Are church of england schools very religious?

[ML1706]

So my son goes to an infant school and after year 2 he will have to change schools. There are a lot of good schools around but the closest one is a church of england school. A friend of mine whose child goes to a coe school told me her son was made to pray daily.. we don't feel comfortable with that and I was wondering if all coe schools were like that.. should I not bother considering that school as there are a lot of good state schools around? Most of his classmates will go to that school

I actually really miss the community stuff the church provided pre-covid; really fun events for Christmas, shrove Tuesday, Easter, harvest. They had a drop-in cafe that was excellent, and some great baby groups.

Thank you for all the replies, reading all the comments I don't think CoE schools are for us. I went to a catholic school and really didn't like it, I want my children to make up their own minds on what to believe when they are old enough and I wouldn't be confortable with my young child being made to prey.

My DC went to a C of E school (which was also just the local school). Several different faiths including lots of atheists.

I think that you may be thinking of "daily prayers" as being more than they really are. It just means the headteacher saying things like "let's pray for year 6 on their class trip today" in assembly.

@ML1706 oh gosh it’s really nothing like a Catholic school.

I always say this, but religion practice and schools shouldn't mix- it's the church's way to attempt to indoctrinate young children. They shouldn't mix the two except theory

@cakefanatic it was in France and schools there are not religious at all except for private catholic schools which I went to for 2 years. But apart from these, there is no religion/prayers in any schools there.

@custardbear yes I agree too, I think children should learn about all different religions the same way they learn about everything else but I don't agree with schools imposing their own beliefs onto children who are too young to question it

The law requires a daily act of worship in all schools. Humanists campaigning to change it and in lots of secular state schools it doesn't happen, contrary to the law.

@Mazblue86 - it doesn't make it right though that it's law - the law needs to change

@custardbear maybe! Not really into debating the rights and wrongs...I just don't think people should be surprised if there are prayers in school.

I think it really depends on the school.

We're atheists and My DS is at a Cof E school because it's our local school and has outstanding pastoral care. They don't do daily prayers, they have a pretty high % of kids from other religions (mostly Muslim but also Sikh, Catholic, Hindu) and a high % kids who were not born in the uk . They learn about all religions rather than just Christianity as they say all religions are welcome and belong in the school. It's all done from a place of 'Christians believe ix' and 'Muslims believe y' rather than that there is one best way/ religion.

However we did visit other CofE schools that did not feel so inclusive and had a far greater emphasis on Christian teaching- that wasn't for us at all!

I can’t believe it is the LAW that all schools must include a daily religious worship 😐 I was today years old when I found this out.

To be fair I think even non religious schools have to have 'daily collective worship' or something along those lines. In normal times my daughters (not religious) primary have assembly each day with hymns and prayers

We only have CofE schools within a 40 mile radius (couple of Catholic schools and a few private options) and the old head made a vague nod towards it all. New head has come from a Catholic school and makes a much bigger thing of including religion. DS remains unmoved by any of it and gets on with the school day. It's pretty easy for him to filter it out really. In his class, there's only one child who goes to church and the others seem to be pretty much atheist.

Don't forget we have a state Church so it only makes sense that state schools make a nod towards it. For some there are advantages to this, e.g. the state church is required to baptise, marry or bury anyone that asks.

I think it varies by the school, but neither dh nor I are Christian (dh is atheist and I'm Jewish). We both went to church schools nearly our entire childhoods. I was hesitant to send our dc to one, but there are no non-CoE schools where we live, so no other options (even private schools here are religious). Dh reminded me that it obviously did us no harm! Neither of us came out of all those years of church education as practicing Christians; it was probably more off-putting than anything else. So I wouldn't worry about it.

@murbblurb

No child should be exposed to any religion except in 'some people believe'. They can decide when they are 18 if they want to follow a faith. That would get rid of the whole thing in a generation as no child is born religious.

Sadly it doesn't work like that and indoctrination continues.

I agree. I’m quite surprised that CoE schools still exist in the state system, all should be secular and then have RE lessons to educate.

I chose our DDs primary school choices based on them being secular, sadly our closest was CoE and I was worried we’d get that one but thankfully we got our first choice.

Depends on the school.

Most of the children at my SC COE school are Muslim. As a result SC knows absolutely nothing about religion.

Incidentally a handful of my friends who were brought up completely secular ended up being prey to religions from their mid-teens onwards. However those of us who had religion shoved down our throats decided between 8-13 that religion wasn't for us.