools take our faith seriously, and belief in unicorns or fairies is not an article of faith!

From scrolling perhaps rather too rapidly through your thread, it doesn’t seem as though your school is a typical Catholic school, but maybe I’ve missed something. I wouldn’t expect that Halloween will be problematic for you. I think most have room for a little fun on the eve of All Hallows Day. Be warned, though, that burning an effigy of Guy Fawkes on November 5 doesn’t generally go down well in Catholic institutions!

@aintnothinbutagstring yes Pps have mentioned and linked these to me. They seem lovely. Although it's not even that we are "into" that stuff really... it's that I just don't think it's fair to suck the imagination out of a young child

@Unitedthebest I've not said I will do this. It would take a whole lot more for me to ever raise a complaint. I don't like that sort of thing

@GoonieGang and that is my point 😳

What? The op never said she was atheist. She said she wasn’t religious which is very different. That’s agnostic at a push.

Even the Entertainer refused to sell Potter merchandise due to religious reasons.

Don’t worry they’ll soon be taught to live in fear of burning in hell if they don’t behave…

Our Catholic school did Halloween, now I think of it that was probably a little weird.

The only thing they didn’t do was Bonfire night…..but then that’s a fairly obvious one

I still suffer with Catholic guilt as an (atheist) adult.

Almost deliberately encouraging religious intolerance based on BS about fairies and unicorns. But that could be the other commenters not OP.

Don't understand why we were told the school is 90% Muslim though. Seems a bit of a dog whistle.
Something about this thread is really off.

Personally, I'd have sent my dd to the failing school over and above a Catholic one, because we are not catholics and I would not choose to have my dd indoctrinated into that faith. I think perhaps you were a bit naive in failing to realise how pervasive the influence of the religious nature of the school might be. But you are where you are, now.

At the end of the day, I wouldn't be worried by a teacher telling kids that fairies don't exist...if you want her to still enjoy the fantasy, it's easy enough to make up some bullshit about how adults lose the ability to see fairies etc.

However, I would be taking an active interest in how the Catholic element plays out in the reality of everyday school life, in the messaging that they're giving to children etc. I certainly wouldn't assume that all schools are the same in this - yes, most schools will have hymns in assembly etc, but a full-on faith school will be very different from a school that merely seeks to comply with the basic legal requirements.

You may conclude that you're happy with the level that it's at, or you may decide that it's too much. But find out... don't make assumptions.