Schoolchildren are being taught that black people built Stonehenge as part of a push to "decolonise" the curriculum, a bombshell report has revealed.

According to research by the think tank Policy Exchange, the book Brilliant Black British History makes this claim and is still used in schools.

Written by Nigerian-born British author, Atinuke, the book states that the first British people were black and "Britain was a black country for more than 7,000 years before white people came".

Stop Hate UK said the book "is a huge step forward in ensuring racist attitudes do not progress into children of the next generation".

Schoolchildren are being taught that black people built Stonehenge

The report from Policy Exchange suggested the book is pushing the "diversifying" narrative "too far", with history in schools.

It found that 83 per cent of secondary schools changed their history curriculum to "decolonise" it, which tends to involve reducing topics that are too white.

It stated: "In some cases, this had a positive effect, exposing students to varied and knowledge-rich studies that better cover key areas of British history, such as the women's suffrage movement, as well as a wider range of world history.

"However, in too many cases, this process has gone too far, leading to the teaching of radical and contested interpretations of the past as fact, or with anecdotes of interesting lives replacing a deeper understanding of the core drivers of history.

"Numerous cases of poor-quality resources being used to teach contested narratives as fact have been identified.

"For example, one book used in classrooms claims black people built Stonehenge, whilst free resources produced by a subject organisation celebrate the genital mutilation of a slave as a form of 'gender transition'."

The research discovered schools had dropped key parts of British history, including the Battle of Agincourt, where less than one in five teach the topic, and only 11 per cent include the Battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo.

The report recommended creating a new exam paper focused on British history, with historian Lord Roberts noting that "it is vital pupils are taught the history of their own nation".

The book in school claims black people were the first people to arrive in Britain

Roberts added: "It is vital that pupils are taught the history of their own nation in a manner that seeks to do more than simply inculcate shame about our past."

Former Education Secretaries Lord Blunkett and Nadhim Zahawi also endorsed the report.

Ex-Conservative Schools Minister Sir Nick Gibb said: "Policy Exchange's report rightly identifies that the area where further improvement is needed is at GCSE-level.

"Where increasing specialisation and an over-emphasis on narrow 'theme-related' topics, such as health, means that too many pupils are never exposed to the full chronological breadth of British history.

"It cannot be right that a pupil could achieve a 'nine' in GCSE History and yet never have heard of the Glorious Revolution or the Act of Union."