Schoolchildren left in tears as local vicar RUINS Christmas with reality-check sermon
A vicar in Hampshire has apologised after leaving Year Six pupils in tears by telling them Santa Claus isn’t real during a school RE lesson.
Rev Dr Paul Chamberlain sparked outrage among parents after making the comments to children at Lee-on-the-Solent Junior School during a talk about the Nativity.
The incident has forced teachers to scramble to restore festive magic, with the school now issuing special badges to pupils, which read: “Lee-on-the-Solent believe”.
The minister, from nearby St Faith’s Church, has admitted his remarks were “an error of judgment” and has written to pupils to apologise.
During the RE lesson, Chamberlain reportedly told pupils: “You’re all year six, now let’s be real, Santa isn’t real.”
The vicar went further by revealing to the children that it was their parents who were eating the cookies left out for Father Christmas on Christmas Eve.
His blunt comments about Santa came after he had been discussing the Biblical Nativity story with the 10 and 11-year-old pupils, leaving multiple children in floods of tears during the lesson.
Parents have expressed their anger and dismay over the incident, with one mother saying: “I don’t know how it can be undone, but I think it’s absolutely disgusting”.
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Another parent reported that “lots of children started crying in class” following the vicar’s comments.
The same parent added that it was “wrong” as “a lot of parents have had to confess to their child”.
Since the incident, a formal complaint has been lodged against Chamberlain by one parent, as the school has launched efforts to restore the Christmas spirit among its pupils.
The school has also reached out to parents via email to reassure them about the situation, emphasising that “all stories and legends around Christmas” were legitimate.
The headteacher has written to parents twice about the incident, with the second letter including Chamberlain’s apology.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Portsmouth addressed the incident in a statement, saying: “Paul has accepted that this was an error of judgment and he should not have done so.”
They added that Chamberlain “apologised unreservedly to the school, to the parents and the children”.
They explained that the vicar had been leading an RE lesson about the Nativity story when he made the unfortunate comments about Father Christmas.