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Alpha Mummy: Do your children believe in Santa Claus?

A supply teacher has been told not to return to one primary school after she told a class of seven-year-olds that Santa Claus did not exist.

Children at Blackshaw Lane Primary School in Oldham were talking about Christmas when the teacher came out with the news.

Father Christmas was not responsible for delivering their presents on Christmas Eve, the pupils were taught. The teacher, who had been drafted in for just the day, has now been told not to come back.

Parents complained to the school after their children returned home to recount what they had learnt in lessons that day.

Amanda Robertson, a parent of one pupil, said that her daughter had been very upset. “The whole family were outraged that a teacher took it upon herself to say this,” she wrote on an internet forum. But she added: “One of the permanent teachers did a very good job of telling the children that this was a mistake and ‘of course’ Santa is real.”

One father said that his daughter was confused by what the teacher had said and that she couldn’t stop thinking about it. “It should be down to parents, not teachers, to deal with this sort of thing. And 7 or 8 is no age to be told that,” he said.

Mrs Roberston wrote that what the teacher had done “would be like telling someone religious that God doesn’t exist”.

Angela McCormick, the head teacher, contacted the supply agency — which still employs the teacher — to tell them not to send her again.

In a letter to parents, Mrs McCormick offered her “profuse apologies” and said that the children had continued to learn about Christmas and had written letters to Santa since the incident last week. “The children are unscathed and are back on track thanks to the ‘magic’ of our resident staff and the lovely snow we have all appreciated this week,” she wrote.

Another parent said, however, that he had had to spend hours convincing his daughter that the teacher was wrong. He said: “I’ve told her she must have been confused. All kids at that age are excited at this time of year, so for someone to say something like that puts a dampener on it all.”

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