Displaying items by tag: school curriculum

For six years, Kristie was a pastoral assistant at a secondary school. When her school notified staff of a 'No Outsiders' programme to be introduced Kristie went to a meeting to find out more. No Outsiders introduces young children to ideas about family and gender that are very different from Biblical teaching. She was concerned and did further research and shared a couple of posts on Facebook. But one of Kristie's Facebook ‘friends’ sent her Facebook posts to the school’s headteacher complaining that ‘a member of your staff, working directly with children has posted homophobic and prejudiced views against the lgbt community on Facebook.’ Kristie was sacked for gross misconduct. Her appeal was denied. She appealed but the decision was upheld. Kristie took her case to an Employment Tribunal but they ruled against her. In a few weeks’ time an Employment Appeal Tribunal will conduct their hearing. 

Last week we prayed for sex education to be the responsibility of parents not schools. This week four more schools in Birmingham have stopped teaching about LGBT rights following complaints. The No Outsiders programme in Birmingham will now be suspended until an agreement with parents is reached. The debate began when Parkfield Community School suspended the lessons following parents’ protests. Campaigner Amir Ahmed said some Muslims felt ‘victimised’, but an LGBT group leader said No Outsiders helped pupils understand it is OK to be different. Leigh Trust said it was halting the lessons until after Ramadan, which finishes in June. Also, seven primary schools in Manchester, which have been contacted by parents unhappy over sex and relationships lessons that teach children about LGBT rights, have asked school management to discuss the inclusion of the lessons in the curriculum.