British school punishes student for celebrating British culture on ‘Culture Day’
A British school in Rugby, Warwickshire punished a student for celebrating British culture on “Culture Celebration Day.”
Bilton School had sent a letter to parents announcing Culture Day, which it said was "designed to promote inclusion, understanding, and appreciation of different backgrounds, traditions and heritages.”
But when 12-year-old Courtney Wright showed up to school wearing a Union Flag dress with a prepared presentation on British history and traditions, she was separated from her peers and ordered to sit in the reception area. Her father, Stuart, had to come pick her up.
"She was told she wasn’t allowed in school with the dress on because she gets to celebrate her culture every day,” said Stuart. “Courtney was so embarrassed and couldn’t understand what she’d done wrong . . . Courtney didn’t do anything to be political,” he added. "She chose the dress and wrote the piece off her own back. It’s the school who have made it political and it went against everything the event was being held for.”
‘Culture should be for everyone’
Warwickshire World published a brief speech Courtney had written to give during her presentation:
Today I want to talk about my culture — British culture — and why it’s important to me.
In Britain, we have lots of traditions including drinking tea, our love for talking about the weather and we have the royal family.
We have amazing history, like kings and queens, castles, and writers like Shakespeare. It's also modern, diverse and always changing - with music fashion and food from all around the world blending into daily life. And let’s not forget fish and chips!
Its also the way we speak, our humour, our values of fairness and politeness, and the mix of old traditions and new ideas
But sometimes at school, we only hear about other cultures — which is great because learning about different countries is interesting and important. But it can feel like being British doesn’t count as a culture, just because it’s the majority.
I think culture should be for everyone — not just for people from other countries or backgrounds. Being British is still a culture, and it matters too. It’s part of who I am.
So let’s celebrate all cultures — whether they come from far away or right here at home.
The school apologizes
After backlash, the school reportedly contacted Stuart and Courtney to apologize and smooth things over.
"On Friday 11th July, an incident occurred during our Culture Celebration Day that caused considerable upset to one of our pupils, her family, and members of the wider community,” a spokesman for Stowe Valley Multi Academy Trust, to which Bilton School belongs, said. “We deeply regret the distress this has caused and offer our sincere and unreserved apologies.
"We have since spoken directly with the pupil and her family to listen to their concerns and reflect on how this could have been handled better. We are committed to learning from this experience and ensuring that every student feels recognised and supported when expressing pride in their heritage.
"As a school, we are reviewing our policies and strengthening staff training to ensure our practices reflect our values of inclusion, respect, and understanding for all.”
