The school that stopped a 12-year-old girl from wearing a Union Jack dress to its culture day has closed early for the summer after claiming staff had received "extremist abuse".
Bilton School in Rugby, Warwickshire, revealed it had closed its doors for the summer today "in the interests of student and staff safety" after the backlash.
The closure comes after Courtney Wright, 12, was stopped at the gates while wearing the Union Jack dress and told to change.
Parents from the school were made aware of its early closure in a letter on Thursday, citing "extremist abuse online and via our telephone systems".
"The nature and tone of this abuse has escalated in recent days, including person threats to our staff," the letter said.
Stowe Valley Multi-Academy chief executive Ranjit Samra along with headteacher Jayne Delves had said staff were threatened.
"While we have been working closely with our multi-agency partners to address the situation, our primary responsibility remains the safety and wellbeing of every child and member of staff," the letter continued.
"This is not a decision we have taken lightly."
FACEBOOK | Courtney chose to wear a Union Jack-themed dress to her school's culture day The school said it understood "the disruption" it would cause to families and the education of its students, "but the safety of our school community must come first".
The letter concluded by thanking parents and guardians for their understanding during a 'very challenging time'.
Courtney donned the Spice Girls inspired dress and wrote a speech about traditions and history as part of Culture Celebration Day.
However, she was stopped at the school gates by a staff member and told to change.
Bilton School's letter to parents
Courtney's father, Stuart Field, 47, said he was "gobsmacked" to find out about the decision.
"Courtney was so embarrassed and couldn't understand what she'd done wrong," Field said.
"She should not be made to feel embarrassed about being British."
Field added that his daughter "shouldn't be punished" for celebrating British culture and history, adding "nobody else I've spoken to can quite get their heads around it".
"Another with a St George's flag and another with a Welsh flag were not allowed in either," the father said.
"It was ridiculous. It just seemed anything that was remotely British wasn't allowed."
Courtney said she had "felt really embarrassed" where she was made to sit in reception all day.
"All my friends were getting angry at why the teachers were doing that because my dress was wonderful," she added.
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|Bilton School has closed its doors for the summer early
Sir Keir Starmer on Tuesday looked to have thrown his support behind Courtney after the Prime Minister's official spokesman said that No10 had always been "clear that being British is something to be celebrated".
"You can see that from everything this government does," the spokesman continued.
"We are a tolerant, diverse, open country, proud of being British."