removing your child from religious assemblies

[isil]

Does anyone do this?

I don't want to start a debate.

I wouldn't mind so much if ALL religions were celebrated but it seems to me that it's just christianity. Just seen a note saying a vicar/priest person (tbh I can't remember which one!) will be in my son's infant harvest assembly... I'm not too keen.

 

[sabby52]

I dont do it as both my boys go to Catholic schools so there is only one religion taught, but I dont see a problem with it xx

 

[smelly07]

My daughters Pre-schools and schools celebrate all religions, i dont have a problem with it, we are not religious at all and do not belive in any religion, but i have no problem with the girls learning about them and deciding what they believe and would like to follow when they are older.

 

[lousielou]

My son went to nursery for a while and had a harvest festival celebration there about this time last year. I wasn't impressed when I found out, but bless him, he didn't understand what the vicar was on about when he was talking about God.

I wouldn't have minded if the focus had been on the seasons changing and the harvesting of the crops, but as atheists, the whole idea of thanking God for the harvest doesn't sit right with me.

We are home educating, but if we had chosen to send them to school, we'd have asked them to be excused from religious assemblies.

 

[caggimedicine]

Harry isn't at school yet, but I don't really like the sound of a priest/vicar coming in to talk to the kids about god and stuff. I'm not sure how they could do so in an unbiased way?!
I do want Harry to attend religious education classes, but certainly wouldn't want him to be put in a situation where an adult was preaching their religion to him as if it were true.

Is there a particular reason the priest/vicar is coming in?? Will they be bringing people in from other religious groups too?

 

[Wellington]

I'm a bit stuck, both our local primary schools are C of E controlled, so mine will wind up one of those.
We do not practice any religion, but also would like our children to be educated about as many different religions to help them to understand the differences between people and tolerance.

If they want to choose one for themselves once older, then so be it.
I'm not worried about them being 'indoctrinated' I remember having to say prayers before lunch at school etc and it hasn't adversely affected me.

I do remember thinking that the kds who were removed from assembly were a bit odd (I was only 6/7 at the time). To me it was just another load of singing etc.

We celebrate Chistmas as a family get together, but I do want my kids to know why we in this country broadly celebrate it in one way. Heck, even the Muslim family who lived next door to us used to send Christmas cards! I think it shows a bit of understanding and give and take in this world.

So, although I would probably prefer them not to have a religious controlled school, I'm not going to rock the boat and make my kids the odd ones out.

Just my personal thoughts.

 

[isil]

I think they go with the idea that the majority of the local people are going to be christians if anything... But I feel like all religions should be presented in the same way, unbiased and equal. It's really difficult.

Yeah the local area might not be diverse, but we're on the doorstep of a hugely diverse city. I just don't want him being told that what christians believe is definitely right, because as a family we don't believe that. I don't mind him learning about religions at all. It's great. But I want him to learn in a way where people say 'some people believe....' etc. Not sure. I might see how this one goes, and try and attend it if I can.

 

[JASMAK]

If it was just an assembly or something minor, no, I wouldn't remove. I don't think hearing about others religions is necessarily a bad thing.

 

[isil]

I don't think hearing about them is a bad thing either. I am concerned that it will literally be referred to as the truth and only religion though. They don't invite religious leaders from any other religions in (speaking to another mum with an older child) so to me, that it isn't treating them equally and is pushing Christianity forward as right and the truth. Am I making sense? As I keep saying I am happy for him to be exposed to different religions and learn about them. I think I'm just concerned about how it's managed within the school.

 

[Wellington]

Just speak to someone appropriate your concerns. They aren't unreasonable. You just want to know if its generally educational or preachy.
They are bound to have been asked before. Unless it is a controlled school- in which case, you might just have to go with the flow and redress the balance back at home.

 

[isil]

Thanks - it's not a controlled school. It's the only one in the catchment that isn't! I'm going to see how the harvest festival goes I think. I'm fairly sure parents can attend.

