To think a school can't legally suddenly ban the headscarf for muslin girls!

[Headscarfs123]

So our local catholic school has banned the headscarf this week...disastrous for some of the girls but also against church advice that headscarfs are fine, against DFES advice about consultation and sensitivity to religious groups, against best practice as this type of change should involve the governing body? discriminatory on religious and sexist grounds...Sikh boys can keep their turbans.

Aibu to think that the school is legally in the wrong?

Yeah you said it was illegal, but you didn't check first or you'd know you were wrong.

Incidentally racism and sexism are not illegal either. Certain acts committed for racist or sexist reasons are.

Lots of people don't live in big cities, though.

Anyway, I object on principle to paying to support a publically-funded school that a) is socially divisive & b) skims off every pushy, ruthless, unprincipled parent for miles around when frankly, EVERY state school could do with its fair share of those blighters to fight its corner & c) my children can't access even if we live next door.

Private faith schools - different. Rather have mine raised by wolves, but I can accept that other people make other choices.

I posted and copied the actual law Onagar

Honestly you are living in some strange planet where reality doesnt exists!

Posie btw I realise now it looks as if I was directly accusing you of being intolerant to the point of it being illegal. I mean it generically not specifcally so I apologise I came acroess as I was personally accusing you. You have not been intolerant in an illegal manner. Sorry.

But very few state school is really open to all fairly

Where I live you have to be well off to afford the house prices that allow you to meet criteria distance or "as the crow flies" for the best schools

Therfore they discriminate agaisnt those not as rich

Or how about the ones who let those with siblings take priority? This is discrimation agaisnt only or oldest children

Many faith schools do let anyone of any faith in or no faith in, unless they are over subscribed. All they ask is you respect their ethos which think is fair enough surely. Catholic schools are very popular as the results for whatever reason are normally excellent. Perhaps if you removed the Catholic character these results would fall?

Schools aren't all the same for many reasons; the leadership, the teachers, the parent attitudes, how much funding and so on. Also I may get flamed but the fact is socio-economic status is the biggest factor to many pupils success. Not me having an opinion, this is what studies show.

My problem isn't so much with faith schools per se but with the fact that they discriminate against children on the basis of what religion their parents claim to follow. What about the children of Christian parents who themselves have chosen not to copy their parents views? Or the child of an atheist who decides they're are Hindu? It would seem a lot more charitable to have faith schools but allow anyone to go. At least that way they might actually convert someone.

Could be the same reason as someone opposed to Private Education would send theirs to a private school Riven. (Best not to get into things that we do that are hypocritical eh?)

Countless times I have outlined my reasons, countless, but for those without a memory I'll do it again. My children were at a fee paying school, money suddenly went boom and vanished....no secular school had places for both, I had just had a baby, by caesarean and life was unduly tough might lose our home, baby had dreadful reflux and also a two year old in tow, the first school (and only for at least six months after they started school) that had a place was a Catholic school. Home educating my children was never an option....never, a screaming and non sleeping baby put an end to any whim of that nature.

My children may grow up to be more tolerant of religion than I am, that wouldn't be a bad thing. They get told God is real at school, they get told it's merely a belief at home. The only avenue to come into contact with believers is at school, we save the truth for home.

Well yes Riven. Before we moved the best school in our area was about 1 minute walk ;but was Catholic. We knew we have more chance going if we were Catholic and lived in Poland.

But it wasn't our right to demand the school change especially for us just because we didnt want to add a few minutes onto a journey. The school was there long before us and was part of the church. We knew that the whole time leading up to school applications. It was our fault if we were ignorant to their admissions procedure really.

Why should we stop Catholic children going to a community were the could feel free to practice their faith?

I just dont see our needs as more important as theirs.

"They get told God is real at school, they get told it's merely a belief at home."

This is very unhealthy. Why not just tell them these are what different people believe; its your choice to decide what the truth is for you. You are merely indoctaring them yourself Im afraid.

However America is largely far more openly religious than the UK- so if people secretly think removing religion from schools in the UK will somehow eradicate it for good then we can see this clearly has no effect.

But Cocoflower, why wouldn't children who profess a faith (NB this isn't the same thing as 'children whose parents profess a faith') be free to do so in a secular school?

This is what I find so pointless about peoples worries though- you were probably all exposed to religion in school. Yet turned out atheist anyway...

so the hysteria about dc's being 'exposed' to religion incase they are converetd seems a little void.After all you are a living example, no?

...& also, belief in a deity IS merely a belief. Ie: what some people believe. Whether they are right or wrong in their belief is up for debate - none of us know for sure, or we wouldn't need to talk about 'belief'.

So ThePosieParker is doing exactly what you'd have her do, surely?

Erm....telling them it's a belief is telling them what people believe. But it is only a belief however you frame faith.

No Posie Parker claims she tells the "truth" which is very different.

No-one can say 100% there is a God or no God. So no-one has the truth for absolute certainity

I'm not worried about them being converted, tbh.

I don't want my dc to have to square (as I did) 'Sister Whatever is plainly talking utter loblocks atm. Oh, Maths. Suppose I'd better start listening again'

But I'm much more concerned about having them segregated, rather than learning with & from other dc from the same neighbourhood but a diverse range of backgrounds. THAT would be unhealthy.

'No-one can say 100% there is a God or no God. So no-one has the truth for absolute certainity'

Probably better not to tell very young children, without the experience to make value judgments re: the spoutings of adults in authority, that it IS the truth then, no?