Religion in schools

[looney]

Help, how would you go about dealing with religion in school, i do not have and do not believe in any sort or religion and therefore i am dubious when my young starts school, although i am not telling her to be an athiest like me and her father i don't want religion shoved down her throat as i know some schools do, i really want religious aspects of her education left until she can decide for herself. She is 4.

You may withdraw your child from daily acts of worship (assemblies, class prayers) and religious education lessons if you wish. I expect if your dd goes to a non-denominational school it is very likely that the approach to R.E is through history and finding out about other cultures.

There are two different aspects to religion in school - Religious Education, when children are taught about the aspects and history, traditions, beleifs etc of the major world religions. Then there are acts of worship which are generally broadly Christian and, as pluto said, you can withdraw children from them. It might be worth finding out what the school does in these classes/assemblies as schools differ a lot. You also have to ask whether you want to remove a child from something - I still remember the girl at my school whose parents were athiests and she had to go and sit in the library during assembly and got a lot of teasing because of it.

Even though I'm an athiest myself,I think I benefited from learning about other religions in school, as in RE lessons.
However,DH who went to a catholic school, has no knowledge of any other religions.
IMO, it makes for a more rounded and tolerante individual.
You could always still withdraw your child from,assemblies, nativaty plays etc.

Only faith-based schools will promote a particular way of worship & belief system over and above comparative religion, Looney, so unless your dd is off to a C of E or RC primary you probably don't need to worry. The sort of exposure she will get to different faiths' festivals etc in most state schools, will be fun and informative and help her understand her place in a multicultural society. I'm a Christian and delighted that ds is learning plenty about Islam, Chinese, Jewish and Hindu traditions at nursery.
The main thing is that you are being honest with yourself about your own feelings and giving her the space to make up her own mind.