Parents of students in years three and four at Green Park Community Primary School in Dover, Kent, were left shocked and angry after finding the English class homework exercise encouraging them to complain over the presents they received.
Children who strived for a ‘Gold’ reward with their homework were asked to use adjectives, similes and metaphors to describe their presents, and to tell Santa ‘what they expect him to do about’ their disappointment over their presents.
Parent Charlotte Balfe revealed that her nine-year-old daughter Summer didn’t want to write the letter but did so anyway for fear that she would get into trouble.
“My little girl did this homework as she was worried about getting told off by the school. I think it was wrong they were given it to do though,” she said.
Meanwhile, another parent took to Facebook to express her outrage over the assignment, sharing a picture of the homework task, and writing: “I was appalled when Cole came home with his homework stating this…suffice to say he’s not doing it!”
In response to the overwhelming backlash, the school’s headteacher Richard Hawkins said that the exercise was simply a lesson in letter-writing.
“Lots of the children understood what the homework was about – writing a letter of complaint. We chose Santa as they are used to writing letters to Santa,” he said.
Branding the situation a “misunderstanding”, he added that the school had taken the criticism on board and were working to engage more with parents.
This isn't the first time that a school has come under fire over a controversial assignment, with a school in the States recently criticised for asking kids to compare Hitler and George Bush in a Venn diagram.
