A FORMER Malvern headteacher has called for an end to young people being called "woke".

Samantha Price, who was educated at Malvern Girls' College, said parents need more help to better understand the ‘new language’ of the younger generation.

Now headteacher at Benenden School in Kent, Mrs Price said all schools should host talks with parents on inclusion, diversity and gender to help them understand the “new language” of the younger generation.

Mrs Price, president of the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA), will tell her organisation’s annual conference that some parents are “deeply unsettled” around some topics such as gender identity.

But she will call on school leaders to challenge anyone who dismisses the younger generation as “woke”, “cancel culture” or “snowflakes”.

Mrs Price told PA: “I think that if they are consistently dismissed in this way then what will happen is that they will just give up.

“As they go into their 20s and into further maturity, what was such a passion for them when they were younger will end up just going by the wayside.

“Therefore we probably won’t see the level of progress in society – from sustainability through to equality – that I think we have the opportunity to be able to see and sustain now if we, our generation, handle this effectively.”

In a speech to more than 100 heads of private girls’ schools at the two-day event in Manchester, Mrs Price criticised references to teenagers as being ‘woke’ – which are meant in a derogatory sense – and adults commenting that they cannot say anything without being “called out” by young people.

She said: “It would be unforgivable for the older generation to close its mind to new ideas, to retreat to ‘the good old days’ and dismiss the energetic changes of this generation as something to be referred to in derogatory tones and sighs.

“What has really struck me is that this so-called ‘woke’ generation are actually simply young people who care about things: about causes, about the planet, about people.

“It ultimately comes down to something very simple: being kind.”