Mothers of boy children at Curro Aurora in Sundowner, Johannesburg, were left fuming after they were excluded from a school event in celebration of Women’s Month.
The private school hosted a Moms and Daughters: Wellness Morning event on August 31 in celebration of Women’s Month, inviting only mothers with daughters.
“Come and enjoy yoga, zumba and other interactive activities! Dress in your daughters’ house colour to earn points for her house. B-Active will host age-
appropriate activities for preschool mums and daughters,” reads the invitation.
Some of the parents approached the school to complain about the exclusionary nature of the event, with others writing to the executive of the school on August 22.
“It is unacceptable that in 2024, an event celebrating women would exclusively cater to mothers and daughters, thereby excluding mothers without daughters from the festivities.
“Furthermore, I am appalled by the response from the marketing team when this issue was raised. One of the parents was advised to attend the event with her mother or sister instead. This suggestion is not only inadequate but also deeply insulting,” said the parent.
“It fails to recognise the core issue and reflects a troubling disregard for the inclusivity and respect that should be a fundamental part of such celebrations,” complained the parent.
She urged Curro to address the matter urgently and ensure that future events are designed to include all members of the diverse community.
“All mothers deserve to be celebrated, regardless of their children’s gender, and their contributions should not be diminished or overlooked.”
Responding to the letters, executive head of Curro Aurora, Joanne Quick, said the intention of the event was “to bring together all women and girls in our school community to celebrate Women’s Month by attending a wellness morning focused on women”.
“I believe there may have been a misunderstanding when we advertised the event as a ‘Mother-Daughters’ morning. By using these words, it may have been perceived to exclude our mothers without daughters who attend Curro Aurora. This was not our intention at all,” she said.
“We apologise for this misunderstanding and would like to confirm that if you would like to attend the event with your son, you are welcome to do so.”
Some of the parents responded as follows: “We would appreciate it if the corrected communication clarifying the error could be sent before the event on Saturday to the entire school community to ensure everyone is informed.”
Quick instead requested a meeting with the parents. “The invitation to meet the parent/s who make up the group of ‘concerned parents’ has been extended and I await for those who would like to accept this offer to contact me,” wrote Quick.
When the parents said it would not be possible to get all the mothers to meet at such notice, Quick then requested the name and contact numbers of a contact person for the parents.
No communication was issued to deal with the issues raised.
Pressed for comment, Quick said Curro was glad that the Wellness Morning was a great success and positively received by those who attended.
“Despite an offer from the school to engage directly with those who raised concerns this invitation has yet to be taken up,” Quick said.
Lol….it wasn’t well received by all parents;) Love how it suddenly became a misunderstanding.
Ms Quick not the greatest fan of men it seems? Even little boys. Suppose, when education is secondary….
While I understand the argument. What about the little girls who everyday has to deal with boys. What about them who also needs time away from boys to celebrate their femininity with older women.
Agree
And at another Curro school my granddaughter was bullied and traumatised by boys, to such an extent that she is now removed from the school for her own interest. This while the so-called headmaster fails to address the issue. Disgusting…to say the least. You think you do better to get them into a private school, but there profits and fat salaries are more important!
Well why don’t they have a dad and sons day??!! Simple! Uproar about nothing. Girls relate to mothers/females, boys to dads/males.
Rubbish comment
That’s utter nonsense. Typical of a person who still live in the psychology books of 1800. Boy children who live with a single parent don’t relate with a male figure that’s absent
This comment is absurd. By that definition, boys who don’t have a father figure are destined to not become men? Why not ask someone who’s grown up without a father figure if this makes sense.
Quick is not educated enough to be in an education position as a head . Her history is hotel and restaurant management
unsubstantiated and of absolutely no relevance
Some people need to focus on themselves not try bring everyone else down
Sounds like a great initiative that some trolls have an issue with
My daughters son had father and son day but there is no father. He was quite heart sore.
I usually find the people that complain never actually volunteer or help at the school. Perhaps the complaining moms should volunteer to organize a moms and sons event.
We shall wait till you have a son without a father😇
You are right. Ppl are full of complaints. But will not volunteer there time in school activities
Why would parents volunteer when paying 100k per annum for school fees
Grow up parents and stop complaining
Why do people always have to rip everything out of context and create issues.
