A Montana high school is to speak to students about tolerance after two members of its junior class wore "white pride" shirts to school.

Polson High School was criticised after its annual "colour wars" homecoming tradition which sees juniors wear white, sophomores wear blue and freshmen wear green was hijacked by a male and female student who appeared to make political statements with their shirts.

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One had written "Trump 2016 white pride" on the back of her shirt and "white power" on the front, while the other had drawn the confederate flag on the front of his shirt and scrawled "white pride" on the back.

The two students were reportedly asked to change their shirts, but not before they had posed for several pictures that found their way onto social media – prompting a barrage of criticism for both the students and the school.

Superintendent of Polson Public Schools Rex Weltz this week suggested the school would attempt to engage students on the topic, bringing in community groups to lead discussions with students.

He told MTPR: "We've had an outcry of people that want to help and support and come in and visit ... It's an amazing building with great kids in it, but they do make bad choices.

"Some of that's learned behaviour and that's our job as an educator is to help educate tolerance, and how to get along, and that people have voices and your actions might offend others and be cognizant of what that looks like."

The backlash against the school and students wearing the shirts included a rally during half time at a Friday football game on 31 September 2016, a day after the incident took place.