Would this make you uncomfortable?

[GoneAndDoneItAgainAgain]

Dc1’s attend a C of E school. It’s the only school in town so no real choice about it. We’re not a religious family, 8yo dc1 has said he doesn’t believe in God, 4yo dc2 hasn’t really thought about it. I’m happy for them to attend to the religion based assemblies, if dc have any questions about it I don’t say it’s untrue or anything, just ‘what do you think?’

Anyway, yesterday dc2 had a class assembly as they’re not currently doing while school assemblies. They were talking about prayers and how to talk to God. They were told to shut their eyes, hold their hands together and think about God and all the wonderful things he did for them. Then the lights came on even though the teacher was no nowhere near the light switch. Teacher told them the lights came on because God had heard them praying and wanted them to know he loved them. Children all amazed and coming home super excited about proof that God exists and listens to them.

Now, obviously I don’t know if this is exactly what happened. There have been messages between the parents on our WhatsApp group where we’re all just thinking WTF and that it’s really inappropriate. But, it could have been a power cut or something, or lights randomly just came on and reached on the spot decided to say it was God. Or maybe she didn’t say it was God at all and the kids just decided that’s what it was.

If it was as DC report though is that unreasonable behaviour by the teacher? It a religious school so obviously they will learn about God, I just wasn’t expecting the teacher to be faking his existence!

Oh that is all kinds of wrong. I am head of Religious Studies in a secondary school and this kind of teaching in primary takes years of unwinding when they get to me. I am actually quite disgusted by this level of indoctrination.
Suggest the school look at some NATRE resources so they learn how to teach RE properly.

The way I deal with this with my kids who go to THE ONLY SCHOOL IN THE TOWN which is also a religious one (and has two different Reverends come in regularly) is by telling the kids the truth.

Some people do believe in an all seeing, all knowing, all powerful diety who does nothing at all but threatens to kill you or damn you to hell forever for not bowing down and worshipping him.
If he did exist, he created cancer, aids and bugs who's entire purpose was to burrow into children's eyes and blind them. He has never been seen, heard or felt, there's not a single shred of proof but people still believe and we just need to smile and leave them to it.

Some people don't believe in all that. Some people believe science and logic instead.

We are a family in the latter category.

Boom Booms Cousin .Sorry of course not every parent has access to a car ,I realise that! However I find it strange that all local Schools are Faith based TBH! Surely the Council have to provide a non faith based School ? Due to diversity and so on.?

I tend not to think that the teacher pulled a stunt with the electrics.

Get the facts and then decide what to think and what to do.

Establish that there was no stunt with the electrics. If there WAS, give the school hell.

If the teacher actually said the lights coming on was God hearing them praying and communicating with them –give the school hell.

If the kids decided for themselves the lights coming on was God hearing them praying, and the teacher didn't challenge or correct that –give the school hell.

If the kids decided for themselves the lights coming on was God hearing them praying, and the teacher DID challenge or correct that and your DC and the other kids just made up the God story –that's fine but have a chat with your DC about it.

Those saying there must be more than one school, cop on to yourselves Those saying there are bigger things to worry about, indoctrination is pretty big.

The issue here is that by doing this, a parent has no choice but to correct the child on what really happened and therefore undermining the children's teacher and making the children not respect anything else that comes out of the teacher's mouth because "who knows if all this maths malarkey isn't all guff too..."
OR, the parent must play along and pretending that there is a god and he switches lights on for children's entertainment.

It's a no win situation.

C of E schools are weird. I went to one and they did things like this.

I'm not religious so I don't feel like it harmed me and I have nice memories of the school, especially the Christmas services.

@dottiedodah

Boom Booms Cousin .Sorry of course not every parent has access to a car ,I realise that! However I find it strange that all local Schools are Faith based TBH! Surely the Council have to provide a non faith based School ? Due to diversity and so on.?

I lived in an area in London where the only primary schools I was in catchment for (and there were quite a few of them) were faith based. The Lea did have other non-faith based schools that it could assign DC to, but they were a ridiculous bus journey away. We ended up moving.

I have friends in a town near Leicester with just one school and that’s CofE. Other schools are over three miles away, wouldn’t be practical without a car and many of them are also faith based. I don’t think it’s that uncommon if the town is small enough to only need one school.

The CofE was the mainstay of education in England for a long time. More secondary schools aren’t faith based because that expansion took place after the state took on a larger role in education.

But I don’t know of any obligation on councils to provide schools that match the faith (or otherwise) requirements of the population.

Just a thought but could it be the kids have misinterpreted a metaphor? I can imagine a Christian teacher (in school or church) talking about the light of Christ, and how we can receive part of that light and have it shine on us by doing things like praying, "just like when the light switch is pressed on, the light from the bulb hits you..."? Just a thought.

@AnnieOH1 - wow don people actually stand up and spout that shit 🤡

I can’t send dc to another school. I live in a rural. very touristy area. I’m really not just bullshitting that the nearest non-church of England/ catholic school is easily an hour drive (including a ferry crossing that is £2 each way with a concession). I work. I do not have time or money to spend 4 hours a day delivering my kids to school. As I said, I’m not even bothered enough by it to bring it up with the teacher. I was just wondering if it would make anyone else feel slightly uncomfortable as I just don’t think it’s appropriate for either atheist or Christian kids to witness tricks to prove God’s existence.

I’m more irritated that people seem to think that I’m lying that there isn’t another school locally. Is it really such an unusual concept to have one primary school in a town?

On MN it is.

