The parent of the Year 8 pupil who recorded her teacher scolding her for rejecting a classmate’s claim that she identified as a cat has thanked ‘those who have been kind and supportive’ to her daughter.
The 13-year-old pupil said she was made to stay after the class on ‘life education’ by the teacher at Rye College in East Sussex, who branded her ‘despicable’.
The teacher at the Church of England school – who is now facing a huge backlash – can be heard in a secret recording calling her view that gender is binary ‘really despicable’ and ‘very sad’.
In the three-and-half-minute recording, the angry teacher is heard speaking to two girls and says they would report the children to a senior colleague, and they needed a ‘proper educational conversation about equality, diversity and inclusion’.
Now, the girl’s parent has expressed fury online and thanked ‘those who have been kind and supportive’ to her daughter, according to the Daily Telegraph, which added that the row had ‘infuriated’ parents.
And Rye College has been bombarded by thousands of angry social media messages after the recording went viral.
One parent of another Year 8 pupil at the school who has received the same lesson also told the newspaper: ‘I understand the point the teacher was attempting to make, what bothers me is the shutting down of debate in such a threatening and aggressive manner, which I don’t believe is appropriate in an educational setting.
