School RE Trip

[DillyDallyingAllDay]

Hello all,

I hope someone can give me some guidance on this issue that has come up with my childs school. The school make us sign a blanket trip consent form that covers all trips within the city limits. However, they seem to think its not important to actually tell us when and where the children are being taken- usually its places the children can walk to, because if a coach is involved we have to pay and thus, are informed that the trip is happening. Does this sound right? To me it seems like a safeguarding risk that I'm not even aware where my child will physically be during the day?

Yeah I did think I was wrong from a safeguarding trip. My initial title didn’t actually match my message, but the school had a walk to the local church- we weren’t made aware of this in any way ahead of time. One of the classes has been told, not my child’s class, and one of the parents mentioned it in the WhatsApp group if they’d need wellies as it’s storming here at the moment. I don’t have any issues with my child going to a church, to learn about other religions, where not religious, however if it’s not RE related and just Xmas ‘religious’ adjacent I wouldn’t approve. When I spoke to the teacher about it this am there was no mention of it being an RE trip but rather something they were doing in relation to Xmas. So I said I didn’t want my child going, and he said he’d see what they could do as it was quite last minute notice. I wasn’t informed about anything further but when my child came home, I was told it wasn’t optional because it was an RE trip. However, why didn’t the teacher say this in the am if it was actually an RE trip? And Christianity is NOT on their curriculum for this year. So it feels rather underhanded and I feel like this is the actual crux of my issue, that it wasn’t clearly communicated in order to stop any parents objecting.

I'm afraid you sound a bit silly about this. It's a learning experience for your child, they aren't learning to be Christian, they are learning about the world around them and how different beliefs work. Many people seem not to understand that RE is extrmeely important and is not about learning to be a religion but about understanding how different people live their lives. Trips like this are also important for their sense of school community, I expect your child would have been disappointed to be made to sit it out while their friends had an exciting trip. Just think of it as a little adventure they've been on.

So you don’t want your child to understand what Christmas is actually all about?

@DillyDallyingAllDay have you opted your child out from doing RE lessons?
If this was part of an RE lesson and you haven't opted out then what's the issue?

You checked the curriculum to see if they were doing Christianity this term?! Fuck me. Who’d be a teacher. If you don’t like the school HE your kid.

You do realise it is advent and soon to be Christmas

Are you a Jehovah's witness? I know they will remove children from any religious activities, including the Christmas party.

Otherwise I don't see the issue here, children are taken out and about in the local area for all kinds of reasons it enriches their learning and it's great for them to connect with the community. I am non-religious and believe acts of worship have no place in state schools but even I wouldn't have an issue with a visit to a church, as long as children were not being required to actively worship as part of the trip.

Whilst I think it’s nice for the children to be out in the community I think they should be where you think they are, a quick group message saying they are going off site, god forbid if anything happens and they are not at school where you think they are.

What exactly is your issue with them visiting a church at Christmas time? It’s a Christian festival. It is RE relevant. What do you think will happen to your child?

Re: trip or RE trip. My answers will be different!

I'd be a little surprised to be fair. We've signed consents but we still get told they're going to the church or something, usually a week or two before. We're not asked for permission but we are told.

Ah, I understand. I would assume that because parents can opt out of RE they should be able to opt out of the trip too. I’m surprised they don’t factor this in, frankly.

Under scottish gov guidance for off site visits this is a 'routine and expected visit' and can be covered by an annual form. Normally the form would say you consent to visits such as local venues, shops, libraries etc but wouldn't be prescriptive.

I think you're being very silly about this! Walking to the local church is a very normal Christmas term activity, what is your fear? Your child will be infected with religion?
There will be broadly Christian worship/assemblies every day at school anyway.

Thanks for all the viewpoints. I have posted for a sense check tbh. And I think I’m generally frustrated with the school and this is just another thing on a long list. I only checked the RE curriculum after being told it was part of the RE curriculum- which is isn’t and what they ‘learnt’ in terms of RE was probably pitched at y1- not upper KS2. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️. It does my nut in that the school is completely awful at communication and when asked directly, aren’t straight about what’s going on.

1. Blanket consent for walking trips is normal.
2. If you want to withdraw your child from RE then do so but it has to be all or nothing.
3. Would be helpful of school to give heads up so appropriate coats and dries can be worn.
4. Schools do go 'off curriculum' for topical things such as Christmas or Divali, or Black history month, or general elections.

100%

We have a blanket consent but the school is spread across multiple sites, have weekly church and also sometimes PE in the park so they walk somewhere everyday, sometimes multiple times a day and often with short notice like if bad weather changes PE plans.

Religious festivals generally will be, therefore this would potentially be interesting and useful for comparison. To me it just seems that you are looking for problems. Id be thinking how glad I was that the school are going the extra mile to provide experiences and opportunities for my child, which are not all that easy to sort.

Personally, I don’t think it should be possible to opt out of RE as a lesson, but there are some faiths that would be unhappy with visiting a Christian church, so I’m surprised you weren’t given notice.

This in spades. What a miserable life for all concerned.

Omg remember when going out of school somewhere was a positive, exciting experience? How society has changed!

Given your outrage at a fairly innocuous trip to a church at Christmas I’m not surprised they’re trying to be a bit clever with the way they word things to you. You seem to be THAT parent.

When mine were at primary we signed a general local consent form but got emailed a letter about the trip beforehand (usually asking for volunteers).

Because they might inadvertently take the child to a place that someone unsafe to the child’s family works at or is visiting, eg a former partner of the mum with a non-molestation (‘non mol’) order in force. This could be a library, museum, gallery, cultural building, place of worship.

Safeguarding is about prevention.