 

[JASMAK]

I don't think hearing about them is a bad thing either. I am concerned that it will literally be referred to as the truth and only religion though. They don't invite religious leaders from any other religions in (speaking to another mum with an older child) so to me, that it isn't treating them equally and is pushing Christianity forward as right and the truth. Am I making sense? As I keep saying I am happy for him to be exposed to different religions and learn about them. I think I'm just concerned about how it's managed within the school.

Well, I would talk to your child about it. What you believe, what others believe, and how he can choose what he believes....or whatever you want to say.

 

[Rachel_C]

Do other religions celebrate the harvest festival? I don't know, I haven't heard of it... I've never heard OH talk about the harvest after he's been to Friday prayers (Muslim), so I wouldn't be surprised if it's only the local vicar there for this assembly.

I would ask the school if they also have assemblies based on other religions' festivals. If they do, even if they don't invite the local religious leader (vicars are far more common than other religious leaders because of the population) I would be more than happy for LO to be in the assembly.

If they don't, well I'd still want LO in there because Christianity, in its many watered down forms and variations is still fairly central to British life e.g. Christmas, Easter are part of the normal holiday calendar. I would just make sure LO understood that different people believe different things. My LO is three now and she knows mummy does/believes some things and daddy does/believes other things. We try not to say "God does this", instead we say "I believe/Some people believe" but she knows that even when an adult says "God says" that's just what they think. We've tried to do this with everything, I think it's an important thing to learn so you may as well start them on it young

 

[indy and lara]

We cover all religions in school. My class have just led an assembly about Succoth (Jewish Harvest Festival). We have no Jewish kids in school. The curriculum we follow sometimes has a block on a certain religion but often all religions are covered under a topic heading such as symbolism. We teach from the 'Christians believe/ Muslims believe' standpoint. We do though have the minister in at Easter and Christmas as they are afterall Christian celebrations. We visit the mosque/ temple/ etc and parents often come in to share their faith with the kids.

To me tolerance comes from knowledge and intolerance comes from ignorance so I fully support the teaching of RME in schools as long as it covers all faiths. In Scotland sectarianism is rife in many communities still and we need to do all we can to break down this. We are an atheist family.

 

[isil]

your school sounds good! I found out that they pray before lunch yesterday. Hmm.

 

[RachA]

I was under the impression that most non-christian controlled schools were fairly unbiased and open to sharing about all religions - in fact i thought that all religions had to be taught according to the syllabus.

We specifically chose a CofE school as we are active christians and, while i am not opposed to my children being taught about other religions, we wanted Christianity to be the main focus. If you send your child to a church school you usually have to sign a form to say that you are sympathetic to the schools beliefs and therefore as such you don't really have a right to keep your child out of the assemblies. If a church school is your only option then i'm not sure if that you would the case. The town i live in has a large number of schools, both church and not church, and therefore we had our catchment school, which is none church, and the local CofE school to choose from.

 

[RachA]

Isil - is the school your lo goes to a church school? It sounds to me like it is. Do you have any other schools in your catchment area?

 

[isil]

It's not a church school or controlled or anything.

The way I found out was through the feedback notes on the recent newsletter for last academic year. Here's the comment, and what the head says in response:

"We would prefer for children not to pray before lunch every day." [I note and respect your view. I guess that once again we'd get a broad span of opinion on this, were there ever to be a ballot by mums and dads. Not that anyone's ever raised it before. A short
prayer before lunch is still said in most primary schools in Britain, as it has been for over a hundred years. ****** wouldn't 'go down the pan' if we stopped doing it, but I think that it encourages children to reflect on their good fortune in having a proper, nutritious meal each day. On balance I wouldn't want to scrap it unless there was compelling evidence that a majority of our parents were fiercely opposed to it.]"

I don't think my LO does at the moment, because he's in reception and starts lunch 10 mins earlier than even the other infants. I will ask him about it after half term though, as he'll start with the other infants then.

 

[isil]

The only other schools are a RC school and a C of E school.

 

[Wriggley]

My LO is not in school im just nosing in here but I will be wanting LO to go to a school that teaches about different religions and not just focus on one in a way that 'practises' it if that makes sense? we are not religion people but we are not against him learning about different religions