A school in Rugby, Warwickshire has apologised after segregating a pupil for celebrating her British heritage during the school’s ‘culture day.’
Grade A student Courtney Wright, 12, wore a Union Jack dress and wrote a speech about British history and traditions as part of the celebrations at the Bilton School last Friday.
However, staff at the school wouldn’t allow Courtney past reception and told her: “You get to celebrate being British every day, this is for everybody else.” WTF?
He dad, Stuart, collected his daughter after she was told to stay in the school’s reception.
Stuart told Warwickshire World: “Courtney was so embarrassed and couldn’t understand what she’d done wrong.
“She was told she wasn’t allowed in school with the dress on because she gets to celebrate her culture every day.”
In a permission letter sent to parents, Bilton School said the day was “designed to promote inclusion, understanding, and appreciation of different backgrounds, traditions and heritages”.
As Stuart says, the schools actions went completely against that message.
“Courtney didn’t do anything to be political.
“She chose the dress and wrote the piece off her own back. It’s the school who have made it political and it went against everything the event was being held for.”
The school very quickly did a U-turn and contacted Stuart to apologise to the family over the weekend.
“At Bilton School, we are proud of the diversity of our students and the rich heritage they bring to our community. We are committed to fostering an environment where every pupil feels respected, valued, and included.
“On Friday 11th July, an incident occurred during our Culture Celebration Day that caused considerable upset to one of our pupils, her family, and members of the wider community. We deeply regret the distress this has caused and offer our sincere and unreserved apologies.
“We have since spoken directly with the pupil and her family to listen to their concerns and reflect on how this could have been handled better. We are committed to learning from this experience and ensuring that every student feels recognised and supported when expressing pride in their heritage.
“As a school, we are reviewing our policies and strengthening staff training to ensure our practices reflect our values of inclusion, respect, and understanding for all.”
Well, at least they apologised. Still, how does something like this even happen in the first place? You can’t have a day where you tell children they can come to school in something that celebrates their culture, and then send someone home when they wear a dress with the national flag on it. Ginger Spice must be losing the plot right now!
Here’s what Courtney wrote in her piece that she never got to read out:
Today I want to talk about my culture — British culture — and why it’s important to me.
In Britain, we have lots of traditions including drinking tea, our love for talking about the weather and we have the royal family.
We have amazing history, like kings and queens, castles, and writers like Shakespeare. It’s also modern, diverse and always changing – with music fashion and food from all around the world blending into daily life. And let’s not forget fish and chips!
It’s also the way we speak, our humour, our values of fairness and politeness, and the mix of old traditions and new ideas
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.
I think culture should be for everyone — not just for people from other countries or backgrounds. Being British is still a culture, and it matters too. It’s part of who I am.
Well said, Courtney! Just a shame Bilton School didn’t see it that way until they realised what a terrible look it was for their school. Lesson learned, hopefully.
For the teenagers awarded $1 million after being accused of wearing blackface that turned out to be an acne mask, click HERE.
