Angry parents have accused a Sydney school of stealing Christmas, including banning references to Santa, carols and Christianity.
One dad, who wanted to remain anonymous told the Daily Telegraph he would pull his daughter out of the inner-Sydney Montessori School in Balmain.
The school has removed the word Christmas from songs, with students singing "we wish you a happy holidays" instead of "we wish you a merry Christmas".
"There were about five songs and not one of them mentioned Christmas," the father told the newspaper.
"There was no Santa or Christmas decorations or a Christmas tree or any reference to Jesus."
The dad, who did not understand whether it was an extreme form of political correctness, said some of the children were so confused that they sung the forbidden lyric anyway.
"They should not force this on young kids. Christmas is meant to be all about Santa and presents," he told the Daily Telegraph.
The school’s principal, Cathy Swan, said the parent had misunderstood what happens at the school.
"We look at all cultures and the particular ways that people celebrate such as Easter, Christmas and Hanukkah," she said.
Ms Swan told the the Telegraph that the banning of Christmas references may have been an attempt by the teacher to address the fact that she has Hindu and Jewish children in her class.
Front page
RSS Feed