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?

But has anyone at the school ACTUALLY confirmed that children “can’t” use the word Christmas? Or is this all just right wing gossip with no foundation in reality?

Which school is this, again?🥱

@Everydayimhuffling it’s not multiple events. Just one Fayre and one Party. I don’t think you can say it’s okay to just ban the use of a word because there’s one additional event compared to another?

One festive fayre and one festive party. Seems ok to me you know what they are

We try and change the names for our events to something more inclusive so rather than call it a Christmas party we would call it festive fun but that doesn’t impact the event itself, it just makes it more openly inclusive to those who don’t celebrate.

Christmas is a whole month (minimum) celebration these days so it’s more than just a one off event so if a small change to the name of each activity gets more kids involved then all is good.

I guarantee the kids who do celebrate Christmas won’t be over thinking what tge event is actually called and will have the same amount of fun.

It's not just two events though. Your child's school will also probably have a Christmas dinner day, Christmas jumper day, Christmas performances, Christmas carol concert, Christmas trip to the panto, making Christmas cards etc.

You're being Unreasonable to make it sound like they've erased the word entirely when they clearly haven't.

Oh, it's that time of year again!

So to confirm - the school has not banned Christmas or Christmas events - it's just said that Christmas references in the Pantomime should be be removed.
Is that correct? If so that really wasn't what your opening post suggested.

Fine to have a winter festival party, but are they having a Christmas carol service? A nativity? They are the Christmas elements not the party which can be inclusive

Btw we are having a winter fayre at church, and we certainly celebrate Christmas!

This posted on Poppy Day too what a disrespect to our veterans! We usually finish the poppies and then into Christmas being cancelled, come on OP you've gone a bit early here

I've heard that one too. Absolute idiots who blindly believe what they see online, so blindly that they didn't see the word Easter in every supermarket or hear it on numerous adverts.

This. It's not necessary to not use Christmas as that is what it's traditionally called. I seriously cannot believe people from other religions wouldn't let their children attend christmas events. If they do perhaps have different schools for different religions but we all know how helpful that would be to integration.

A winter fayre?! What kind of church are you running here?! 😂

It’s impossible to give an opinion, or at least it’s impossible to give an informed opinion on “I’ve heard from a friend”. You need to ask the school what is actually going on. Have they changed the fayre to q festive fayre? Calling a fayre Festive instead of Christmas won’t be the same as banning the word Christmas. If they’re not teaching the nativity story, singing Christmas song and actually banning the word Christmas this would be some thing else.

One where the moozlems have taken over. A friend of a friend told me

Speak to the school to find out if it is actually true.

@justalittlebitofrain although you all seem convinced I’m here to create ‘outrage and division’ this is actually an honest post about something that has actually happened. If this were the other way around and our school had banned the use of the word Diwali to celebrate this festival I’m sure these comments would look very different.

To be very clear I don’t want the mention of ANY religions or religious words or festivals banned. I don’t think it’s right the school have done this and I would have put this post up regardless whether this was a Christmas or Diwali festival. I agree they should all be represented fairly in our schools.

I wouldn’t dream of complaining to our head that the Diwali lunch isn’t inclusive enough and the name needs to be changed. I wanted my daughter to attend and experience that and that’s how it should be .

When we lived in the US it was 'The Holidays' and 'Seasons Greetings' as a general approach. The word Christmas wasn't banned though

God I bet the receptionists love this time of year. As if they haven't got enough bullshit to deal with

What's the penalty for using the word "Christmas"? If one of the kids says I've written my Christmas list for Santa, will get sent to a re-education camp, or is it just a fine for the first offence?

Choosing not to use a word is not even remotely the same as banning it. You can only be trying to wind people up with this claim...

Without something in writing like a letter or email I wouldn’t believe this at all.

I assume it's okay to prevent your children from taking part in the Diwali party if you are Christian, or keep them home if the syllabus mentions Eid that day? By the logic of many posters here? It should only be for the Hindu/Muslim students?

this is actually an honest post about something that has actually happened.

It's not an honest post though is it because what you say has happened hasn't actually happened. No one has stopped the use of the word Christmas.

Actually I bet a lot of schools hold a 'festival of light' or similar for Diwali.

You're also still claiming the word Christmas is banned when you don't know this for certain