The city’s schools have hit back at false claims they have banned children from saying mum and dad.
Both national and local titles ran headlines with the untrue claim, based on quotes from unnamed parents published on Friday.
The fake claims were further shared by one Conservative councillor on social media – even after exasperated parents told him it was untrue.
One school told parents it had been forced to field angry calls from members of the public – but said none of these were from parents.
Finally, on Tuesday evening, Brighton and Hove City Council released a statement confirming the claims were untrue.
The stories quoted policies found on the websites of four schools, St Luke’s Primary, Elm Grove, Carlton Hill and Saltdean Primary.
But all these made it clear they were referring to situations where teachers were addressing or talking about large groups of parents and carers rather than an individual child’s mum or dad.
The council statement said: “Recent reports claiming four Brighton schools are not allowing the words ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ to be used are untrue.
“These are the facts:
• The words ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ are still used for children who have a mum and dad, and this hasn’t and won’t change.
• For instance, a teacher/staff member speaking to a pupil who they know has a mum and dad would say to a pupil, ‘tell your mum and dad…’.
• However, not all children have a mum and dad. So, if a child has two mums, two dads, are looked after by their grandparents, foster...
Pakistani actress and model Ayesha Omar has strongly denied a controversial statement falsely attributed to her on social media. In recent days, a statement circulated online claiming that the act...