Question for non Christian parents whos children attend church schools.

[pinkmagic1]

I am starting to think about a future school for DS. We may not even be in this country when he starts school but I want to cover all my options and reserve a place at a good school.
The problem is that although I am Christian, my husband is Muslim and the two best schools in the area are church affiliated. My DH would not be very comfortable with DS having Christianity forced upon DS and neither would I for that matter. I think schools should teach all the major religions without putting too much emphasis on any one.
I would like to know how others find church affiliated schools.

I am a Muslim and I attended a CofE school as it was the best I could go to in the are. My mum was a bit worried so she asked my grandfather about it and he said we all believe in the same God. I had no problems mainly because I had a pretty good connection with my own religion. We did have to attend church at the end of term and had to study Religious Studies which was part Bible study and part social studies (debating drugs, abortion, divorce). I actually found it very interesting.

The only "problems" I had were with my RE teacher, who was really lovely but was always ramming the Israeli party line down our throats - she made us watch completely one-sided films about how Israel was created, and she had a thing about Armageddon, taking us to watch films about the end of the world.

I think you have to look into that particular school. I am also in a mixed relationship and the junior school that our kids should attend is a cofe. I agree with you and I'm not happy with it, but it is a good school and I've found that it isn't rammed down their throats so to speak. The catholic school on the other side of town is completely different. ds goes to a nursery which shares is grounds with the school, but isn't supposed to be affiliated with it. I was rather shocked to find him attending a collective worship mass sort of thing at the school one day a few weeks ago.

BTW forgot to mention mine was secondary school - I think if you're talking about primary schools then that's a whole different kettle of fish.

I used to teach in a church affiliated christian secondary school 9although I am an atheist myself). The national curriculum says you have to teach about all religions in RE lessons.

I guess the main problem you might have is with assemblies and services. The one I taught at used to have assemblies where the only Christian bits really were maybe a reading from the Bible, a prayer at the end, and maybe a hymn. Otherwise the message was pretty general. We had church services about once a term, but the Muslim/Jewish/non-Christian children were allowed to miss it with a letter from parents. If I were you, I'd go and visit the schools and find out their policies in this area.

Hi

My kids attend Christian school, as the Church ojne is the only one in our catchment. Dh is Atheist, I'm a floating voter- I have some christian beliefs but find that Buddhism matches my moral and spiritual needs more closely.

TBH, we do struggle with the schools religious teachings. I ahev no issue with them attending Church, and they are Christened as I was very Christian when they were born. What I don't like is the teaching of creationism (DS1 brought home a book called 'How the World was made... chapter one, 'In the beginning') or the total exclusion of all Religions bar Christianity. They did Ede as they have a few Muslim kids now, but for RE purposes they teach judaism- coz its the Bible again.

I am however biased on this, as I am studying World religions at uni. The school says they don't want to be converting the kids to false religion, I did try and explain that a basic knowledge of say Sikhism (why do they have turbans? etc etc) and other World religions wouldn't convert, it would inform and breed toterance but my contribution was dismissed outright. My offer to help in class withr eadinge tc was also turned down because of my liberal views. !!!.

I do however send Ds's into school with childrens books about the major religions for show and tell just to have my five cents worth. I think knowledge of the world is important, especialliy as we are between two major cities with large immigrant populations.

I also objected to the fact that yesterday they all (including my 5 year old) sat their Scripture exams, and if the school have failed they get their funding docked.

I don't object to religious schools per se, but I do object to the fact that we had no alternative (schhols thata re the only ones in their catchment schools should be non denominational imo), and I think a knowledge of world religions is as basic a learning goal as any. Just saying we do Judaism coz it's just the Old testament doesn't cut it, to my mind.

i am agnostic/deist, dh is athiest, our to go to a private church school.

they cover all the majour world religions in RE. They do go to church for assembly. i have no issues with this at all. There are many muslim and hindu children in the school, they are encouraged to bering their faiths into the school, celebrate eid, festival of lights etc

PinkMagic - Are you a regular church attender? Depending on where you are, you might not be able to get your DS into a faith school unless you are as church members have priority in the admissions procedure.

I am a governor at a Catholic primary school where we have quite a lot of Muslim and other faith children. One parent chose it particularly as "I know my children will learn about God with you." They are obviously happy with the situation. I think that Christianity is "forced down children's throats" anymore in school - partuclarly not in the Catholic schools I know but all children are expected to join with assemblies and prayers etc.
I would say that the best thing you can do is take a look round all the local schools and decide on the "feel" of the place. The collective worship and so on is a very important part of the school of course but it is only a part of it. Lots of people seem to like the ethos in faith schools even if they don't believe in the same things.
BTW, if this is state schools, you won't be able to "reserve" a place at a school until the September before before your DS starts in reception.

Thanks for all your views. It sounds like things have changed since I was at infant/junior school. Worship was daily and quite intense and knowledge of other world religions was not taught. I havn't got a problem with occasional worship, carried out in a friendly child orientated way alongside eduction about the other major religions. It is the heavy bible bashing I remember that worries me. I will speak to the schools involved about their policies.
Blu, The school I prefer is a CofE and I have been told it will not be a problem for DS to get a place, and anyway I am CofE. My 2nd choice is a Catholic school and I think this one does have tighter regulations, although I know children of other faiths do attend.

I've said this before: but why do people have a "thing" about religious schools having a stance on ummmmm religion?

if they're the two "best" schools in the area, then I'm afraid you will have to respect the way they do things, in order for your children to benefit from the obviously good education they provide there. and if religion in an educational context really isn't for you, then they're obviously not the "best" schools for your children.

Bundle I agree, actually

for those with a choice