Church of England Primary Schools (how religious?)

[YorkshireRobbo]

Dear All,

This is my first post and I hope not to cause a furore with it, but here goes.

We are in the process of moving deep into the Yorkshire Dales where there are several lovely little CofE primary schools, our daughter is 4 years old will be ready to join as we move.

I come from a non religious family and in fact would class myself as a rank and file atheist. Whilst I defend the right of every individual to believe in what they choose, I would not want our children thinking as they grow up that believing in a god is the norm. I will leave it down to them to decide once they are of an age where they can.

We have to accept though when living out in remote villages that the CofE does provide very good schools and they come highly recommended.

When speaking with schools they always offer the advice that religion is taught to children just as much as it would be in any RE class in any kind of school, BUT, I wonder how strongly it will be taught and where the bias lies in the teaching?

I have a friend who is head of RE at a very large public school, he is in fact an agnostic himself and teaches all aspects of religion, good, bad and ugly - this I accept. Religion (fortunately or unfortunately) is everywhere in the world and he teaches his classes about all aspects. He does not promote religion.

Also some of the schools seem to offer over and above the standard 10 minute daily assembly with hymn and prayer and actively promote daily worship and study. This is seems to me an idealistic way of a CofE school teaching and promoting what they believe to be the truth, as opposed to offering a broad view of religion.

I do know that schools offer the option for parents to opt their children out of any religious teachings, assemblies or sessions BUT how lambasted is a parent for doing so and how is the parents child viewed in doing so?

Do many parents opt their children out of religious teachings, is it the norm.

The simple answer would be to send our children to a normal school out of the area. This is not really an option.

Am I being over sceptical of religion in schools? Is there nothing to worry about? Is religious teaching watered down today?

I left school in the early 1990's and remember as clearly as if it was yesterday the moment in RE when I put my hand up and said to our teacher at the time, Reverend Green, that I thought the science lesson we had just had offered a far better explanation as to why we all exist than his "Adam & Eve" story ever could. I was sent straight to the head master for detention on the basis that I had removed my blazer without asking the Reverends permission....?

Maybe I owe Rev Green for my views over school and religion and my uneasyness at sending our children to a CofE school.

No offence meant to anyone, I am simply airing my views, all of which we have and welcome any comments.

Thank you.

Interesting to learn that %.

Our school takes anybody [hgrin] seriously!

howling ours does too, as do most rural schools. However there are many urban church schools with incredibly strict admission codes which require letters from vicars confirming you are a regular church attendee etc. I think this is a bit rich considering the church only makes a very small contribution to the costs of the school.

Remember that church schools are financially supported by the church and have regular inspections. They have an obligation to make religion explicit. YorkshireRobbo - I don't really think you can say that church schools shouldn't say 'we believe' or 'this is fact' as that is kind of the point of them. But if they have good RE lessons the children will see there are other points of view.

Remember how important your important your opinion is to your kids. Just as you worry they will come home and tell you abaout God, the teacher will probably also get 'My Dad says...'. If they do spout things they hear at school, take some time to discuss it, explain that there are different views and share your own with them. This is a fantastic opportunity to extend their thinking and world view. As much as we teachers wish this wasn't the case children don't generally just believe things they are told at school. There are many influences in our lives. Even if the school you chose says daily prayers, they won't necessarily turn your children into evangelicals.

Don't forget - even if the church school can have their own admission policy, it only comes into play if the school is over-subscribed (which is unlikely in a rural school). Even in an urban area, its only children within catchment whose parents are clergy / work for the church, then children who worship at the church that take priority over the rest of the children in catchment. Given the level of church attendance most Sundays, it doesn't make that much difference!

and now I think of it - in north yorkshire I don't think they have a church attendence criteria - could be wrong but was looking it up for a friend and couldn't find it

wellthen the church pays only 10% of capital costs and none of the operating costs (teachers salaries etc)

Admission criteria vary a lot, there is no general rule, so its best to look at each school individually.

Second the C of E influence on Church aided schools varies from Diocese to Diocese. I have to say that most of the comments here, sound very different from my Diocese's rules. Maybe its because we are traditionally a rather liberal one?

Like many other posters, we are deep in the shires and had no choice but for DCs to attend a Cof E primary school.

At first, I was pretty relaxed about this. My experience of Anglicanism has been that it's more of a cultural affinity than a faith. What harm could it do?

In practice though, I find I am deeply uncomfortable that they come home telling me happily all about "baby Jesus".

I am left wondering why my taxes are funding the Church to proselytise my four year old children.

wellthen I take your point that as children develop they will take on all sorts of information from lots of angles and have to digest themselves, I mean who knows what they will discuss when out and about with friends as they grow older!
I think if we are starting from a basis of fact for our DD and DS's teaching then the position of fact with regards to religion has to be that there is no such thing as god. And whilst the default position and norm is that no god exists I do defend the right of anyone to believe in whatever they choose.

My problem arises when the 'beliefs' of any group are promoted as fact.
I have no problem in a CofE school teaching my children about all types of religion across the world at the same time as christianism however I do draw the line at the chosen beliefs of a school being hammered home as fact. How can a child draw their own conclusions when a teacher for whom they generally will have huge respect for tells them something to be true (in their mind) but completely contradicts what parents teach at home and what is factual....this I find difficult.

A far easier conversation with a child is to explain why a teacher happens to believe something is true, rather than have to explain to your child why the teacher is explicitly wrong in their deliverance of what they believe to be factual and correct.

We will always happily support village church fetes, harvest suppers, carol singing and other church backed or organised social events because they are generally fantastic. I mean, what is more heart warming and British then a gaggle of carol singers belting out their songs as the snow falls on them with the village green softly lit in the background, the church bells slowly chiming and the fires flickering throught the windows of the village houses - this is the stuff Xmas cards are made of!

When I was at school my Primary school teacher told us he was an Atheist, this was contrary to my home background, it did affect me for a few years.

Most children will learn about "baby Jesus" at any school in this country (and as a Christian I'm often at pains to point out that he grew up). Your children will be surrounded by influences at school and elsewhere which contradict the home values, its probably better to deal with this contradiction at a young age; rather than wait until the counter voices are their peers (who can come up with far worse beliefs than any teacher would).

Hi Yorkshire Robbo. I’m aware this post was 9 years ago but I’m really curious as to how you got on. Your predicament pretty much mirrors my own at the moment and I’d really appreciate some advice?

I hope you receive this notification!

Kind regards,

Renay

Governor at a small C of E school here. I live in a small town rather than a village, but there's only one school here not affiliated to a church, which is too far to walk to from outlying areas and has no available public transport, so it's Hobson's choice for anyone not living close to the centre of town. The head and the teaching staff are not practising Christians, which I think is key. Like you, OP, they are happy to promote what might be called Christian values, but don't consider faith to be the key element in being a decent human being.
As a non-believer myself, I've never found the religious element overbearing, and there have been no complaints from the parents, who are for the most part not churchgoers. The Church's approach is to serve children 'of all faiths and none'. At our little school, it's mostly 'none'.

@BreconBeBuggered thank you so much for your prompt reply and the information provided!!