Girl in Union Jack dress sent home on diversity day

Terribull 😄
Sadly tho, that is likely what they would have preferred on the flyer if they could have got away with it.

TerriBull (👏

I wouldn’t want my children or grandchildren exposed in the press. Maybe her dad wanted to make a point but the school is entirely responsible for the fall out. As well as nonsense in its understanding of diversity it humiliated a child.

Oreo

It doesn’t matter what anyone on this forum says about Reform, if schools and other institutions carry on in this way by trying to exclude or expunge anything to do with British culture, including flag banning, then people will vote Reform .
Most of us are sick of it.People come here to experience our way of life and there is no need to constantly apologise for anything done in the past and def we should promote our, and Western values and our own particularly rich culture.

Well said Oreo 👏👏

As a Head, one rule above all others should be prioritised.
In such a situation, do not involve/repimand the child, do not put anything in an email, but phone the parent immediately to talk it over with them in a calm manner.
(Unless of course the father "went off on one" on purpose? 😡 🤬
We don't know).

I dislike Farage and Reform
We need not to be ashamed or embarrassed by our flags and our history. We need to teach our history covering every aspect, especially as our classrooms will have many pupils whose families originate from former empire countriesv

escaped

MaizieD

JaneJudge

I wondered if they were trying to be provocative hence saying woke. I think unless the dress was too short or low cut or she was wearing crocs, she shouldn’t have been sent home though.

We don’t have the faintest notion of why she was sent home. Just her father’s spin on it.

Exactly this.
No-one knows the background either.

I doubt the school would have apologised and said they were going to train the staff in the policy if there was a back story.

"But sometimes at school, we only hear about other cultures - which is great because learning about different countries is interesting and important. But it can feel like being British doesn’t count as a culture, just because it’s the majority."

This part of her speech is provocative. I'd bet her Dad wrote it, hoping to get a reaction he could post online. He succeeded, but only because the school were silly in their OTT reaction. They could have used it as a good discussion point, as no doubt many adults feel like this but get punished for it instead of engaged with.

When the Eurovision song contest came to Liverpool and we went to a fancy dress party while watching the show, the house had Union Jack bunting and I wore a Union Jack dress in support of the UK.

Like this lovely little girl, it never crossed my mind this could be misconstrued.
I agree with the sentiments in her speech.

The Scots, Welsh and Irish display their flag with pride and so they should but if we put up the Union Jack it would be taken as a sign we are racist or right wing.

Living abroad as a teenager and missing England dreadfully, I returned home with a greater love of this land. I'm very proud to call myself English, British, with a good smattering of Welsh and Irish blood and a grandfather born in Scotland.
Shame on Bilton School, Rugby. Shame on you.

Oh dear how pathetic! But she’ll be laughing all the way to the bank when GMB, This Morning, etc Will invite her on tv wearing of course the dress! For an interview!

Bluebell - I agree with you about that poster. Plenty of other countries have cause to be proud of their achievements and culture.
I'm guessing there's more to this story than appears. Remember "Winterval" and the massive news event with the red tops and other tabloids claiming Christmas was being replaced. Before long it was "fact" - "they" wanted to end Christmas. The original paper and others have since admitted it was blown out of all proportion - to sell papers.
This story will add fuel to lots of fires unfortunately.

A good speech. But the way this incident has been taken up by some of the billionaire popular press and the sort of comments some people have been making on their Facebook sites show that not all British people are fair and decent. However I have read lately that the majority of people are moderate and fair minded everywhere but a minority post constantly on social media and make us think we are living in a world of hate.

I bet somebody somebody somewhere couldn't believe their luck when this dropped into their metaphorical in tray.

Wonder what the truth is and what the backstory is?

Apparently the Dad is a supporter of Tommy Robinson and has used his daughter at rallies etc maybe he has history with the school. Its a shame he's used his child in this way

Do you have any link to this at all please vegansrock

Thanks.

Yes more info please vegansrock. That’s grim if true
Having said this, what about all the children on various demonstrations. Pro Palestine marches?
We took our children to miners benefits, coal not dole

I think the shame lies with Bilton School. What were they thinking?

Other pupils were sent home too for arriving with an English and a Welsh flag. That head teacher should be sacked

V3ra

What are Great British Values plastered all over the Republic of Ireland for?Surely they are just values, not exclusively British?

TerriBull Wed 16-Jul-25 12:54:35

👏👏👏

I loved TerriBulls post

JaneJudge

I loved TerriBulls post

It should be compulsory reading for the staff at Bilton School.

Do any of you know what the 'remit', i.e. the instructions,said, that the chuldren took home, about the dress up day?

No I don’t but I have an email from my sons school re this type of day if you want me to cut and paste it onto here ( I imagine it would be similar)

Just if you have the time. Thanks in advance.

Child may well be entirely innocent here, but the dad seems to have close ties with Tommy Robinson from his FB posts, and it’s entirely possible the school knew this and this influenced their decision. Maybe the speech was AI written via her dad who knows.
Her dad has posted that she will be giving her speech at a Tommy Robinson rally in London in September, so make of that what you will. I suspect there is a lot of stuff the school is aware of which the media hasn’t reported.
Could someone whose grandparents were from ,say, India, dress up in a Union flag and claim British culture is theirs on the grounds they are British? Why not? Seems this type of culture day is more divisive than celebratory. A flag is not really cultural by the way, it’s more a nationalistic symbol.