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 ??

I’d drive many miles to avoid mine going to a catholic school.

@IkeaMeatballGravy To my knowledge this is not to do with Catholicism? I have never known that there is not allowed to be talk of mythical creatures in Catholicism. There are talks of mythical creatures in the bible is there not ??

If it were me I would say to my daughter 'how sad that 'Teacher' never got to visit the fairy woods and doesn't know about them!' And also start having conversations about how people all over the world believe in different things, different religions, different philosophies and it's ok to not believe the same as other people but it is not ok to not be respectful of other people's beliefs.

Then I would take her to the fairy woods and enjoy all the games and stories that you used to.

I think the teacher was unnecessary tbh. What a shame if that is the ethos of a primary school.

I understand! My son was the same. Teacher’s word over mine every time. 😂

I do think you’re going to have to prepare yourself as the year unfolds- I doubt it will get any easier. Is there anyway at all you could move schools.

YABU

They aren't real though

Exactly!

sounds like spiteful teacher issue not necessarily a whole school issue.

are you on an island or something?

@toastofthetown yes what I'm getting at is if she HAD to tell them this, there should have been a nicer, less blunt way to go about it.
I do understand what you're saying. I hope it doesn't affect her play, although she has completely shut down my response to this saying it doesn't matter anymore as they aren't real anyway! 😆

Is you area overserved with schools? I also live fairly rurally and I wouldn't have been able to get my children into any but the catchment school. All nearby schools were full

While almost nothing would possess me to send a child to a Catholic school I'd have struggled with logistics if that was the only choice

It's a Catholic school. They don't just touch on religion. The strong message in EVERYTHING they do is the God is watching. Hence behaviour in these schools is much better than no denom! IMHO these schools indoctrinate a certain view, anti gay, anti single parent amongst others and I'd never send my child to one.

@Notlikelysaidthedragontothefly thank you so much for this reply.
I felt like I was overreacting and going mad!

You are mad sending her to a catholic school as a non catholic!

I wasn’t aware that children believed that unicorns were real. I thought it was just an understood that they were made up.

If you want unicorns to be treated as real then what about the scary stuff like witches and ghosts? Should the teacher agree that there most likely is a monster under their bed? Or that the noises they hear at night are a ghost?

Do parents not tell their children unicorns aren't real? DD is 5 and I've always always told her that as far as we know they're a myth. She still enjoys them.

my mother is about as Catholic as it’s possible to be without being two Catholics and she loves nonsense. Also had an Irish granny that loved scaring the crap out of us about the banshee outside the window and all that. We went to a Baptist play-group and had similar ‘that’s not real’ stuff from the play-leaders which struck me as unusual. My Presbyterian MIL couldn’t bear to let the GC believe in that stuff either, it’s maybe more a personal scruple than any sort of overt religious mandate?

I'm confused too.

My 5 year old is always asking what's real or not.

I wouldn't want to confuse her.

@Boomboom22 I guess I better say goodbye to the hopes of any Halloween activities at school then 🫣😳

Hmm, so the only fairy I’d expect any belief in would be the Tooth Fairy. Additional similar cases Father Christmas/Santa and - if you have to import the US thing - the dreaded Elf on shelf.

At a Christian school belief in God etc. is going to be part of the make up of things and if you are there as a believer, no problem; if there as a non believer, approach what you tell your DC your own way.

Re unicorns and all the rest - I don’t think there is any case for encouraging belief in them in any school setting or parenting strategy unless they are somehow part of a faith/belief of some sort. Present them as fantasy, storybook creatures. I can see parents being cross if a teacher made it acceptable for 5 year olds to believe in unicorns but not the opposite

@AutumnalPumpkin Not at all. Your child’s teacher sounds like a real Scrooge 😂

I have never actively set out to tell her that they ARE real. But I did not ever expect anybody to tell her that they are not. Especially at 4 years old. It's mean

But in the teacher's view it won't be mean. To my parents, unicorns, magic, fairies etc come under 'false idols', so to believe in them would be against the 10 commandments. You have entrusted the teacher with providing your DD with religious teaching. You weren't forced to send your daughter to the Catholic school even if the other school has a crap ofsted report.

Look, lots of non religious people send their children to Catholic schools, which is fine as long as you are respectful of their beliefs and not appropriating a space that could have gone to a Catholic child. Remember that the school is probably subsidised by the church and its community. Don't be one of those parents who rolls their eyes at the religious stuff - it's ungracious.
Did a reception teacher need to tell children that fairies and unicorns don't exist? No, they didn't, and i would be surprised that they felt it necessary. Christmas and Santa (or St Nicholas rather than the embellished version) are part of the Christian faith.

No teacher, in any type of school, is going to tell children that unicorns are real.

@SisterMichaelsHabit no we are actually in the midlands!
There is 2 schools in close proximity to us. This one, a catholic school which really is quite nice.
OR a regular primary which is still somewhat a religious school with a horrifying ofstead report!

Exactly. Where I grew up children travelled up to 5 miles to get to my school as it was, and still is, the only primary in the area. It’s a C of E school.

If I lived where I grew up and wanted my child to go to a non church school I’d be travelling 15 miles.

@itsalongwaybackfromsorry oh no!! I've just replied to another comment saying I better get the idea of any Halloween activities out of my head.
We love Halloween 🤣 I've made a mistake here!!

I went to Catholic schools and the only reason this would have been said is if the teacher was an arse.
There were NO problems with us knowing about fantastical beasts, magic.

At secondary Catholic school me and a friend got caught with a ouija board, I was called into the heads office alone expecting a god based bollocking, instead the French teacher (my favourite) appeared and we had a long chat about my feelings towards my Mums death 2 years earlier.

They're teachers at a catholic school, Not Carries mum.