UPDATE - need to raise something at son's school

TBH, I wonder if you are being cynical.... but thats only from my point of view as a primary teacher who has also had children in her class whose parents have wished them not be involved in religious events etc....

My reason for saying that is just that sometimes it is so hard to remember everything, especially when its something that doesnt happen every week/day etc.

I know I have sent one of my students (a few years back) to an assembly with the vicar before when I wasn't meant to - but at the time had so much on that I just completely forgot.

I am unsure why he felt obliged to say amen etc though - as it he was told/ordered to etc then IMO, that isnt on. I'm not really excusing it - its really important that your wishes are respected - just wonder if its a more innocent reason than you maybe think...

I would get a bit more info from his class teacher first to find out whether he was expected to take part or what the purpose of the visit was. There is always a chance he just 'joined in' with the amens etc without actually being encouraged too, although really you have stated you didn't want him to go to church at all. Then I think I'd speak to the head and refer back to the form you signed, and ask him/her what the boundaries are between the first and second options, and mention that you were surprised that your son had been taken to a church and take it from there. Unfortunately I think most schools do have a Christian 'default' stance and probably don't give as much regard to atheism as they would to a different faith.

It is definitely something that you should bring up with the head teacher, although i doubt it was ignored on purpose or that they would have taken more notice if you were JW's.

How old is your son? Would he have been able to say "hang on a minute, I shouldn't be going ..." in that situation?

I'd see what the school have to say. I should imagine in this day and age if they paid attention to everyone who put down they didn't want to attend then there'd be no point in going IYSWIM. Having said that, if they're going to ignore your wishes they shouldn't ask in the first place. I'm assuming its not a cofe school?

I'm an RE teacher. How bizarre that you were asked to sign such a form. I've only ever been away that the default is that students have RE lessons and participate in collective worship as per the legal requirements, unless withdrawn.

If it's a church school, I would expect my child to have to at least attend, if not participate, in collective worship. At a state school, it'd be different.

However, if you've expressed a wish that he should not participate, then complain about it.

Oh, and when I've worked at Catholic schools, the athiest, Jewish and Muslim students came to the Masses. They had to go up for a blessing at Communion as well. We didn't have any JWs, but I do have several in my RE classes now.

Sorry - was meant to add that its def worth going and talking to or reminding them.... but I think the comment about you being treated differently cos you are atheists isnt probably true....

What about school assemblies - does he go to those?

It did occur to me that there might be an innocent explanation, and perhaps it had just been forgotten. Although it's not a big school - there are only 20 children in his class, and only just over 100 in the whole school, and I can't help wondering what the point is of asking parents to express a wish, if you're not going to use this as a reference to check which children are not supposed to be attending the church service.

quote:Originally posted by Consuela Banana Hammock
How old is your son? Would he have been able to say "hang on a minute, I shouldn't be going ..." in that situation?

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He's only 5. So no, not really.

quote:Originally posted by Ladelley
If it's a church school, I would expect my child to have to at least attend, if not participate, in collective worship. At a state school, it'd be different.

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We have nothing BUT church schools in my area - either Church of England or one catholic. And they are all very churchy.

In answer to Sunset, no, it's not a CofE school, or Catholic, or anything.

Regarding assemblies - yes, he does go, and actually it hadn't even occurred to me that there might be religious content in those. I had made a (probably very naive) assumption that schools had moved away from the collective worship in assembly thing.

We're in Scotland by the way, if that makes any difference to the legal requirements or likelihood to have religious content in assembly.

Most schools I have worked in that are non-religious (IYKWIM) have more of a 'special thinking' rather than a prayer or religious aspect... however, we still have visits rom vicars etc at specific times of year - harvest, easter etc.

My C of E school had a vicar led assembly each week but I think that was cos it was C of E.

quote:Originally posted by Ladelley
I'm an RE teacher. How bizarre that you were asked to sign such a form. I've only ever been away that the default is that students have RE lessons and participate in collective worship as per the legal requirements, unless withdrawn.

If it's a church school, I would expect my child to have to at least attend, if not participate, in collective worship. At a state school, it'd be different.

However, if you've expressed a wish that he should not participate, then complain about it.

Oh, and when I've worked at Catholic schools, the athiest, Jewish and Muslim students came to the Masses. They had to go up for a blessing at Communion as well. We didn't have any JWs, but I do have several in my RE classes now.

id="quote">
Perhaps the difference is a Scottish/English one? - I've just done a little research, and in Scotland the school must make parents aware of their right to withdraw their children from religious observance - this form is presumably this school's way of doing it.

Hi diamond Star- I'm a Scottish teacher so can maybe offer an alternative point of view?

It sounds to me, that the form was sent out to satisfy a bit of criteria but that at the end of term an Easter trip was arranged, and class teacher just included your son (possibly a bit thoughtlessly). Is it possible however that next term he will visit a mosque/ mandir/ synagogue?

As for the RE side of things- bizarrely (or not, depending on your pov) Christianity is a whole seperate strand of the old 5-14 RE guidelines, the implication being you have to do a bit of it, seperate to 'world religions' and the like even if it's just explaining Christians go to a church etc etc: but this should not be Religious Instruction.

Apologies, this is longer and wafflier than i meant it to be ? A casual 'Little Diamond went to the local church last term, will he be visiting other places of worship this term?' might be enough to get a few answers from his teacher.

DSH
I am a primary teacher in a non-denominational school but we still have an act of collective worship every day. All assemblies have Christian hymns and we say the Our Father prayer at the end of each one. Al children are expected to put their hands together and close their eyes during this part of the assembly.
We also have regular visits from the local vicar during assemblies, so perhaps this is something else you need to consider.

I have to say that I would agree with catcat's line of thinking that it could just be an oversight, unfortunately these things do happen. It is also possible that your views expressed on the form were not passed on to the class teacher (our 'start of year forms' go straight to the office, I never even look at them[:I]).
Hope you get it sorted.

Thanks cha-cha. Actually if it was an objective visit to the church as part of the RE curriculum, which involved learning about Christianity from an outside perspective, then I'd have no problem with it at all. If they were following it up next term with a visit to a mosque/synagogue/[insert place of worship] then all the better.

It was an end of term service though, specially for the school, and not a school trip to a church to see what happens there.

I think it's highly likely that forms were sent out to satisfy some legal criteria, but it worries me if they're not actually being looked at properly - where a parent has taken the trouble to give information to the school, I think it should be taken seriously.

I don't have children but as an atheist myself it would bother me and is something I've already thought about with regard to when we have children. Can you have a word with his teacher? I suspect it's an oversight but they should really respect your wishes.