Headteachers at schools in Brighton have sparked anger from parents by cancelling the words ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ and replacing them with ‘grown ups’ – to avoid discriminating against ‘non-traditional’ families.
Parents at four state primary schools in the seaside town say they and their children have become confused by the edict contained in equalities policies which outline the language staff should use to ensure that pupils raised in diverse families are not stigmatised.
St Luke’s Primary School in Brighton states on its website: ‘We have an Equalities Language Code for staff (eg to value all families we never refer to “mums and dads” and instead talk about “grown-ups”).’
Elm Grove Primary School maintains in its Equalities Statement: ‘We try to talk about our “grownups” rather than our “mums and dads” to acknowledge the different family groupings our pupils live in.’
The guidance to ‘cancel’ the words ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ is also upheld in the school vision statement of Carlton Hill Primary School, which states: ‘We try to talk about our “grownups” rather than our “mums and dads” to acknowledge the different family groupings our pupils live in.’
