A KIDDERMINSTER school faced a fierce backlash as parents voted with their feet after only non-English speaking children were taken on a trip.

Angry mums and dads have branded St Mary's C of E Primary School as "discriminating" as native-speaking pupils were denied a visit to Rays Farm, near Bridgnorth, while children who speak English as a second language were taken at the expense of tax payers.

Several children left out of the trip to the petting farm on Tuesday (September 30) and kept in timetabled lessons were taken out of school by parents, who claim not to have been told about the visit until pupils were boarding coaches on the morning.

At least one child is now set to start at a new school as a result of St Mary's headteacher's decision to only take non-English speaking pupils on the educational visit.

Sharon Savage, an ex-parent governor at St Mary's, has two children, aged six and seven at the school.

She said the money spent on the trip, given to the school by Worcestershire County Council, was aimed at improving English speaking.

However she and many other parents have agreed there were better ways of dealing with the language barriers and all children and parents could have benefitted from it.

"All the other children who speak English have been excluded from this trip," she said.

"My personal understanding to taking these children and their families on a trip to the farm was to help them with their English speaking, but why can't they do something in the school. They could have put that money to greater use for the children and their families and not made our children feel discriminated against."

Tracey Danby added: "I can't see how going on a school trip can help their English language? I'm sure if the children were to remain in school with all the English-speaking children and actually participating in English subjects they would pick it up a lot quicker than being removed from English-speaking children and being taken on a school trip."

One parent, who asked not to be named, took her two children out of school after one of them told her she felt like she was punished for being able to speak English.

She said: "I bring my kids up not to be racist but the school has singled them out."

St Mary's school's inclusion philosophy is "an equal value and respect for all" but the Stoney Lane school has faced allegations that they have set an example to all of its pupils that it is okay to discriminate.

A concerned parent said: "It's a conversation that no parent wants with their child regarding them being discriminated against at such a young age by a professional body that are suppose to protect and assist them to grow into responsible young adults."

Other comments stated the actions of the school had created a divide and could potentially lead to racism within its walls.

When approached by the Shuttle, a spokesman for St Mary's said the trip was designed to help one group of children and their families.

He said: "As a school we run a number of family learning projects on the basis of need that look to support parents of pupils when it comes to improving subjects such as literacy, numeracy and IT skills.

"Evidence suggests that by raising the attainment and achievement of parents the attainment and achievements levels of their children are raised too.

"This latest trip was one such example of a range of initiatives, funded by Central Government, which forms part of our engagement and school improvement plan."

A group of parents have contacted Ofsted as they feel the school has breached the Equality Act 2010 and discriminated against pupils. A spokesman from the education regulator said any concern or complaint received would be taken very seriously.