Too much religion at school ?

[Twowords]

How much does your child's school reference religion in teaching about something else? We don't identify as Christian or any religion and our child just started at our local village C of E school last week. We realised that there would be teaching about different religions, however the second day of school they have learnt Christian songs and the first term 'homework' has a big section to read out about Jesus, using it to explain respect, which in our opinion could have been done using loads of other examples in a secular way. Am I being unreasonable to expect that they shouldn't be pushing this as the first homework example? Is this common with your experiences of C of E schools?

My cousin (some years ago) was in an integrated school. So it is there. But again the thing of having to move to access it. It is rubbish!

Kindly, a Church of England school has the Christian faith at the centre of its whole ethos and vision.

If you want secular, send your children to a non-denominational school.

Even if you're not a Christian, the Bible is an extremely significant text that has influenced the culture more than you could imagine. So many of the basic principles we take for granted came from Jesus's teachings and even parts of the Old Testament law. I think it's important for children to learn how to navigate it as a literary text - it will help them when they come to study subject like English Literature later on, as they'll be able to pick up on biblical references. Learning to be biblically literate from a young age is a great life skill, especially in academia.

@12moose If you read the thread, you'll see that nobody disagrees with you!

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@Mammyloveswine in England a non-denominational school is still a Christian school but it historically accepted children of all Christian faiths. A community school is the nearest to a secular school although as has been said, the amount of worshipping is purely up to the whims of the HT.

I wasn't saying people disagreed with me, I was just adding to the discussion.

You could make exactly the same argument about philosophy. Let's teach that instead and give kids some critical thinking skills.

If it's a local village school, the OP may not have much choice in the matter.

I don’t know what you were really expecting from a C of E school? My DC goes to a religious school and it was made very clear that they would do regular collective worship, learn religious song, celebrate religious festivals etc… the religious aspect is very clearly at the heart of the school ethos. Did you not have any parent information evenings or such before your DC started?

FWIW in my mum's rural village, there are three primaries within a 6-mile drive, all C of E. The nearest non-C of E primary is a good seven or eight miles at least. 57% of C of E primaries are rural so most C of E schools are where there is little realistic alternative provision.

Some people just do not have the option to “move”. For some people it’s not possible

But in that situation there would be genuinely people who categorically could not move, who would be stuck, because that is the only school for miles, and miles, and they don’t drive (for example) and they do not have the money to move, they have zero family support etc. And that’s one out of many potential scenarios where it’s not possible just to “move”, and this is how parents end up having their children in religious schools being taught religion as being a fact because it’s the only school in the area and they actually, categorically do not sadly have any other choice!!

And anyway- why should anyone have to move to go to a tax payer funded state school without compulsory Christian worship? I repeat- tax payer funded.

@7Worfs
Are not not aware that many DC are in schools like that? I’ve seen drug dealing near our local CofE school in London with pupils walking by.

What schools lose 100% of their pupils when there are issues? None. That’s because there are no spaces elsewhere or parents do not have the ability to move Dc. Most parents rely on others to improve the school.

You're sending them to a Christian school! Of course they'll learn about about Christianity. That's the whole point of C of E schools.

@SallyWD "You're sending them to a Christian school! Of course they'll learn about about Christianity. That's the whole point of C of E schools."

No. Learning about Christianity is one of the points of schools in general. What's happening in this-and many other faith schools is learning how to practice Christianity. These are two very different things.

Yes agreed and that's what I meant really. My daughter goes to a C of E high school and they are taught Christianity as if it is fact. However, she proudly declares she's not a Christian. I also went to a c of E primary and high school and have to say the teachers were not successful in indoctrinating the kids.
The point I was making (as many others gave said) is that this is what you have to expect at a Christian school, just as you'd be taught Islam as fact at a Muslim school. It shouldn't come as a surprise to OP.

You should not have to expect what the DD was asked to learn and what was brought home. It is about practicing Christianity and not RE as the agreed syllabus. Schools are required to have the act of worship. I guess hymns help this but bible sayings?

No one could find an Islamic school in a village. Catholic ones are pretty rare too. It’s only CofE usually. So other comparisons are spurious.