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?

I just want to point out that parents do not have the right to turn down a primary school based on faith. I think it is a disgrace but that's the way it is. I don't think we should be funding them.

It’s 2018 - marriage isn’t just for a male/female couple.

No shit, Sherlock! How did I miss that?!
I'm just saying it stands to reason a catholic school will teach, ya know, the catholic beliefs. It's not exactly rocket science,is it?

The pope has said that "unions" between gay people should be recognised but that the definition of these unions contradicts the Catholic definition of marriage so they should be considered a seperate thing. He's also asked that Christians in general apologise to homosexual people for their mistreatment in the past

Catholic marriage is not civil marriage. The school has the right to point this out to students, on the understanding that parents have chosen to send their children there.

Fwiw, I live in the US where faith schools charge tuition and the public schools are secular. It's a great system.

It's a system whose guiding principles were hammered out in in large measure thanks to the efforts during the mid 19th century of a RC Archbishop of New York, who was known by the nickname of 'Dagger John'.

Like most RCs, he understood the difference between the secular culture and his religion.

Ali poor lass. I had a friend who was briefly out of the closet at university then firmly back into it when he returned back to his small town and deeply religious family. Last heard of "happily married" but suffering from long term depression. Also an uncle who spent his whole life unable to come out to our (very Catholic) family, even though his sexuality was an open secret. His boyfriend of 30 years and gay friends couldnt even visit him in his final illness or attend his funeral because he was so desperate that his "secret" be kept. A crying shame.

That not just the fault of Catholicism. Attitudes in general towards homosexuality were very different 10, 20, 50 years ago. As times have progressed, society is more accepting of gay relationships.

Sorry Dreamy, I’d not kept up with the thread and misinterpreted your post. We’re on the same page, apologies for being an arse.

you could sit down with your children and educate them yourself on what you believe? You may not be a teacher but you are a parent, and it is down to you to instil what you believe is right and to open their eyes to the world

Yes. Another voice of reason on the thread.Surely as a parent it's up to you to teach as well? I'd much rather bring my children up with a rounded view of everything, and knowledge of other ways of life. I think that's the way to tolerance and acceptance.
Not dismissing things off as "sky fairies" etc, how rude for those who do believe. Teach them that others may think this, but there are other ways of living too.

Yes, and it's no coincidence that hateful, exclusive attitudes towards gay people are declining in direct proportion to the secularisation of society. I look forward to a time when church and state are finally separated and nobody is put in a position where the local community school they pay for through their taxes is controlled by a religious minority with a vicious agenda.

That's mild, tbh.
Friends DC were taught that their mother was a murderer and liar (as she worked in palliative care and used end of life pathways)
But hey it's not like the RC church doesn't have form...this IS what you signed up for even if you didn't think of it that way...

My dds go to a catholic school we are catholic and I am a foundation governor there. Not a chance would bullshit like this be sent out. Our priest, headteacher and chair of govs wouldn't allow it. It would not be accepted by our parents or community it would be in direct conflict with inclusion and respect for all and create division.
We have gay staff, parents etc. I really believed this sort of none sense went out a long time ago. Our PHSE policy makes specific reference to inclusion and respect for different sexual orientation/culture and religion. They are taught about same sex marriage.

In keeping with the faith they are taught that sex should be within a loving relationship, which for primary aged children I am personally ok with. When they are older as parents we can discuss that this is a choice not a rule.

He died last July JJ, not 10/20/50 years ago. And a bit of recent whitewash doesnt clean away centuries of intolerance and homophobia (or misogyny come to that).

Sorry Dreamy, I’d not kept up with the thread and misinterpreted your post. We’re on the same page, apologies for being an arse.

That's OK, no worries
Easily done, just going through the thread now and there be a lot of crackers posts on here as in devoid of common sense crackers

Dreamy what would you suggest I do? I don’t really like the idea of dc going to a catholic school but it’s the only one with space in a 20 mile radius. I have to work, I am in no way capable of homeschooling or paying for private. He’s on the waiting lists for other schools but it could be for ages.

But not everybody chooses to send their kids to faith schools! If it’s the catchment school and others are full you get stuck with them! However if your catchment school is not a faith school you can often choose to send your kid out of catchment and get a faith school of your choice. Grrrrrr

Barbarian

It’s so sad, how lives have been ruined like that.

It’s shocking to me that both my parents were born before homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967. That my grandparents were around my age when that happened.

But yes I agree these attitudes exist across many religions other than Catholicism- its just that having been exposed to much more Catholicism than other religions I have a particular dislike of its hypocrisy.

It's sad that there is so little understanding of the Catholic faith. One thing that can be said for my Catholic education, I have a far better understanding of other world religions than more non-faith school.educated friends. Knowledge does a lot to conquer divisiveness.

I'm Catholic and would expect this from the school. YABU for expecting a Catholic faith school to teach things that are diametrically opposed to Catholic teaching. On the other hand, YANBU for wanting your children to share your views.

Either pull them out of the school and into a secular school, or do some home learning.

You have the opportunity to expose this schools bigoted views.... I’d get photographing the newsletter and placing it on Twitter

I think the actual problem with many of the views is lack of 'real' knowledge about faith schools. Shame really.

I do some work for a Catholic school and I can't see them sending out this sort of shit (I am a clerk to governors: I have no input or influence over anything that happens, I just take notes.) But we are in a very diverse area, so there are plenty of non-Catholics in the school, which seems to help them be more generally open-minded.

I don't really care for the fact that superstition schools are still being paid for out of everyone's taxes (and am appalled that people are pushing for these schools to be allowed to admit only people who pretend to have the same imaginary friend: very dangerous and divisive indeed).

Has your DC's school recently got a new HT, or new governors, OP? Given that you have not previously had any trouble with bigoted bullshit from them, it might be down to a particular individual coming in with a shit-peddling agenda.

Overall, probably best to a) fill out the form, making your views clear. It also might be that the diocese have handed down this crap and the school are going to tick the boxes then ignore it. And counter the crap at home. It's no bad thing for DC to be reminded that the world is full of different opinions, and that Teacher is not always right.

Like so many others I have no problem at all with private religious beliefs, only with the expectation that the state should pay for promoting them - or, even worse, bankroll religious discrimination around school admissions

On a separate but related note, I also wonder about the wisdom of putting schools into the hands of an organisation with a less than stellar reputation around child protection

Cuckoo - no such thing as secular school in uk

Reanimated, why do you think such condescending and disrespectful language is acceptable?