Year 8 students were given a home to plan their own funerals, pick the preferred locations of their funerals, and how they would like the guest dressed when they come to the funeral. This assignment for the 13 year-olds has angered parents.
Parents have expressed their anger after their children were given a homework task that involved planning their own funerals. The task was given to 13-year-olds year eight students from St Paul’s Catholic School in Leicester.
Students supposed to plan their own funerals
The assignment was a religious homework task that asked these students to pick their flowers and coffins preferences during their own funerals. For 13 year-olds who ‘preferred’ cremations rather than being buried, the assignment had questions on what to do with their ashes. Some of the options for cremation included if these students would like their ashes scattered and where.
Students who said that they would like to be buried were also asked to pick their preferred locations for their burial. They were also asked to pick who they would invite in their funerals, the clothes they would like to be buried with and what they would like the guests in their funeral wear.
The assignment comes amidst the spread of coronavirus in the UK that has caused over 40,000 fatalities in the country.
Parents angered
The questioning angered parents whose children were given the assignment and the sheer lack of consideration by the school that some of the children who were given the homework may have been impacted by the coronavirus and some of their relatives or their family friends might have succumbed during the lockdown period. There have also been concerns about the impact of coronavirus on children’s mental health, which concerned many parents about the homework.
One parent took to social media and posted a picture of the assignment that her child had come home with. Gemma Marston’s post on Facebook attracted other parents to weigh in on the subject, with many agreeing with her that she was not overreacting when she complained that the assignment asking children to plan their own funerals went too far.
The school has since sent out an apology claiming that the homework was sent out ‘in error’.
Featured image by Pixabay
