Aibu in being shocked at this school newsletter?

[whensitmyturn]

Aibu in being pretty appalled at this school news letter or am i being naive?

Children attend a catholic primary school- dh is Catholic I am not. Never had an issue with the school, children are in the last couple of years there.

Had a newsletter home tonight saying that a new ‘children and social work act of 2017’ has been passed and that parents will no longer be able to remove their children for PSHE lessons but that the government are still deciding what content the lessons should have. There is a public questionnaire on gov.uk to write your ideas.

The newsletter then goes on to say that we need to ensure that things that are age suited to children get suggested and I quote ‘to avoid respect for alternative lifestyles being allowed to undermine Christian principles of marriage and family life’.

It then goes on to link ‘coalition for marriage’ for help with us filling in this questionnaire.

Coalition 4 marriage is a group that promotes a traditional family set up and states that children should be taught that ‘marriage between a man and a woman as the gold standard of adult relationships’ Also that ‘they believe there is no age-appropriate way to teach primary school children about same sex marriages or transgenderism’. In blinding hypocrisy it then goes on to say ‘we should be teaching children broad values of tolerance and respect’.

!? I thought that in this day and age in the uk even if you attend a faith school inclusivity was seen as important/ the norm.
Would you be angry at this or just see it as an unavoidable downside of attending a catholic school?

[Greensleeves]

I would be disgusted but not surprised. But my children wouldn't be at a Catholic school. You have my sympathy.

Are they going to be peddling this "marriage is between a man and a woman" crap during PSHE lessons then? Because if they are, I would be withdrawing my children and they wouldn't be stopping me.

[Jammycustard]

This illustrates perfectly why I wouldn’t send my child to a faith school and why faith schools as a whole should not exist. I’d be penning a letter to the governors to express my concerns.

[BertrandRussell]

Er- you sent your child to a Catholic school. What did you expect?

[Brokenbiscuit]

This is why I wouldn't want my dc to go to a Catholic school tbh. Or indeed, a religious school of any denomination.

Can you move them? What does your dh think?

[BertrandRussell]

And if you think they haven’t been exposed to this sort of bullshit over the past years you’re pretty naive.

[ElenaBothari]

Honestly I think you’ve been a bit naive about what your children are being taught if this surprises you.

Maybe take this as a prompt to sit down with your children and check they share and understand your values.

[parkermoppy]

I would be withdrawing my children from the school. Even if its handy/closeby, it's not worth it.

[italiancortado]

I'm sorry OP but if you send your child to a catholic school I'm not sure why you would expect anything else

[whensitmyturn]

Not this to be honest bertrand we were pretty young when we sent them only as I've got older have I realised it was maybe a bad move. I went to a c of e school and there were prayers, hymns and trips to the church nothing over zealous and up until now this school had been the same.

[Crumbs1]

It’s a Catholic school so why would you be surprised that the newsletter support catholic teaching? Lots of Catholics don’t suppport fully the Catholic doctrine and Canon law but the school is required to.

[Pickleypickles]

But its a catholic school and what they have said is what Catholicism teaches?

I agree with pp if you dont like it dont send them to a catholic school. If you do send them to a catholic school dont whinge when they get taught catholic beliefs.

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

Well you could fill in the government consultation to say what you think and not what they want you to say.

[grasspigeons]

I think its part of going to a faith school that you just have to accept that they are going to look at everything through the lens of Catholic Moral and Social theory.

[whensitmyturn]

We've taught our dc's the whole way along ourselves about same sex marriage relationships/transgenderism etc I just think school wouldn't be that blatant about homophobia in 2018.

[fc301]

Falsepriest 🤣

I'd be surprised if the Act quoted would allow the sort of bias that they are demonstrating here but maybe I'm the naive one.
I think a letter to the governors asking for clarification would be in order.

[allthgoodusernamesaretaken]

I think this does go with the territory of choosing a Roman Catholic school

[BooTimesTwo]

Born, baptised & raised Catholic - didn't get into 6th form because I didn't attend church 😖

[coffeeforone]

I wouldn’t be surprised, but if I had a big problem with this sort of thing then I wouldn’t send my kid to a Catholic school.

[Bluelady]

Totally unsurprised. And so rich when you look at the Catholic church's wondrous record on safeguarding. All you can do is counter it with what you teach your children at home.

[minipie]

Yet another reason why we shouldn't have faith schools.

I cannot believe that not only is this kind of bigotry permitted, it is actually funded by the taxpayers.

[EggsonHeads]

Well you got what you sighted up for I'm afraid. This is why faith schools shouldn't be funded by the government.

[LizardMonitor]

"This illustrates perfectly why I wouldn’t send my child to a faith school and why faith schools as a whole should not exist. I’d be penning a letter to the governors to express my concerns"

This, and I would fill out the questionnaire in a way that advocates against the school's position.

It may well be what people should / could expect from many catholic schools - but we need to remember that when children come out of school with a negative views of same sex marriage etc, and take that view out into society to our overall detriment, they have been educated that way by us the tax payer.

It is all kinds of wrong.

[CrochetBelle]

Leaving aside the obvious catholic-school argument, the Coalition for Marriage website states:

In particular, we believe that parents should have the right to withdraw primary school age children from Relationships Education classes.

which completely contradicts the message from the school via the ‘children and social work act of 2017’