A grammar school has come under fire after pupils were invited to wear clothes with stars on to "celebrate Brexit".

Pupils at Invicta Grammar School, in Hunstman Lane, Maidstone were sent an email yesterday inviting them to wear clothing adorning stars on March 29.

However, head teacher Julie Derrick has since written a follow up message to tell students the dress down day has nothing to do with Brexit.

The original email said: "As we look forward to seeing you in your Red Nose accessories tomorrow, I wanted to let you know about the plans for our next RAG non-uniform day plans.

"The next event falls on Friday, March 29, and we have decided that as this is/maybe a significant day for the UK that we would celebrate in style and encourage you to wear stars on the day.

"Don't worry if you don't have any items covered in stars although feel free to decorate yourselves if you wish!"

A pupil, who did not want to be named, said a number of pupils felt this promoted a political bias towards Brexit while some questioned why they should be asked to celebrate the day.

They said: "Invicta Grammar School has planned a non-uniform day on March 29 telling students to 'celebrate in style' Britain's planned departure for the EU by encouraging them to wear stars, presumably somewhat ironically inspired by the EU flag.

"This has caused something of a ripple among students as many view it as a politically-charged theme that reveals a bias from the senior leadership team as students have been asked to 'celebrate' a day that surely they will have a vast variation of feelings about.

"This has surprised many as Invicta is a school that prides itself on Internationalism, as many feel this email and poster express a strong pro-Brexit message."

Mrs Derrick quickly follow up yesterday's email and said the non-uniform day on March 29, where pupils remain invited to wear clothes with stars on, has absolutely nothing to do with Brexit.

She said: "All our non-uniform days at Invicta Grammar School are run with the sole aim of raising money for our chosen charities which, this year, are Therapy Partners, Breast Cancer Kent, Holding On Letting Go, Ronald McDonald House Charities and Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

"The theme for our non-uniform day on March 29 is stars and is for all of our students’ own interpretation.

“Unfortunately, the original email which went out to students about this non-uniform day was not checked through me, which is normal procedure, and as a result was advertised in a way which could be misinterpreted.

“I have since sent out a further email to clarify that this non-uniform day is not linked in any way to Brexit. Indeed, Invicta Grammar School has always prided itself for our core value of internationalism and our global outlook.”

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