I have to say something, don't I?

[specialgun]

Today my DS told me that in class he and all the other children who hadn't been christened were asked to stand up. The teacher then said to her colleague 'We should have a rule about this shouldn't we'

My DS goes to our village CofE school. Schools in this area are all oversubscribed and we'd have had to travel into town to find a place in a non CE school. I'm not religious and his father is a practising muslim. I accept that he is going to have a certain amount of religious indoctrination but surely this is going too far?

I hate complaining but I feel furious about what has happened. My poor DS was worried he would be expelled. I feel tempted to say he has been.

[Sparklingbrook]

That's awful. You do need to ask what it was all about.

[BackforGood]

I think I would want to establish what had actually been said. dc aren't always that accurate in their reporting.

[mrsbaffled]

I would be surprised if what was reported actually happened....

Besides, many many true believeing Christians do not Christen their children (like us) in favour of dedicating them, giving them the option to be baptised as believers when they are older.

[MerryMarigold]

How did you get in if it's over subscribed but you are not CofE.

Also, most kids probably don't know if they're christened or not! It's not like you'd remember, is it? Or talk about it on a frequent basis. It sounds a bit weird to me...

[Catsmamma]

i seriously doubt if that many actually knew if they had been christened or not.

[Sparklingbrook]

Do we know the age of the child? My two know they are not christened but youngest is 9.

[mrsbaffled]

merry our school is over-subscribed by catchment children, and CofE children get priority, but only a handful apply on church rule, so our school is in a similar position.

[AnnieLobeseder]

I would calmly ask for a meeting with the teachers in question and the head, more calmly tell them what you told us, and ask the teachers if that was an accurate account. Then, if they agreed that it was, I would not-so-calmly explode.

[mrsbaffled]

Are you sure it wasn't in the context of, say, a Maths lesson?? Eg putting things into sets (using a 'rule'), and perhaps one of the rules was Christened/Not Christened???? (which wouldn't be too weird at a church school)

Clutching at straws.... :)

[Hassled]

There's no way the teacher meant "we should have a rule about not making non-christened children stand up"?

Assuming no then yes, check your facts, ask other parents what their DCs said to them, make sure you're on certain ground. And then go nuts. Ask for a copy of their Inclusion Policy (might be called an Equality Scheme) where there will be something somewhere about treating people with equal fairness, not discriminating etc. It might be on the school website. See if you can find in there exactly which part of the policy was breached so you can quote subsections at them. Head, then Chair of Govs.

[specialgun]

We got in because its our catchment school, religion doesn't come into the admission process.

DS is 7. We had a beautiful naming ceremony for him when he was baby and he has some special souvenirs from the day, has looked at the photos, has the equivalent of godparents etc. Maybe we are weird

[specialgun]

I took it to mean 'we should have a rule about the children at the school all being christened'

[Tiggles]

I had a similar retelling of events recently from DS1 (9) who said he had been the only person to put their hand up to 'not doing something' and he had been laughed at as he was the only one. Had a chat with the teacher and his version of events was completely different - he had asked who did do something, and the results were fairly half half. So don't believe everything your DC say :)

[nappysan]

You are very lucky to be in such a school.

Think carefully about how to proceed and how you speak to the teachers.

A C of E school IS for C of E children and families, maybe there is a non- faith school that would suit your needs more fully?

[PastSellByDate]

Hi specialgun:

I believe that there is a move by the current government to limit faith schools to a smaller percentage of 'of faith' places vis a vis pupils living in catchment.

The British Humanist Association is campaigning against faith schools for various reasons: www.humanism.org.uk/campaigns/religion-and-schools/faith-schools

Their arguement is that it is unfair to local communities and to able staff who are of different religions or no particular religion. My understanding is that this is influencing debate in the House of Lords, who are rather rebellious at the moment.

Given that the CofE established schools to help educate local communities - it is rather ridiculous to learn that people living across the street can't get into the school because they are not regular church goers and didn't feel it was right to lie or stretch the truth. I'm fairly certain Jesus preached to whoever would listen regardless of whether they were of a different faith (and there were many faiths at the time).

Perhaps it is time from CofE schools to ask themselves What would Jesus do?

[forward]

I think that, as there have been several interpretations of what was meant from your reporting of the situation here, it's highly unlikely that you have understood what was meant from your DC's report.

At the same time, it's a church school, you should expect some bias towards CofE beliefs and they do christen babies, even if all practising Christians don't

[Littlefish]

Nappysan. You are wrong. A C of E school is not just for C of E children and their families. It is a school for anyone who meets the admission criteria.

[tethersend]

What PastSellByDate said, to the letter.

[tethersend]

And OP, you must say something- regardless of the admissions criteria, no child is responsible for their own Christening. The school should not punish (and making children stand up in front of their peers in this way is punishing) children for their parents' -or indeed the school's- decisions.

Appalling.

[exexpat]

Nappysan - "A C of E school IS for C of E children and families, maybe there is a non- faith school that would suit your needs more fully?" You are totally wrong.

There are two kinds of CofE schools. Voluntary aided ones are 100 per cent funded by the local authority and are not allowed to use religion as a selection criterion.

Voluntary controlled ones get about 90 per cent of their funding from the local authority, and they are allowed to use religion as one of the selection criteria, but they also serve the local community (particularly in rural areas) so distance from school is often the main entry criterion.

The OP's children have every right to be in that school, and every right not to be discriminated against on religious grounds.

And unfortunately there is no such thing as a genuinely non-faith school in this country, as even primary schools with no religious affiliation have to have Christian assemblies.

[QED]

I agree with exexpat (although think it is the VC ones that are 100% funded by the local authority - that's the sort my DC go to and am pretty sure it is VA ones that can use religion).

If you live in our village, your children would go to a C of E school unless you chose to drive them somewhere else - it serves the community.

[exexpat]

Oops, sorry, you're right - it's the other way round - aided is more religious, controlled is basically community school with a few extra churchy bits.

[margoandjerry]

nappysan, the OP's "needs" are for her children not to be isolated from other children or the school.

My children are at a faith school but I really don't agree with the idea that different children have different needs depending on their faith. Of course it's fine for a faith school to promote the faith they represent and if parents don't want that they can avoid that school, but it's not about different needs.

[MerryMarigold]

My ds1 is 6 and he wouldn't know if he was christened or not (he wasn't, neither did he have a naming ceremony).

I just find it HIGHLY unlikely that teachers would do something like this, and not expect to get into massive trouble. They wouldn't risk it even if (and a big IF) they actually thought it.