‘Santa’s not real kids... in fact he’s Satan’
– What cleaner allegedly told pupils. (But we know he IS real and he’s a very nice man)
A SCHOOL cleaner told children Santa Claus was not real and was actually ‘Satan’, furious parents have claimed.
The upsetting incident is said to have happened at a primary in Argyll.
Parents complained to teachers and staff at the school following the outburst on Tuesday.
They described i t as a ‘distressing and upsetting’ experience for the children who were present.
Highland Council initially said that an i nquiry was under way, but later confirmed ‘ appropriate action’ had been taken.
A spokesman declined to comment on exactly what that had involved.
The woman has not been back to work this week.
The council spokesman said: ‘ We have i nvestigated a complaint which occurred outside the school.’
One parent described how children were l eft deeply upset following the incident, which came amid pupils’ excitement about Christmas.
He said that while it may have happened outside school hours, children were still playing there between 4pm and 5pm.
He added: ‘As you can imagi ne, all the children were upset, both as to what had been said, but extremely confused as to why.
‘This happened on Tuesday, while the cleaner was working. The matter has been raised with the school and escalated to council human resources.’
There was around half a dozen children involved.
The parent said: ‘ The “Santa is Satan” remark was made after one of the kids s ai d t hey were l ooking forward to Christmas and Santa coming.
‘Myself and one of the other parents formally complained to the school and Highland Council.’
Another parent, who also did not wish to be identified, said mothers and fathers tried to console the upset pupils immediately afterwards.
It is not the first time school staff have upset parents with a faux pas over the existence of Santa.
In December 2017, a school in Coventry apologised after an assembly of 11-year- olds were told they ‘ need to know the truth’.
At the time, mother Stephanie Boyd described the move as ‘political correctness’ and said teachers had ‘taken the magic out of Christmas’ for her daughter.
She added: ‘ This is all about celebrating Christmas and believing in the Christmas spirit.
‘In primary school there is so much they do to celebrate Christmas, but when
‘Kids were upset and confused’ ‘Taken magic out of season’
children get to secondary school nothing happens.
‘This is all about political correctness and it’s wrong.
‘It’ s destroying what Christmas is about and Christmas is no longer what it used to be.’
Meanwhile, aerospace experts have calculated that Santa’s sleigh must travel at 650 miles per second – about 3,000 times the speed of sound – in order to make all his necessary stops overnight on Christmas Eve.
Due to the rotation of the Earth and different time zones, he has a total of 31 hours to make his rounds.