No offence: Primary school in inner city Melbourne renames Mother’s Day stall ‘appreciation’ stall

A Melbourne primary school is renaming its Mother’s Day stall “appreciation stall” to avoid causing offence.

A primary school in Melbourne has announced this year’s Mother’s Day stall will be renamed in the hopes of causing less offence to non-traditional families.

The Brunswick East Primary School announced through its newsletter a stall to be held on Friday, traditionally called the Mother’s Day stall, would be renamed the “appreciation” stall, held on the school’s Acknowledgment Day.

The same move will be implemented in September when a similar stall, and second Acknowledgment Day, is held before Father’s Day.

The school’s principal, Janet Di Pilla, made the announcement through the school newsletter after consultation with the inner city school’s council, families and students.

She apologised for “offending” in the past.

“You will see further in this newsletter a fantastic poster for our first ‘Acknowledgment Day’,” the newsletter read.

“We will be holding 2 of these days each year; one to coincide with the ‘traditional’ Mother’s Day and the other to coincide with the ‘traditional’ Father’s Day.

“There has been a lot of discussion about the reason we celebrate these days and the naming of the celebration. I believe that days like this are important because we do need to stop and show gratitude for those around us.

“However, it is also very important that we make these occasions as inclusive as possible,” the newsletter continued.

The school has apologised for ‘any hurt which has occurred in the past’ and changed the name of its Mother’s Day stall to appreciation stall.

“I sincerely hope that this change in name will show that we as a community recognise that our families are not made up of any particular combination of people and that we no longer subscribe to a binary world.

“I am sorry that in the past we have offended some members of our community and I hope that this acknowledgment goes some way to address any hurt which has occurred in the past.”

Students have been asked to bring $10 to spend at the stall.

The Department of Education told news.com.au the school was able to make its own decisions on these kinds of events.