Parkfield Community school in Birmingham, which has been at the centre of a row over its LGBT+ equality lessons says that headlines about it stopping lessons is “misleading”.
The school, which was faced with the removal of hundreds of children over plans to introduce LGBT+ relationship and equality lessons, called No Outsider, has said that headlines suggesting it had stopped the lessons was “misleading”. It quoted a headline from The Guardian newspaper.
In a single Tweet, the school, wrote, “We are concerned this headline is misleading. Parent meetings/ workshops are soon to begin and our no outsiders work continue”.
We are concerned this headline is misleading. Parent meetings/ workshops are soon to begin and our no outsiders work continues #communitycohesion #everyonewelcomehttps://t.co/SCfUlmJMj4
— Parkfield Community (@ParkfieldSchool) March 4, 2019
The tweet echoed a letter sent to the parents of children at the school which said,
“Up to the end of this term, we will not be delivering any No Outsiders lessons in our long term year curriculum plan, as this half term has already been blocked for religious education (RE).
“Equality assemblies will continue as normal and our welcoming No Outsiders ethos will be there for all.
The school has now confirmed that they have put the lessons on hold and will, according to The Guardian, “resume only after a full consultation with every parent”.
The letter continued,
“The discussions were a helpful first step and identified the key issues that are concerning parents, including the ethos, the books, the age appropriateness, the lessons and the assemblies. The agreed outcome of the meeting was the need to have a discussion with the school community about the No Outsiders curriculum and how it should be delivered.
According to The Guardian, around 600 children from predominately Muslim families were removed by their parents from a school in Birmingham on Friday in protest.
THEGAYUK has reached out for comment from the school, but has not heard back.
