Bilton School has U-turned and apologised after segregating a pupil for celebrating her British heritage on culture day.
School in Rugby 'punishes' girl for wearing Union flag dress and celebrating British heritage on cultural day https://t.co/bEYdvbfOfi
— Fred Alan Medforth (@AlanMedforth) July 14, 2025
Grade A student Courtney Wright, 12, wore a Union Flag dress and wrote a piece about history and traditions as part of the celebrations at the school on Friday.
But her dad, Stuart, collected his daughter after she was told to stay in the school’s reception.
Stuart said: “Courtney was so embarrassed and couldn’t understand what she’d done wrong.
“She was told she wasn’t allowed in school with the dress on because she gets to celebrate her culture every day.”
In a permission letter sent to parents, it said the day was “designed to promote inclusion, understanding, and appreciation of different backgrounds, traditions and heritages”.
Stuart said the school’s actions went against the message.
“Courtney didn’t do anything to be political,” Stuart said.
“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.”
The school contacted Stuart over the weekend and have apologised for the move.
A spokesman for Stowe Valley Trust said: “At Bilton School, we are proud of the diversity of our students and the rich heritage they bring to our community. We are committed to fostering an environment where every pupil feels respected, valued, and included.
“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. 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.”
Here’s the piece Courtney wrote for cultural day:
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.