Anger as school bans meat from its canteen

PARENTS have blasted a primary school’s ‘ludicrous’ decision to go permanently ‘meat free’.

Barrowford Primary School near Nelson, Lancashire has banned meat from its canteen and urged pupils not to bring meat in their packed lunches to ‘help the planet’.

the rule, which aims to educate children about the environmental impact of eating animals, was introduced last year but parents were only made aware by a letter sent out by the school last week.

Headteacher Rachel tomlinson explained to parents the decision had been made to ‘stop climate change’. the letter highlighted the large carbon footprint of meat and dairy products and asked parents to ‘consider meat-free options’ in packed lunches to help ‘reduce carbon emissions’.

the school say they have had no complaints, but many parents have taken to Facebook to voice their objections, with one even threatening to move her daughter to a different school.

Zoe Douglas told the Sun that she had only just been made aware of the meat-free rule, which she labelled ‘a joke’.

She also raised health concerns, saying: ‘I think they forget that non-meat eaters and vegans have to take a lot of supplements.’

tim Bonner, of the Countryside Alliance, told MailOnline that schools should ‘stay well clear’ of banning meat. He added: ‘While providing youngsters with the knowledge of how food is sourced and talking about balanced diets should be encouraged, it must not be up to individual headteachers to dictate whether or not meat can be consumed by its pupils.’

the row comes as a teaching union has been forced to condemn its own training session on gender amid criticism from the Government. the National Education Union (NEU) funded a web seminar which advocated pupils dropping ‘Mr’ and ‘Mrs’ when referring to staff.

the session said they should instead simply say ‘teacher’, in order to eradicate gender in schools. Staff attending the online class yesterday blasted it as an attempt to ‘erase’ girls and women. Meanwhile, the Department for Education intervened to say that ‘banning gendered terms’ is ‘inappropriate and unnecessary’.

Last night, the union was forced to issue a statement rowing back on the session, saying it would ‘review the contents’ and that gender-neutral language should not be ‘adopted across the board’.

the 90-minute webinar, ‘Getting the language right for 2022’, for NEU members in the North West, was delivered by Dr Elly Barnes, chief executive of Educate and Celebrate, a charity which promotes ‘LGBT+ inclusiveness’ in schools.