A primary school has banned teachers from reading the Sun newspaper.

Beulah Nursery and Infant School in Thornton Heath has removed copies of the tabloid from its staff room after branding it "inappropriate".

Some staff were said to be furious about the ban, which led to claims the Furze Road primary was run like "a dictatorship" and provoked an angry response from the red-top newspaper.

An anonymous letter sent to the Croydon Guardian said: "The staff are naturally very angry about this because they feel like they should be able to read whichever newspaper they like in their break times." 

But executive headteacher Jolyon Roberts defended the policy, which he said was enforced following concerns from teachers.

He said: "What's happened is the Sun has been left in the staff room and some teachers and some other staff, have asked the head of school whether it can be removed because they believe it is inappropriate. 

"They are uncomfortable with it being there when there are young children around."

Head of school Philipa Mason implemented the ban, which Mr Roberts said was "not an over-arching policy" at Pegagus Academy Trust, which runs the school along with five others. 

He said "most staff" backed the ban, adding: "I do support it, absolutely. However that newspaper describes itself, I'm sorry - it is full of sexual content.

"I have a seven-year-old and I wouldn't be happy with her seeing that newspaper. 

"It is absolutely nothing to do with the Sun itself, it is to do with that kind of publication - that red-top way of being with the stories the red tops run. You know what they are all about. It is all euphemisms for sexual things, isn't it. 

"I'm an old-fashioned sort of liberal-minded person and I don't mind what newspaper people read and what they do in their own time, but I've got safeguarding issues at work and I need to make sure everything in our workplace is appropriate."

Seven teachers and a teaching assistant have resigned from the school this year after the trust, which began running the school in September, began to implement changes following a "requires improvement" rating from Ofsted in January last year. 

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Newspaper row: Beulah Nursery and Infant School in Thornton Heath

The anonymous letter, purportedly sent by a friend of a teacher, claimed: "Everything has to be done their way, no autonomy allowed. Staff describe it as working for a dictatorship."

But Mr Roberts described the staff departures as "reasonably normal" for a school under new management.

He said: "This is about school improvement. 

"The bus is moving in a certain direction and you are either on the bus or you make a decision to go take another bus. People make the choices they make around their career and what will make them happy.

"It is just purely about teaching standards and about the methodology of that and whether people are comfortable with that methodology."

He added: "We run five other schools, I've got 240 other employees and most of them are happy. So take what you will from that." 

The Sun newspaper waded into the row this afternoon.

A spokesman said: "Staff have reportedly compared life at the school to 'working in a dictatorship'. The first thing dictators target is freedom of speech so it's no surprise they've started by banning newspapers.

"Rather than worrying about what their staff are reading, the leadership at Beulah Nursery and Infants might want to try reaching out to disgruntled teachers and working with them to make the changes the school clearly needs."

Do you back the ban? Post a comment below or email letters@croydonguardian.co.uk