God and science!

[debs40]

Ok, here's a problem. My son's state infant school which is not a faith school but has alot of Christians attending has started teaching 'God created the earth and then there was light etc etc' as part of the 'light and dark' science topic ....science!

He is in Yr 1 and came home telling me all about it today. There was nothing to suggest this was taught as part of a discussion on theories about how the world came into being. It was taught as fact.

If this is right, this cannot be a legitimate way to teach a science topic can it? I wondered why the local evangelical church had adopted this school!

Any advice? Report this to a Moderator

[zippitippitoes]

have you cut and pasted this from another forum

[debs40]

Yes from theprimary education board - just looking for advice - sorry didn't cut off last bit!

[Clockface]

yr 1s often do cross curriculur topics / schemews of work rather than "subjects" in isolation.
Eg my dd last yr in yr 1 covered for "Light and Dark":

Diwali
The Great Fire of London
Making colours lighter or darker
Safety with matches etc
Guy Fawkes Night (v. basic)

So it's only just the start of term. Don't judge yet. There might well be more to put it in context.

[zippitippitoes]

well i wouldnt take your ds interpretation as necessarily accurate

if you would like a discussion on the curriculum for the topic why not ask the teacher for a chat

[debs40]

I'm not just taking my son's interpretation as fact. Another parent has complained that she saw posters in the class about the universe being created by God (there are 3 Yr1 classes). The other children are coming out with the same thing

The school trip last year was to a church.

A crowd from the local evangelical church have adopted the school.

It is all starting to fit together.

We were sent home a letter saying they would be covering 'light and dark' in science. I can't see how a statement that 'there was darkness before God created the universe' fits in.

I will speak to the Head.

[zippitippitoes]

on the plus side at least it says something for the quality of the teaching if all the children are coming out with the same thing

yes talking to the school would be the best idea

[onager]

Check it out and then if it's true complain until something is done about it. It's still illegal to teach it as science, but perhaps they have some reason (excuse) for it. Perhaps it's not technically a science lesson, but something like history of science. As in "people used to claim that lightning was from god until we discovered electricity"