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?

I have heard it all now 🫩
Who the f comes up with these things.

Op call the Telegraph and daily Mail and report your school.. You won’t need to give your name. Throw some light on the situation.

Yes I know

ooh it wasn’t really about Christianity more about petty land feuds, jealousy and people being controlling, scared of authority and other things

people were superstitious

Easter is "Chocolate Or Vegan Chocolate Flavoured Substitute Ovoid Weekend".

Christmas Day is "Festive Winter Maybe Snow Red White And Green Santa Claus Present Day".

Easter is already, chocolate egg day in our house. It seem far a far more joyous celebration of Spring and new life, than celebrating someone filicide in order to forgive our sins 2000 years ago.

I think you’ll find that Christmas Day is officially Eastenders Death Day

No, in fact, they actually can take part. It’s just their silly families won’t allow them to.

A six year old doesn’t really have a concept of ‘OK, Mum and Dad, you have your beliefs, but I don’t share them and I’m still going to the Christmas party’.

Easter is a pagan festival anyway. Eggs, chicks, lambs, flowers - not very biblical.

I wonder if the OP is going to come back and clarify why the alleged renaming of an early December commercial fair - presumably aimed at raising money - at one unnamed school in Cambridgeshire equates, in her mind, to a total ban on use of the word Christmas (inside or outside of the school), and proof of endemic discrimination against practising Christians.

Yep. Because it’s so easy for 6 year olds to go against the faith they’ve been brought up in.?

@SuffolkSun not really. Why? Because your message has virtually nothing to do with my original post. You’ve simply tried to use clever words to make yourself sound important and push your own agenda. So, no, sorry to disappoint.

What are "clever words"? How do they differ from not-clever words?

What is my agenda?

And, as you came back, why does the renaming of a commercial fair (if it actually has been renamed) at this school mean the word "Christmas" has been banned? In your view?

I'm not a constant churchgoer, but we do the occasional Sunday, Christmas, etc. Episcopal in the US, C of E in the UK, so pretty standard stuff. And not once have I heard a vicar mention a primary school winter fair a Christian festival. Weird.

@BackToLurk I don’t think she will communicate this change with the parents at all tbh. I can’t imagine she’d want to confront any fallout. The posters etc are all out on the socials so as far as she’s concerned it’s all done and dusted.

So how the fuck can she ban people from saying "Christmas" if she's not going to tell anyone that they're not allowed to say "Christmas"?

Ah yes, the best way to ban something is to not tell anyone and take no action when they use the banned word.

In other words - they've changed the name of two events. They haven't banned Christmas.

Oh she already explained banned actually means not using a word once for one thing.

Like the way I don't have the word tr**sers in my username, it's because I banned it due to my woke left radical feminism.

I didn't know this before, but now I do thanks to OP and other helpful posters on this thread.

@DressOrSkirt oh dear, do things in life only count if you hear them directly or do you assume everything your close friends tell you is hearsay and rumours? That can’t be fun.

The head has clearly told the ptfa they aren’t to use the word Christmas in any of their ‘Christmas’ events this year as it’s offended a small group of parents. When someone tells you you can’t write a word anywhere that generally constitutes as a ban. Kind of like when Trump ‘banned’ the use of certain words in climate change. Sure, people are going to say them, but they are ‘banned’ from being written. Why am I explaining this to you like you’re a 5 year old?

Please also explain why, if the school is going down this road, the word Diwali wasn’t changed to appease certain other families and students? This was kind of my original argument but like most posters you prefer to ignore this bit.

No school run this morning, I guess?

I'd assumed you'd be in a meeting with the head, sorting all this out right about now, OP.

To be fair it's a secondary school so she would be less likely to be doing the school run, or to be able to walk in and see the head!

Well, or protesting outside the school gates dressed as a Christmas tree?

Genuinely, move your children to a Church of England school. Don’t bother arguing with people on here who don’t care about the same things as you do. My eldest went to a school where they were told not to bring in Christmas cards, where there were no Christmas carols, or Christmas jumper day etc.

We moved house and by chance our closest school was CoE and now she does all the fun stuff.

Interesting that on the socials it does still mention Christmas a couple of times in the newsletter. Christmas trees and Christmas fair.

Sweetheart, you are not my close friend. At best you are a random on the internet.

Multiple posters have explained why, for an observant Christian, the appending of the word “Christmas” to every money making activity between Halloween and actual Christmas might be offensive and is not remotely traditional.

If you want traditional, stick with Winter or Frost for commercial ventures before 24th December.

HTH. HAND.