ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

A primary school was forced to hold an event celebrating Pride in private after a group of parents threatened to protest at a playground parade.

Heavers Farm Primary School had invited families by letter to watch the “Proud to be Me!” parade on campus.

It said it wanted parents join in celebrating “the rainbow of things that make them and their family special”.

However, the event was axed at the last minute on Friday after the headteacher received warnings a group of parents planned to hold a protest.

Instead, the school held an assembly and low-key parade in the morning, with parents invited into classrooms in the afternoon to learn about their work on diversity and inclusion.

Erica Chamberlain, whose five-year-old daughter Scarlett was due to take part, said: “She’d been really excited about it, and what she was going to wear to it, so we were really disappointed.”

The 39-year-old from South Norwood, who works in community development, added: “The very nature of a Pride parade is to be proud — not celebrate it quietly and non-publicly.”

Another parent said: “The parade was about teaching the kids love has no label and celebrating love in all its forms.

“Some parents have taken exception to this. They feel the school is shoving LGBT issues down the kids’ throats. This takes us back decades.” Susan Papas, headteacher of the South Norwood school, told the Standard: “We thought we would celebrate Pride month so those children from LGBT families would feel included and to show the kids that children come from different families.

“But some parents aren’t happy with the term LGBT and don’t want their children knowing about these terms or what they mean.”

She added: “We have had so many messages of support from many parents who are quite cross about this minority who they feel are spreading hateful messages.”

One mother said she took her daughter out of school on the day of the parade. She told the Standard: “There were dozens of us who were upset and waited outside the school office to demand a meeting when we heard what was being taught. I want to be able to educate my child on these things, it’s not just a matter of religion or our religious beliefs. We were going to write to the MP about it anyway but he turned up in the morning. So where can we go?”

Labour MP for Croydon North Steve Reed attended the celebration, tweeting: “With the wonderful staff and children at Heavers Farm for their Pride celebration — very proud of them for standing up for equality and diversity.”

Another mother, 48, said: “A number of parents pulled their children out of the school for the parade entirely. They just didn’t show up with their kids.”