School becoming increasingly religious alongside loss of staff...

[Atheistmum]

NC for this as the details will be potentially outing.

So both my DC ages 6 and 10 attend a local state C of E primary school.

We have only two schools in the small town in which we live, the large C of E and another small Catholic one. Having been educated through the Catholic school system Myself, I was keen to avoid a ‘faith’ education for my kids however we have no secular option in this town or indeed in any of the local smaller surrounding towns and villages. So we were stuck with opting for the educationally ‘outstanding’ C of E school.

Until recently all has been well, the expected low level religious the,es woven in, however a new head was appointed about a year ago, and since then 6 or 7 members of staff have left including the deputy and assistant head and another Head of year all put down to ‘ people moving on to further their careers’.

In this time there has also been an increasing religious emphahsis underpinning an awful lot of what is done at the school, All assemblies are now religious based, local vicar comes in to school multiple times per week to teach, both of my kids come home singing what sound like evangelical christian songs!!

My eldest told me about a lesson wherby a picture of a sign was put up in class with a list of many faiths all pointing the ‘wrong’ way and only christianity pointing the ‘right’ way, he was actively concerned about this as there are kids of others faiths who have no choice but to attend the school!

Now my AIBU is basically aibu to email concerns about this, who to and how can I word it? I realise that the school is controlled to a certain extent by the church ( i fundamentally disagree with schools being used to indoctrinate young people but given we have no other option I am stuck with this) and l can live with it if its just about learning about and participating in mainstream stuff like easter, harvest festival, nativity etc however more and more of the kids learning is being based on religious content and I am really uncomfortable with this.

The head himself is obviously a deeply religious man and I am concerned that he is using the school to further his agenda.

The law requires a daily act of collective worship that is Christian in nature.
New heads often find therevis a churn of staff. It happens in most organisations.
Shocking that children should learn a few hymns!

Ffs people. There are loads of places where the only local school is a VA CofE school. They serve the community as well as the congregation. In fact where we used to live distance was equal priority to faith based requirements. It is not unreasonable to expect a school under these circumstances to have a gentle nod to the rhythms of the church calendar rather than be full on evangelically Christian. YANBU OP but I have no idea what you do about it.

Bluedog my assumption was based on your response but I apologise in having misinterpreted.

I cant understand the daily act of worship, what about secular schools, they dont do this do they?

In trms of other schools, the only secular option is around 18 miles away (we live in a low density poluation areas, not like big towns and cities which I imagine there are many more schools potentially??)

I simply cant get them there and back and to work so its not a genuinely viable option.

Shocking that children should learn a few hymns!

Did you read the op or did you cut and paste from the terminally offended CofE hymn sheet?

How does your sound-bite tally with classroom teachings that the facets of other religions are "wrong"?

Secular schools, as you call them, do have to do this. Every school in the Uk does.

Thanks cyclingforcake, exactly, I am looking for some inspiration as to how to gently and respectfully push back a bit 🙁.

It's a faith school...

I'm a vicar and governor of our local CofE school. My kids go there.

The list of 'right and wrong ways' is totally inappropriate and something I would want to challenge to! All assemblies have to have a faith aspect to them but that doesn't mean they all have to be evangelistic.

How approachable is the head? That would be my first port of call, asking them about how the Christian ethos of the school takes into account all faiths and none. They should be able to give you a coherent answer to that.

It’s a faith school. I’m sorry but what do you expect?

They will have a CofE stance because they are a CofE school

Just to clarify: i do not object to children being taught christian ‘values’, learning hymns or taking part in christian festivals. I do not mind them being taught about christianity in the context of other religions.

I do mind my children coming home singing multitudes of songs all about submitting to God, Jesus etc and all that entails.

I also mind aout more and more time being spent on RE and lost to learning other (sorry, but way more useful) subjects.

I also mind that obviously many of the excellent teachers are leaving, in droves to what I suspect is ( to them) an ideological shift.

I would not, and did not, send my children to a school which had the teachings of a faith I did not beleive in.

I limited my own job opportunities to do so. I’m not sure with hindsight it was the right thing to Do, but I had good reasons at the time to do with the staff and ethos of the school in question.

