Parents remove child from Southfield Primary School over graphic images of violence against women

Image above: Graphic image of Marie Antoinette being decapitated

Decapitation of famous women in history depicted on the wall

Parents at Southfield Primary School have removed their daughter from the school over cartoon images of the decapitation of famous women in history depicted on the wall of one of the school’s  staircases.

The graphics form a mural showing the beheadings of Henry VIII’s wives Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, Mary Queen of Scots and Marie Antoinette, painted quite large on the wall.

Nicola Peluso and Martin Griffith first noticed them when they went in for a parents’ evening and took exception to their six year old daughter having to walk past them every day to get to her classroom.

“It was with great sadness that we had to remove our primary age child from Southfield School” Nicola told The Chiswick Calendar, “due to the presence of a very disturbing cartoon mural depicting violent acts against women throughout history…

“The images are so traumatic that parents have reported children having nightmares.”

She raised the issue in her daughter’s class WhatsApp group and several other parents voiced their concerns. One said her child had been having nightmares about them. Another said she couldn’t look at them and covered her eyes when she passed them.

‘I am so relieved I am not the only one” wrote another parent. “XXX has had nightmares and didn’t want to go into school in year one because of these. I didn’t want to say anything as I thought maybe I was being over sensitive’.

Another wrote: ‘This is the same with YYY, she couldn’t sleep becuase of the “executions”.’

Others wrote “I’m completely shocked .. thank you for raising this topic with us. I’m also keen to join on the complaint”; “I couldn’t agree with you more”; and “I’m definitely with you on that.”

Image above: Graphic images of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard being beheaded

A complaint against the headmaster

When Nicola tried to speak to the headmaster Dr Darren Jones, and was told he was too busy to speak to her, she kept her daughter out of school for a day and wrote to him.

At first Nicola and Martin organised for their daughter to be escorted up one of the other staircases to get to her class, decorated with planets or flowers and trees. Then when they received the head teacher’s response to their formal complaint they decided to withdraw their daughter altogether. She is now settled at another school nearby.

The head teacher’s response was an unequivocal ‘no’, that he would not be removing the images:

‘Many parents and all staff are fully supportive of this and see it simply as representing history…

‘The staff myself and governors are in alignment with the illustrations as merely representing British history and they will not be removed.”

He accused her of being ‘perceived as being extremely aggressive and rude in the playground this morning in front of children and other parents.’

Nicola Peluso is American and an actor and told us she was aware she may be perceived as being “pushy” but she had sounded out friends in a range of professions, including one who is a psychiatrist, who agreed the images were damaging and not suitable for such young children. She maintains she has been polite in dealings with other parents and with the school, who have shown “blatant disregard” for her concerns.

“He accused me of whipping up hysteria.”

Image above: Graphic image of Mary Queen of Scots being beheaded

“Perpetuating a culture of violence against women”

Nicola told us she was concerned both that in a bloody period of English history the school had chosen only to highlight violence against women, (and quite randomly Marie Antoinette’s death in France some 250 years later) and that they had chosen to do so in a jokey cartoon style.

I pointed out that the Horrible Histories books used that style and were some of the most successful children’s books ever published.

“I did some research into the Horrible Histories” she said. “The publishers’ recommendation is that these are for ages 7 + and the films for ages 9 + and 12+ whereas this mural is presented to children aged five, six and seven. The Horrible Histories tell a story and take the reader on a journey whereas the mural is just up there, with no context, for them to walk past every day.

“I didn’t think it was a very safe environment and I didn’t want my child exposed to them every day. I feel like it perpetuates a culture of violence against women.”

Nicola and Martin then wrote to the school governors, making a formal complaint about the head, in which she complained of his ‘my way or the highway’ approach.

They said they would look into it, she says, but she has heard nothing further from them. She and Martin moved their daughter to another school within a few days of the head teacher’s response.

The Chiswick Calendar has contacted the school and asked to speak to the headteacher and we are awaiting a response.

We spoke to a parent, Natalie Brittan, at school pick-up time, who was aware of the images but told us they were not a subject of controversy or discussion in the school. She had not heard that it had been discussed by the PTA and it had not bothered her own children, she said.

“These are things that happened in history and there is a strong focus on Tudor history in Year 2.”

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