Parents protest over LGBT teaching at Manchester school

Parents who oppose LGBT material being shown to their children have protested outside a school.

About 100 people gathered for the rally at Birchfields Primary School in Manchester, where pupils have also been kept off lessons.

They held signs reading "stop sexualising our children" and "too much, too soon".

The school said it was "working closely with parents" to address issues raised about the government-set curriculum.

The Department for Education said the education secretary had brought forward an urgent review of the curriculum to make sure teaching is age-appropriate and based in fact.

Hundreds of children have been kept off lessons at the school in Fallowfield for four days in the past few weeks over the content in the curriculum.

Protesters called for all LGBT material to be restricted to relationship and sexuality education (RSE) classes.

They said a video of a seven-year-old transgender activist was shown to pupils in another lesson last year.

The video was later removed from the curriculum, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Protest organiser Mohammed Sajjad, whose children attend the school, said parents were "really frustrated".

"We just want an open and honest discussion with teachers regarding the material being shown and how it's being delivered."

He said they had asked for "a review of all content that can be deemed as age inappropriate or sensitive".

The school said that after consulting parents it had "never taught sex education" but had "successfully taught relationship education".

"We are proud of the impact this has on us being a welcoming and inclusive school where children thrive and are happy," a school representative said.

"Some parents have recently expressed concern about the content of this curriculum, which is set by the Department for Education, and we're working closely with parents to address the issues raised."

Manchester City Council said concerns had been "expressed by a small number of parents" and that it was hoping to "resolve the issues".

"We want all our children and young people to grow up understanding and respecting differences between people," it added.

The authority urged parents "not to disrupt learning", adding that children and staff had the right to go to school "without fear and interruption".

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said schools "should not be a place of conflict and pupils and teachers should not have to face protests".

"Parents should be able to view all curriculum materials, and we have written to schools recently to remind them of the importance of this, particularly in relation to sensitive subjects like relationships and sex education," they added.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [email protected]