‘Lack of cultural awareness’: Mother ‘shocked’ by private school response over national anthem dispute

An Aboriginal mother has taken issue with details in an email sent to her entire school community after her child refused to stand for the national anthem. Read the full letter.

A mother has expressed “shock” after an email was circulated to an entire private school community, suggesting she was not encouraged by the school to “disenrol” her child, who refused to stand for the national anthem.

Emails seen by The Advertiser show the mother, who is Aboriginal, had made multiple attempts to meet with Seaview Christian College in Port Augusta, to talk about why it was “difficult” for her child to stand for the anthem.

The mother said the incident, which sparked the downfall of the relationship between the family and the school, and ultimately led to the child’s disenrollment, started when her daughter and another Aboriginal student refused to stand for the anthem during a music class in early February.

Seaview Christian College in Port Augusta. Picture: Tom Huntley

According to the mother, and the mother of the other student, the two children were both given lunchtime detention for refusing to stand.

Following the incident, emails stretching from February 16 to March 11, show the mother had attempted to make multiple requests to meet with the school to discuss the issue.

On Monday, she told The Advertiser the school did not want to hear what the mother had to say, and that the family needed “to understand the position of the college”.

On March 7, after all attempts to “negotiate” a resolution, the school sent an email telling the family that they should disenrol their child if she did not agree to stand for the anthem.

“Regarding participation in the national anthem, you have been explicit in stating that you will not abide by the expectations of the college,” the email read.

“The enrolment of every child at Seaview Christian College requires a signed enrolment contract where families commit to fully supporting the college and to respectfully honour the college and its decisions.

“If at any point you find that you can no longer maintain the commitments made in the enrolment contract, we kindly request that you notify us so that we can initiate the process of disenrollment.”

The mother spoke to the ABC about the “blunt” treatment she and her family received, and that she had even sent an email asking if her children were still welcome at the school.

On Friday last week, the ABC published a story about the incident, which resulted in an email from the school which rejected the family’s assertions.

“The truth from our perspective, is that both the ABC and the family have chosen to turn an issue of student behaviour into a matter of culture and race,” the email read.

“I need to be clear. This is not about the national anthem. This is about a family seeking to pick and choose which parts of college life they would agree with and abide by, and which expectations they would not abide by.

“Having chosen to not meet with us to discuss their concerns, they also chose to leave the college voluntarily and to contact the media to air their grievances.”

Originally published as ‘Lack of cultural awareness’: Mother ‘shocked’ by private school response over national anthem dispute