Our school has banned the word Christmas?

[Fayethefair]

I’ve heard from a friend on my DD’s school’s ptfa that our Cambridgeshire school has banned the word Christmas to make the school events feel more inclusive. So now it’s Festive Party, Festive Fayre etc. I’m happy to let mumsnet know the name of the school if they don’t feel this post is genuine so they can check this themselves but I won’t put names on here as this is my child’s school, I just don’t think this right and want to see what others think.

My daughter attended a Diwali lunch put on by the school recently and I genuinely thought this was lovely. I feel everything should be represented equally, I don’t understand or agree that the head should be picking and choosing what’s allowed and what isn’t. Surely this isn’t right?

"Oh they're not really banning Christmas!" It's one of those things (quite a lot of those things now) that people insist is not happening and that you're just being a bigot or a racist or whatever word they feel like labelling you with that day.

It's very un-Christian and should not be accepted. But it will be forced under the guise of diversity, inclusion and tolerance.

There is a limit to tolerance and it's being quickly met. "Tolerance is a British value", no, it's not. No such thing as British values anyway, but that's another discussion.

I'm sorry this is happening, OP. Just have to grin and bear it, ie tolerate it.

This.

Christmas to me is three days long (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day). The rest of it is just marketing by companies to make money. I’m fine with words like winterval, festive, frost etc for the seemingly growing-ever-longer period leading up to it.

If Diwali had a whole commercial 2 months lead up to it I think you’d have a point @Fayethefairbut it doesn’t so 🤷🏼‍♀️.

Oh they're not really banning Christmas!" It's one of those things (quite a lot of those things now) that people insist is not happening

Its not happening though. People can continue to try to post sensationalising that it's being banned but as always it's proven to not be. I've yet to see one credible example of Christmas being banned.

They had this at my childs primary school initially for anfew years, winter crafts, winter party, winter school holidays etc.

There was one jehovas witness family with 2 kids in the school and they joined in all the winter activities. All parents i knew of were very unhappy about this. No mention of santa or christmas at all.

Also happy birthday was banned from being sang too.

Also the jehovas kids were saying since reception that santa was not real.

A new head teacher joined and it was then all christmas again. The jehovas kids went into the hall to play games on chromebooks or do separate crafts during the christmas activities. Also when it was kids birthdays the teacher and class sang happy birthday and i believe the jehovas kids went to the hall again. Parents were happier with this arrangement as was I.

So i assume you must have a jehovas family in your school and they are being catered for by the head teacher. But thats just based on my lived experience.

Are you actually being banned from celebrating Christmas though? Are you really?

Is the ban in the room with you now?

Stop feeding the OP's delusions, as well as your own. Honestly the rubbish that some people will come out with, is beyond tiresome.

Who is banning Christmas?

I’m sceptical. I don’t think schools in general are banning the word Christmas. My sons school has a “winter concert” that they do each year in December but this is named that so that every kid has a chance to perform in it regardless of religion/beliefs, and so all the parents can attend. But the school still has a Christmas fair, runs Christmas events, decorates with trees, tinsel and bauble etc, plays Christmas films on the last day etc, so in no way is it banned. And the winter concert is still lovely and festive even without explicit mention of Christmas - it’s all about snow, ice, magic, family etc and the kids get to dress up and have fun. I’d be surprised if a mainstream British school would actually ban mention of it completely.

Nobody, except the delusion fairy, that some people seem to be able to see, and hear, telling them that the word Christmas, is being banned, up, and down the Country.

My eldest went to a school that was like this. We moved house and now she attends a school that has loads of Christmas celebrations. I much prefer it.

@suburburban this is exactly the point I’ve been trying to make. They are both religious events. They are both events celebrated at the school. Yet one is allowed to be named and one is not. It is as black and white as that. People making ridiculous arguments like one is shorter so that’s okay is actually quite pathetic. There were posters up all over the school wishing the pupils a Happy Diwali yet if we put up a Happy Christmas poster it wouldn’t be allowed.

What I find so interesting with all of this is the irony in that I would actually like the school to see the inclusivity of naming ALL religious celebrations openly and freely, yet I’m being the one called a Bigot. It appears that bigotry doesn’t apply the other way round.

Right. So the word Christmas is banned in the school. What happens if a child says "We have our Christmas tree up already" or "Here's a Christmas card I made you" or "Isn't it looking nice and Christmassy in here"?

Will the child get detention, be suspended, sent to the principal, or some other punishment?

I suspect the answer is nothing will happen, and so the word isn't banned at all. Poor effort, OP.

🥱 And still the OP is going on, with these bald lies.

I think I missed your post explaining how the head was enforcing this ‘ban on the word Christmas’ without sending out anything official notifying parents and students.

D'oh! I though we were still on "they've banned poppy sellers from my local town centre" season I didn't realise we were on "they've banned Christams" season yet.

It gets earlier every year! Not even taken my non-denominational pumpkin decorations down yet.

Did they, yeah?

What would happen if you put up a Happy Christmas poster?

Things that didn't happen....

It's Christmas. It's not a religious festival for most but we all call it Christmas because that's what the festive period is.

Let's just call ramadam that month of fasting.

Non denominational pumpkin? You mean they've taken the Jesus out of Halloween too? When will it end 😭

This.

I absolutely hate the vicious little division politics bollocks that people invent bullshit threads about.

Nasty behaviour.

if we put up a Happy Christmas poster it wouldn’t be allowed.

Where have you gotten that idea from?

Also I assume they celebrated Diwali on the 20th October? If the pupils are expected to go to school on the 25th December you might have a point that it should be celebrated the same.

When I did my exchange year in college in a Muslim country they decorated the classroom with Christmas decorations for me because I was expected to attend class that day. They didn't do it for any of their holidays, because there was no class and they were at home celebrating with their families.

I don’t think it actually really matters if the word has been banned a little bit or a big bit.

But I think that's the whole point. You started by saying it was banned because someone who knew someone had said so. You have elaborated since, putting this more into context.

There are hundreds of things associated with many religions that can be celebrated throughout the year.
When we get to December, many of those celebrations take place: Hannukah, Immaculate Conception, Rohatsu, Winter Solstice, Christmas and Kwanzaa.
I think it would be pretty difficult for any school to formally acknowledge and celebrate ALL of those events.
Alongside this, the commercialisation of Christmas which has, in some places, become a competitive spending/gift-giving exercise can result in quite a lot of children being extremely 'hyped up' during the whole month leading up to the big day.

That said, if the school is celebrating Diwali, then they should also look to be doing something for Hannukah and Yule, which are relatively comparable.

I don't think they should 'ban' the word Christmas, but care needs to be taken to not imply any one religion takes precedence over another, and I can see how this could be construed as such.

Yes

this is a nominally Christian country at the moment and our King is supposedly defender of the Faith so why is this happening if it really is.

why would other faiths be offended anyway, such rubbish

It IS regularly called the month of fasting, because it is. The month has a name in the Arabic calendar (Ramadan) but it's fine to refer to it as the month of fasting for Muslims.