The woke headteacher of a school in Lancashire has imposed a ‘ludicrous’ rule forcing pupils to become vegetarian to ‘help the planet’.
Rachel Tomlinson, headteacher of Barrowford Primary School, said she made the decision in order to educate children about the environmental impact of eating animals and to help ‘stop climate change’.
The rule was introduced last year, but furious parents were not told until a letter was sent out by the school on Thursday.
It comes after the controversial Ms Tomlinson previously forbade teachers at the school from raising their voice and holds a belief that there is no such thing as a ‘naughty’ child.
And in a letter to pupils in 2014, she told them not to worry about exam results as they ‘do not always assess all of what it is that make each of you special and unique’.
The school was subsequently branded ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in 2015, the inspectors’ lowest possible rating, just three years after it had received a ‘good’ rating.
Ms Tomlinson received widespread criticism for her approach, which removed all punishments for misbehaving students, with parents and campaign groups calling for her resignation and blaming her for the school’s decline.
Ripping up the traditional rulebook, she scrapped the normal fixed times playtime and lunch, allowing pupils to decide when they wanted to eat or have a classroom break.
Instead of becoming angry at pupils, teachers are also encouraged to say a child has ’emptied my resilience bucket’, before sending them to the ‘nurture room’ if their behaviour gets out of control.
The school’s relationship management policy also currently says that staff are to ‘use anger onions to support in the regulation of behaviours’ – an exercise coined by family therapist and author Judy Bartkowiak.
Barrowford restored its ‘good’ rating in 2016 after ‘the headteacher and senior leaders embarked on a rigorous journey of improvement’.
Tomlinson said: ‘We made our school lunches meat-free to demonstrate how each of us making a small change to our daily habits can have a much wider positive impact, and that reducing meat consumption is just one way to do this. We have been careful to approach this in a balanced way, and teach that it is fine to eat meat, but that reducing our consumption can help our planet’
Barrowford Primary School was branded ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in 2015 – the office’s lowest possible rating, before achieving a ‘good’ rating just one year later
Barrowford Primary School in Lancashire has banned meat from lunchboxes and its canteen in order to educate children about the environmental impact of eating animals. The rule was introduced last year, but parents were not told until a letter was sent out by the school on Thursday. In the letter, headteacher Rachel Tomlinson said she had made the decision in order to ‘stop climate change’
However, inspectors noted that around a quarter of parents is that leaders do not believe the school’s leaders ‘do enough to ensure that pupils are well behaved’.
MailOnline has contacted Ms Tomlinson regarding whether these policies remain in place, but in an interview with The National College in 2019, she said the school does not have the normal ‘behaviour management policy’ implemented by schools, instead it has a ‘relationship management policy’.
The children, aged between four and 11, were previously urged to sort out any disputes between themselves by talking through their feelings using New-Age-style phrases.
House points, stickers and certificates were also scrapped so that pupils learn ‘because it’s the right thing to do’, not in order to receive a reward.
She also said the school treats a wrong choice or poor behaviour of pupils as ‘a learning moment’, before admitting that parents at the school ‘sometimes struggle’ to understand her policy.
The school’s current relationship management policy adds: ‘A child is not to be defined as naughty. It should be explained to the child that they have made a wrong choice.
‘You should link you rationalisation about the situation to the behaviour actions and not the child e.g. I don’t like the choices you just made, you are better than that.’
In a prosepectus video, pupils say the school is ‘different and unique’ and they have areas to go to ‘if sometimes we are making the wrong choices’.
The headteacher has now irked parents by banning meat from children’s lunchboxes and the school’s canteen.
Zoe Douglas told The Sun that the meat-free rule was ‘a joke’.
She said: ‘I think they forget that non-meat eaters and vegans have to take a lot of supplements.
‘What supplements they getting instead at that school? Nothing, probably saving on food costs.’
Another parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said children should not be forced to give up meat.
‘Vegetarian is a choice for when they are older. Why not accommodate the veggies, vegans, whatever and add to the menu instead of making our kids adapt?
‘And to request parents pack lunches that are veggie as well, not to mention the local farmers, this is absolutely ludicrous.’
Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, told MailOnline that schools should ‘stay well clear’ of banning meat.
He said: ‘It is increasingly clear that decisions to ban meat have become political statements used by some local authorities, which have nothing to do with the environment.
‘Schools should obviously stay well clear of going down that route.
‘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 head teachers to dictate whether or not meat can be consumed by its pupils.
‘That decision must come down to parents and guardians and them alone.
Back in 2015, Barrowford Primary School was told to improve or face action after it was branded ‘inadequate’ by Government inspectors
Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, told MailOnline that schools should ‘stay well clear’ of banning meat (stock picture)
‘Schools would be better off teaching the value of sourcing nutritious, sustainable meat produce from local farmers and could benefit from listening to those stalwarts of our countryside directly.’
However, some parents have welcomed the school’s decision.
Lauren Stirzaker Jackson said the school was ‘trying to cater to everyone’, adding that ‘the lunch choices are great’.
She continued: ‘If people are upset they have the option to send a packed lunch if they wish, nothing is forced.’
Despite the outcry, headteacher Rachel Tomlinson said the school had not received any complaints.
Tomlinson said: ‘We made our school lunches meat-free to demonstrate how each of us making a small change to our daily habits can have a much wider positive impact, and that reducing meat consumption is just one way to do this.
‘We have been careful to approach this in a balanced way, and teach that it is fine to eat meat, but that reducing our consumption can help our planet.’
When the school was rated ‘inadequate’ in 2015, parents called for her resignation.
One said: ‘She should resign. You can’t experiment with childrens’ futures, fail spectacularly and then keep your job. She should go.’
Another, with two boys at the school said: ‘I teach my both my sons right from wrong when they are at home and I feel my hard work is being undone by the school.’
‘If a pupil misbehaves, they are sent to a chill-out room where they play on iPads and Xboxes. That is just encouraging them to be naughty.’
But the school returned to its ‘good’ rating in a year later, with inspectors saying ‘senior leaders and governors acted swiftly and successfully to eradicate the weaknesses found at the last inspection’.
