A FAITH school leader has been criticised after saying ‘evolution is not a fact’ on a social media post.

The tweet by Christina Wilkinson, who is headteacher at St Andrew’s CE Primary School in Oswaldtwistle, has since been removed and the account taken down.

The post, from the @WilkinsonHead account, read: “Evolution is not a fact. That’s why it’s called a theory! There’s more evidence that the Bible is true.”

It was in response to a post by Tom Sherrington, a trustee of the National Baccalaureate Trust, who writes a blog on education issues.

Cllr Ken Moss, Hyndburn Council’s cabinet member for education, said: “Whilst there are many unanswered questions regarding human evolution, I don’t think we should be promoting any religious text as more scientifically accurate than hundreds of years of detailed study.

“In the 21st century, I would prefer that children are allowed to make up their own minds as to which presents more compelling evidence.”

The school’s website was also taken down and remained unavailable yesterday, with the school citing ‘increased traffic’ as the cause of the shutdown.

The school hit the headlines in October 2015 after a single mother-of-three criticised a decision to send her autistic nine-year-old son for lessons in Nelson after he was excluded from the Oswaldtwistle school "for his continuous disruptive behaviour" and for "refusing to follow instructions".

Victoria Ayres was told that son Michael could no longer attend the school with the headteacher stating that the youngster was excluded ‘because he ran away from the adults supervising him, refusing to follow instructions and for his continuous disruptive behaviour’.

Hyndburn MP Graham Jones said: “It’s a Church of England school and it will, of course, teach the bible.

“But it should also teach the children about other religions and beliefs."

“People will hold religious opinions and they are entitled to do that.”

A spokesman for Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education said: “As a diocese we state all schools should teach the full national curriculum which includes ‘adaptation of plants and animals and that adaption may lead to evolution’.”

Lancashire County Council declined to comment, while Ms Wilkinson was unavailable.