School asking daughter to remove small cross despite religious symbols policy

[FanFckingTastic]

I'm looking for some advice and thoughts!

DD is 15 and at secondary school. She has always worn a small silver cross - at primary school this was never an issue (it was a church school) Up until this point it's not been an issue at secondary school either. The cross is very small and is tucked into her shirt so you would have to be really looking for it in order to see it. She always removes it for PE etc.

Last Monday her head of year saw the cross and asked her to remove it. My daughter replied that it was her cross, and that she didn't want to. She was then approached and asked to remove it every day for the remainder of the week, with increasing threats of sanctions if she didn't comply with the schools 'no jewelry' rule. My daughter kept reiterating that this was her cross, and asked the teacher to speak with me. Finally on Friday I received an email to tell me that my daughter needed to take her cross off.

I completely understand the new jewelry rule but wonder how this sits alongside the responsibility that the school has under the equalities act 2010. In their uniform policy it states that it will 'allow pupils to wear headscarves and other religious or cultural symbols' I would interpret this to include a cross too?

My daughter wears her cross as a sign of her faith and really wants to continue to do this.

Has anyone come across this situation before? If so, what was the solution?

You've never heard of the Diocesan Buildings funds? Or the legal requirement to contribute?

@NeverDropYourMooncup Capital projects are funded by a variety of sources. CofE diocese funds are distributed to just about any project and not new schools. The government has capital funding allocations and money comes in from housing developers. The churches don’t fund new schools and they definitely don’t fund teachers or the annual budget.

No jewelry is resonable- cross, star of David or just your own name, it's reasonable to ban all of them.

If the school permits headscarves, kippahs, Sikh bangles and other religious/cultural symbols then she has a case for indirect religious discrimination.

What do you mean by "indirect" ?

Surely it is discrimination or it is not ?

It just means that a policy aimed at everybody in the school disproportionately negatively affects somebody with a protected characteristic (like religion). Rather than an action directly aimed only at that individual.

So you mean discrimination ?

There is more than one church.

What I meant was, a blanket ban on jewellery/necklaces is indirect discrimination as it disproportionately affects religiously observant Catholics (and probably other Christian denominations too), who are likely to wear a crucifix for religious reasons rather than just as fashion or ornamentation.

Direct discrimination would be to say "no Catholics need apply". Indirect discrimination would be to create rules that technically apply to everyone but disadvantage people of Catholic backgrounds.

Do Catholics need to wear a cross ?

Genuine question because I don't know. Are Catholics punished somehow if they do not wear one ?

She could keep the cross with her at school, there's no need to wear it as jewellery. It's not comparable to wearing a head covering in other religions. 'It's mine and I want to wear it' doesn't sound like an expression of derp religious conviction!

No.

Cool. So I don't see how it can be any sort of discrimination then.

In Catholicism, it is not a requirement but it is heavily encouraged by the Catholic Church.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, wearing a cross is a requirement for adherents.

Necklaces are considered a H&S issue and generally not allowed in schools. Small stud earrings and lapel badges are allowed and everyone can have a cross lapel badge in most schools. Arguing about a necklace is pointless and it’s not a required item for Christians.

You’re simply not right on that

indirect discrimination is about whether the provision, criterion or practice even if applied to everyone is more likely to disadvantage people with a protected characteristic.

Thanks for that. There are over 50k Christian denominations, so it is difficult to know what each does.

If they don't have to wear a cross, how can it be discrimination to say no crosses please.

For example, my DD (11) goes to an atheist school. And TBH I have no idea what their rules are about religious symbols. But if she was to wear a cross, and the school said no, then surely it is school rules apply. Or move her to a religious school.

They do not. Its not a religious practice, at all.

That’s interesting-can I ask what country you live in?

You can ask but I won't say.

Gosh! I was just interested because I knew it couldn’t be England or Wales. But no big deal!

as a practicing Christian catholic I can tell you straight- no we don’t.

I was also interested in what countries have atheist schools. I know there are plenty that have secular schools.

Easy enough to find officially atheist countries.