Children are not to be distracted by the holiday excitement until December 1

Nov 29, 2013 21:36 GMT  ·  By
Jane Porter claims holiday excitement is not productive as it disturbs students
   Jane Porter claims holiday excitement is not productive as it disturbs students

Children at Whitehill Primary School from Gravesend are not allowed to talk about Christmas until December 1, because their headmistress believes that the early celebration is very distracting for the young pupils.

Jane Porter claims holiday excitement is not productive as it disturbs students from their academic activities. She imposed a ban for both pupils and staff, concerning the mentioning of Christmas until the correct time. Pupils that don't comply with the headmistress's demands will be punished with cut playtime.

One of the punishments kids receive if caught talking about the holiday is losing their favorite time of the day, the playtime, which was usually used as a reward for good behavior.

Some might argue that this can be more confusing to the children than the thought of Santa and presents. “One of our rules is to work hard, so if the children are not working hard, talking about Christmas for instance, then they will lose their golden time,” the modern-day Scrooge told DailyMail.

The Gravesend Grinch believes that banning Christmas discussions in school doesn't mean she is trying to get rid of the holiday spirit, she is just attempting to control it, as it can be very defocussing for a kid to think about Santa when he/she has to learn. The holiday spirit has been taking over too early and in Mrs. Porter's opinion, the holiday excitement should be at its earliest at the beginning of December.

The headmistress now holds the nickname “Scrooge” from Charles Dickens' famous novel “A Christmas Carol,” a character that despised the winter holidays and everything related to them. The woman doesn't seem to take into consideration the fact that the children are too young to understand why they are not allowed to talk about their favorite time of the year.

Parents are outraged with the teacher's decision, “I feel this is wrong and immoral. Kids have Christmas rammed down their throat by TV advertising from as early as September and yet they can be punished for mentioning it at school,” a 3-year-old's father said, according to DailyMail.

“She's a Scrooge if ever there was one – all the kids are doing is talking about what they would like for Christmas or where they are going to spend the holidays,” another parent said. Even adults get early excitement when it comes to Christmas, so normally children are even happier about the holidays.

It seems that the headmistress doesn't mind anything else than the children's performance, “if they're talking about something they shouldn't be, they're not working hard. We're a school, we're about education, not retail,” Mrs. Potter said. At least there is not so much time left until December 1, and children from Whitehill Primary School will be soon permitted to talk about Christmas.