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Headteachers at the schools in Clacton, Frinton and Walton area, have been forced to defend the video urging Britain to take in more child immigrants following the eviction of the Calais Jungle camp. Claims have been made that the videos were produced to help their pupils to “show compassion for other children". Furious parents took to social media to express their concern about the social media campaign, #StandUpForThe387, which is being co-ordinated by Citizens UK, a charity whose campaigns also include the Living Wage. Their views were shared on a Facebook group named 'Spotted in Clacton'. One disgruntled social media user wrote: “Kids at those age are like sponges. It’s almost like schools are brainwashing them in a sense.

GETTY•SG Pro-refugee campaign videos featuring school children have been slated by angry parents

My kids were in it and I’m fuming, it's completely inappropriate to be forcing kids to support something Angry parent

“All the schools are doing is telling them the sob stories.” An angry parent posted: “My kids were in it and I’m fuming as I didn’t find out until after, else I would not have refused to allow them to do it. “Completely inappropriate to be forcing kids to support something they have no clue about.” Ukip MEP Bill Etheridge slammed the campaign, he told Express.co.uk: "How low can the pro-EU, pro-establishment forces in our society go? "It's a disgrace and the parents are right to be furious." Tendring district councillor Andy Pemberton told Express.co.uk: “I made my four children aware the school was using them for a political campaign. “The letter [we received] was ‘opt out’ implying the schools involved have taken a political stance alongside Citizens UK. “The letter was sent home on October 17 and the filming took place the next day meaning that the parents were only given 18 hours to respond, and by not returning the forms parents were giving consent [to the schools] –that’s what I didn’t agree with. “When the schools become academies the more distant they will become from Tendring District Council and Essex County Council. “Parents have informed me that their children have been used in a political campaign. The schools should have got full permission from all of the parents first – this is what people are saying.”

SG The children were as young as primary school age and critics say they've been "brainwashed"

Stephanie Neill, principle of Clacton Coastal Academy, a school involved, said the project was run by a youth leadership at the school. She added: “They came up with an idea to create a media campaign that could be copied from school to school. “The group delivered an assembly at South Tendring primary schools to help the pupils think about how there were children just like them in Calais but children who had lost everything. “The pupils involved in making a video to ‘stand up’ for these children.

“This supported our curriculum as it taught the pupils about the British values and showing mutual respect and tolerance. It was about showing compassion and empathy and would therefore be no different to supporting something like Comic Relief who are brining relief to children in need across the world. “This was about our children showing compassion for other children who have much less than them.” This comes after weeks of scrutiny following the arrival of the first children on British shores from the Calais migrant camp that has now been evicted and dismantled. Cash-strapped councils are being forced to pay out for care, immunisations, health checks, clothes and activities coming over from Calais, while closing libraries, slashing creche hours and scrambling to save money after massive Conservative cuts.

Migrant 'children' from 'Jungle Camp' arrive in the UK Wed, October 19, 2016 Migrant 'children' from the 'Jungle Camp' in Calais arrive in the UK to be reunited with relatives. Play slideshow 1 of 26