A PRIVATE school headteacher has cruelly branded Greta Thunberg “a little girl with mental problems" in a newsletter sent to parents.

Rodney Lynn, the principal of Coffs Harbour Christian Community Primary School in New South Wales, Australia, has been slammed for his comments about the climate activist.

4 Rodney Lynn, the principal of Coffs Harbour Christian Community Primary School in New South Wales, Australia, has been slammed for his comments about Greta Thunberg

4 The teacher branded the Swedish activist a 'false prophet' Credit: Reuters

He accused the 16-year-old Swede of promoting “doomsday waffle talk” and labelled her a “false prophet” in the letter sent out to students and parents.

Lynn did not refer to Greta by name but told his students to put their faith in God and not “a little girl from Scandinavia”, ABC reports.

“No one knows when the final wind up of the world will be,” he wrote. “Jesus said no one, only the Father God, knows about that day or hour.”

He said Ms Thunberg was a “little girl with self-declared various emotional and mental problems that she thinks give her a special insight into a pending doom”.

“She says she is anxious. You too can be anxious. My life experience has taught me that the doomsday predictors are just attention getters,” Mr Lynn wrote in his September 26 newsletter.

“Do not be afraid. Your world’s future is in the hands of God, not in the predictions of a little girl and false prophets.”

4 His comments came in a newsletter sent out to students and parents

'FALSE PROPHET'

The letter was published the same week the 16-year-old made a speech at the United Nations in New York slamming world leaders for failing to take enough measures to combat climate change.

Greta has inspired young people around the world to take to the streets and demand stronger action, but Mr Lynn questioned this move in his letter.

“You can skip school. Hold up a piece of cardboard in the streets and call out for the government to ‘do something to stop it all happening’ … really???” he wrote.

“Do not be afraid. Your word’s future is in the hands of God, not in the predictions of a little girl and false prophets,” he wrote before signing off.

“God’s promises have never failed yet.”

4 Last month Greta addressed the United Nations about climate change Credit: AP:Associated Press

Religious leaders hammered the headmaster for his comments with the Dean of Grafton Cathedral, Dr Greg Jenks, calling them "horrible expression of Christianity".

He told ABC: "It's a complete misuse of scripture, it's a very naive approach.

"It of course expresses the idea that somehow or rather what we find in scripture trumps what we known from our own observation and our scientific research."

Parents have slammed the letter that was sent out on September 26.

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Trevor Crawford, who has two children at the school; said he was "absolutely disgusted" when he read the newsletter.

He said the column was "over the top", especially Mr Lynn's comments about Greta’s mental state.

"To turn around and use her condition of Asperger's as a mental problem and that must be a reason why she shouldn't be believed, it's wrong," he said.

UN Climate Summit - Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg tells world leaders 'we will never forgive you' if they fail to act on climate change