Mine went to a secular school and came home singing Jesus songs.

Thank you pilou, I think you are right hiwever I quite worried about how to actually broach this subject.

Bluedog, I am glad you were able to find a workable solution in your circumstances, however I have not been able to unfortunately.

There are no "secular" schools in the UK.

Non denominational is the best hope we have.

I feel for you. I would be happy for my children to attend a christian school, but I think this choice should be in ADDITION to there being a secular option. I don't think it is acceptable that there is no secular state funded school within reasonable distance.

I'm surprised others think it is OK in 2018 for no secular state education to be available.

I think you need to use your influence at home to ensure your kids get other points of view than the one taught at school. Maybe also take up with your LEA. I think the 'other faiths pointing the wrong way thing' is going too far tbh.

I cant understand the daily act of worship, what about secular schools, they dont do this do they?

There are no truly secular state schools in the U.K. All schools have to do this.

I'd be concerned about the "wrong" element. No school should be teaching that other religions are wrong.

A new Head can completely change the ethos of a school. Sometimes that's a good thing, but sometimes it's really not.

Not all faith schools receive funding from the church either. A voluntary controlled one normally just has a vicar on the governing body and no extra funding coming from the church at all, normally historically a bit of land was given.
It drives me mad that this country allows state religious schools and often there isn't an alternative however often people say just go to another school - in an over subscribed area you go to the school you are allocated or no school.

The lack of availability of secular state education in the UK for those who want it is shocking and a huge disservice to the population as a whole.

The religious worship ethos of the school is the Governors' responsibility. So maybe start with them? Write and ask what the policy is and why it has changed? Do you have parent governors? Can you try and campaign to get parent governors with secular values elected next year?

I would also start talking to other parents and consider organizing a mass withdrawal of children from collective worship. The normal problem with withdrawal is that it Others children, but if there are lots of non-CofE children in the school who don't like the current policy then you may be able to overcome that with a big enough coordinated withdrawal that it doesn't make your children feel excluded.

The sign about wrong paths is outrageous. Check the school's complaints policy, but I would assume you need to complain to the Head in the first instance and then go to the governors if no joy.

I also mind that obviously many of the excellent teachers are leaving, in droves to what I suspect is ( to them) an ideological shift.

Well you don't know that is he reason though do you? My DC 'non religious' school has lost quite a few teachers recently for various reasons. All perfectly legitimate ones.

YANBU and don't deserve some of these responses. I would write a letter of concern to the Head, copying in the governors, and withdraw your dcs from RE lessons. I think they will deny the signpost lesson.

It’s really about time there were secular schools in the UK, to reflect that there are more non-religious people than Christians in the country.

But there aren’t and I don’t think it’ll happen soon. And I don’t think there’s a solution to your underlying problem OP.

The poster with the signs definitely sounds inappropriate and may be worth speaking with the head about, but if he’s driving away droves of staff I wouldn’t expect him to be receptive:

Even non-dom schools still teach about religion.
OP you seem determined that staff are leaving because of the HT yet have offered nothing to support this. Likewise nothing to support that the balance of the curriculum has changed.
If all the other parents are happy with the school, do you honestly think it should shift it's focus to meet your desires?
As for the lack of an alternative in your immediate area, it surely isn't news to you that many people choose where they live based on the schools. You definitely wouldn't be the first parent to move house to get closer to a school that suits them better. And since you seem to have a real objection to religious education then a move to a different catchment would make sense. Although I think you'll struggle to find one that meets your criteria.

To be honest I would first approach the school and question the increased "religious" bent, and any lack of inclusiveness.

If you get not joy I would actually approach the C of E diocesan Education person, because certainly in my diocese signs showing all other religions pointing the wrong way would not be acceptable. And actually this kind of thing could lead to them failing their C of E based RE "Ofsted".
Evangelical songs I would ignore - may just be trying to be more fun and relevant, and with catchy tunes. Lots of the Vicar and no other religious leaders visiting would also make me raise questions - and I have no idea how your Vicar finds time to be in school that much, none of the many I know have that much free time.