Just accept the invitation if it’s for you and if it’s not, then go and address it in a dignified manner and make acceptable suggestions.
People nowadays seem to thrive only if there’s conflict and drama.
Oh…such drama queens & show ponies.
Move on and get a LIFE….there are far more important issues in life….people are starving to death and dying in wars… children are being stolen and trafficked daily….just get over your insecurities !!!!!
Agree…Marlene.
I don’t hear the news being filled with these sounds of poverty human trafficking etc..
This was really unnecessary.
South Africa has a public holiday just for women. You don’t see the men complaining and asking for Men’s Day. This is typical behaviour of people with money. It is good for boys to learn that one day the girls in their class will be mom’s and they are special and must be treated with respect. Utter childish behaviour of these parents
Ridiculous petty behaviour of small minded people who are supposed to set an example to their children. Does every school event have to cater, include or celebrate every possible familial relationship?
What a storm in a teacup!
I think the issue here is a mom that will never be able to attend woman’s event organized by the school due to the fact that she gave birth to boys only and on that fathers day she will not be allowed to attend the event too because it’s men and youn men’s/ boys event. So where does she fit here and please don’t say the father will take the boys some of us are single moms.
Mothers Day
Great concept for wellness! However, we live in a fast changing world with new innovations and behaviours developing every second. Inclusivity is the bond of present and future times, this being said women’s month celebration should be a daily celebration by all whether male, female or LGBTQ should be the new norm. An event open to all is better all round wellness than a segregated gender event. Thank you Curro Aurora for the great initiative to highlight the importance of women in our lives, it should have been pronounced and advertised as an open event for all to signify the participation of all genders in creating a greater family bond no matter the gender composition. This is a dad’s perspectove in tune with the new world where gender specifics is becoming a non entity. Misunderstandings do happen when advertising is not broadbased and my “sympathy” goes to the school in this regard as Curro schools are forward thinking schools.
How truly sad this is.😓 So why not just have a family function celebrating females. Where males dad and siblings can celebrate the females too. With SA having so much gender based violence this helps our males understand motherhood sisterhood and yup made this up ,wifehood.😊 I am all for solutions. This parent will not go to the extent of complaining if there was no valid feelings in her argument. Take care everyone 🙏
If this was a valid issue, then why did these parents not attend the meeting as extended by Mrs Quick? Seems like a storm in a tea cup to me. Really childish.
What a beautiful school. Mrs Quick is an amazing head and i have the utmost respect for this school and its leadership.
Think this is totally un news worthy , and also a bit dissapointed that this is the low that journalism has got to that these non events make news, lets focus on the important things like kids sporting achievements , cultural events , pot holes , electricity etc etc
The fact that the school went out of their way to arrange something and some entitled people feel it necessary to pull apart , should really not take up any space on your page.
Really need to get the real stories , not that of people that are negative , short sighted and truly entitled
I think that this raises a fundamental issue in any communications and marketing field. The issue of celebrating women for women’s month is an absolutely wonderful initiative, but the framing of womanhood should also be carefully considered.
I don’t think the inclusion of boys is necessary in such an event if there are similar events that showcase the school’s commitment to celebrating the women in the school community regardless of whether they have daughters or not.
I think the parents had a credible concern in terms of the exclusionary assumptions underlying the communique about the event, but that the request for inclusion in this particular event might have been overzealous.
I also think that the school communications department appeared to be rather bashful in simply denying even sending a basic email out simply explaining the miscommunication and insisting on a more invasive approach that would require parents to schedule for additional communications before the event. I agree that it would be good to contact the parents individually in relation to this event in order to plan for future marketing and events and to address the concerns of the parents, but acting as though the school has placed the onus on the parents and that their inability to convene before the event is somehow indicative of a lack of credence is somewhat sly in my opinion.
Clearly, all mothers would like to be included in the schools framework of womanhood and clearly the school needs to consider additional ways in which it can accommodate single mothers and mothers of boys in the future. This is not a simple admonishment of “Bad school! Bad school!” but also a clear opportunity for the school to consider ways of modeling the type of inclusive and transformative planning and thinking that it would like to foster in the youth attending said school so as to prepare them for the world and the required critical thinking in the workforce.