School bans pupil Christmas cards

Pupils have been asked to send one card to the whole class

A Staffordshire school has urged pupils not to give each other Christmas cards because it takes too much time for teachers to hand them out.

Oxhey First School, in Biddulph, had previously used a school post box system to deliver the cards to pupils in different classes.

But head teacher Sally Oxley said this was taking too much time away from teaching children.

The school has asked children to send one card to the whole class instead.

The policy has been met with a mixed reaction from parents.

2ft-high pile

But Ms Oxley said if every pupil sent a card to each other there would be 8,000 cards in total to send.

She said in previous years it had taken 30 minutes each day to sort them out.

She added: "We didn't want to waste any teaching and learning time distributing cards and giving the cards out in the class.

"We've sometimes got a 2ft-high pile of cards to give out and that takes a long time."