An Australian primary school banned a teacher after she told a class of six year olds that Santa Claus does not exist.

　　Angry parents from the Corowa public school demanded action when some children arrived home in tears after a reserve teacher, on her first day on the job, told them their parents brought their presents.“Santa Claus has always visited our house at Christmas,”mother Vanessa Lohse told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.“My three kids (aged five, six, and eight) don't believe Santa is real now -- it's really put a damper on Christmas.”

　　The school's headmaster Ian Paynter referred complaints about the incident to the New South Wales education department.

　　“She was a casual teacher but she won't be coming back,”a department spokesman told Reuters.“(She) was not disciplined but did receive counseling about the age appropriateness of responses to children's questions.”The spokeswoman said the education department had no formal position on Santa Claus but advised teachers to tell students to ask their parents when questions about Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy arose.

　　The teacher, who usually takes high school students, could not be reached for comment.