You should see the threads about bonkers school rules where the ops are frequently told to move schools. Forgetting that in some parts of the country there deficits for school places. With set specifications as to how far it is acceptable to transport children in a bid to try and get them into a school .

And between academies being anle to set their own admissions criteria and faith schools its entirely possible also to not qualify for a school no matter how near by it is. I have one practically next door to me and I can't get in.

I have no idea where they have these notions we can just pick any school akd send our kids there

BoomBoomsCousin Thank you ,that is interesting .I didnt realise that the Church was responsible for primary education to such a large degree! My own DC went to a Church School which we liked very much .However friends of ours took DS out of a Church School as their DD had been bullied there!GoneanddoneitAgainAgain Sorry I was just surprised that was all .Obviously it would be impractical to make such a long drive for you and DC .Just didnt realise as said above there were so many Church Schools thats all!

This is kind of bizarre. They're pretending God is... a poltergeist?

Dc1 doesn’t believe in God really and having the lights come on didn’t seem to change his mind on that. He was more interested in trying to work out how the teacher did it. He’s always been cynical though and I don’t think he ever truly believed in FC/ tooth fairy etc., although that could be because I’ve never really tried to encourage him with Elf on the Shelf, reindeer food and stuff anyway.

Teaching children about god in a religious school = fine

Lying and possibly scaring them = not ok

And yeah, pretending that God can turn lights on is weird. Was it to prove God listens to your prayers but doesn’t answer them, maybe? I guess it’s better than trying to prove God actually answers your prayers.

Surely, if there were a Christian God (I am an agnostic) he would not waste his time turning lights on and off.

'The miracle of the Electric Light being Switched On' - why? .

Look it’s a religious school for children of people who believe that religion. You don’t believe and for some reason send your child to a religious school and yet expect that they teach your child to not be religious at all. You are being unreasonable to expect a religious school to be nonreligious. Send your child to a nonreligious school if you don’t believe in that religion.
It doesn’t matter whether you believe in God or not, the school is full disclosure that it is run by people who do believe for children who do believe.

The school is run as the town school. The ‘some reason’ that I don’t send my kids to a non-religious school is that I don’t have a spare 4 hours a day to drive them to the nearest non C of E school. I don’t have a spare £20 per week to spend on the cost of the ferry, plus however much petrol would cost.

There are 90 kids per year in my kids school. There are Muslim families, Jewish families and JW families who all have kids attending this school because not everyone has the luxury, ability or inclination to homeschool. This is really not an unusual situation for anywhere outside of cities and large towns. There is no choice to go to a different school because there isn’t a different school to choose. It’s really not that hard to grasp.

You can ask for your children to be excluded from RE classes, prayers and religious services. There will be other children in the same position.

[quote custardbear]@PlanDeRaccordement - education is the law in The UK. Local schools, especially where there's no choice should absolutely not have only a religious school in walking distance and catchment, sending them by bus or home education is ridiculous! First choice should always be non- religion linked, and if the brainwashing church want a school they should solely pay for it and have attendance a choice only, next to a non faith school - again back to my point - de-couple religion (except theory) from schools. The only reason they have them is to indoctrinate kids at an early age - brainwash whilst they're young by sneaking in through education - it's abysmal [/quote]
I’ve not caught up with everything but disagree on a few counts. There is always a choice of school, it might be further away but it is there. If I disagreed so strongly with the ideology of the school I would certainly not send my children there. I think going to school by bus is totally normal! I’m not sure what you think a reasonable distance is. Many children take trains to school too.

Secondly this country is C of E, it’s monarch is head of the religion and so there are many schools which are C of E. This is unlikely to change but if you don’t like it, don’t send them to a church school. We are very lucky to have choice in this country.

I’m not C of E.

@ChesterDrawsDoesntExist yes exactly - if you disagree that strongly with the fundamentals then surely getting the bus/driving/travelling further out to a different school would be a much better option. I don’t think paying to transport your child to a school that fits with your fundamentals is a hardship. I think most people pay for their children’s school transportation costs.

@RiftGibbon

I don't know about faith schools but I am a school governor and I'm aware that schools have an obligation under DfE regulations to have a daily act of religious worship. Personally I think it's wrong. Religion is personal and has no place in education. Morals and being a decent human being apply, but they don't need to be attached to belief in a deity. I'm still trying to work out how one challenges the DfE.

Good luck. I think you need to wait for us to remove the monarchy for a chance of that happening. Until they have no place in society we won’t be able to remove the C of E from schools.

Look it’s a religious school for children of people who believe that religion. You don’t believe and for some reason send your child to a religious school and yet expect that they teach your child to not be religious at all. You are being unreasonable to expect a religious school to be nonreligious. Send your child to a nonreligious school if you don’t believe in that religion.
It doesn’t matter whether you believe in God or not, the school is full disclosure that it is run by people who do believe for children who do believe.

Your comments are just obstinate. Deliberately turning a light on and telling the kids it was God, if that is indeed what happened, is not the same as teaching them about God. If you are Christian you believe that God exists on faith, without tangible proof like flicking the lights on to answer prayers. Tricking them into thinking otherwise when you know full well it was you, is just lying.

I wonder if the teacher was having a bit of a joke?

I blame all the mess in the the house elf (who is a lazy little sod).

Who left all the dishes in the sink?
House elf!

Where are my new shoes?
House elf hid them!

Who ate my last chocolate bar?
Bloody house elf...

Who used the last loo roll?????
House elf!

Can you iron me a shirt for tomorrow?
Leave it in the table and the house left might do it (or not)