25 January 2023 , 13:48
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Parents have removed their six-year-old daughter from a school over a cartoon mural on the walls of famous historical women being beheaded, it is reported.
Mum Nicola Peluso called the pictures at Southfield Primary School, in Chiswick, west London, “very disturbing” at the way they depict violence against women.
The images make up a mural with the beheadings of Henry Vlll’s wives Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, as well as Mary Queen of Scots and Marie Antoinette.
Nicola said that she had mentioned about the drawings in a parents’ WhatsApp group and that others were also concerned with their children having suffered nightmares as a result of them, it is reported.
She and the girl's dad Martin Griffith saw the images when they went for a parents’ evening at the school and said that they have removed their six-year-old after the school has refused to remove them.
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A cartoon showing the execution of Marie Antoinette (Nicola Peluso)
A drawing showing the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots (Nicola Peluso)“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 gave examples in the parents' Whatsapp group where one said: "I am so relieved I am not the only one. 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 because of the 'executions'."
Nicola said the reply from the teacher stated that: “Many parents and all staff are fully supportive of this (the mural) and see it simply representing history.”
But the mum claimed that the images “perpetuate a culture of violence against women” and that she didn’t want her child “exposed to them every day”.
Nicola has reportedly said her child is now happy at another nearby school.
The Mirror has contacted Southfield Primary School for comment.