UK school called 'Isis Academy' forced to change name

The academy in Oxford has rebranded itself to avoid confusion with terrorist organisation Islamic State

A school called The Isis Academy has been forced to change its name following jokes about pupils being trained as terrorists.

The school in Oxford, United Kingdom was given the name three years ago after it became an academy; however it has now rebranded itself as The Iffley Academy to avoid confusion with the terrorist organisation, Islamic State.

The Academy was named after the part of River Thames, which flows nearby known as The Isis. But the school started receiving "negative comments" from contractors.



Headmistress Kay Willett took action after being asked "are you training the children to become terrorists?" and finding photographs of pupils and terrorists when she ran a search for the school online.

"We had negative comments from the wider community such as contractors and people who were coming to do work for us," she said.

"You would give the address out on the phone and when you said 'Isis', the person would pause and say 'oh'."

"Anybody who did not know the nature of the school would make comments such as, “are you training the children to be terrorists?”



Speaking about how the name was affecting the pupils she said: "The children themselves were beginning to pick up on the fact that there were negative comments and we wanted them to be able to be proud of their school."

Headmistress Kay Willett. PHOTO: MailOnline

The students were content with the name change, the headmistress added.

"Many of our students aged 10 to 18 have autism and mental health needs, and they rely on us to give out positive messages about life.

However, other organisations named after the river are sticking by their names.

"We are still Isis. It seems like people are calling the terrorist group 'Daesh' now anyway," said electrician Chris Carey of Isis Electrical.

This article originally appeared on MailOnline