Compulsory religion? Can it be avoided?

[Agame]

Dear Mums… my DD and I just moved to Fife, Scotland from Texas, where she went to a British private school with no religious instruction at all, just academic subjects, arts, and fun. She’s been at St Leonards in St Andrews for two weeks. She’s five and in Year 1. She came home singing some Christian hymn and asking what the words meant. This is a shocker for me. I know St L is a great school, but iI don’t like Christian teaching happening behind my back at her school. It says nothing about Christian stuff being taught or infused into the curriculum on their website or any of their materials. What can or should I do? I’m not religious and I do not believe that school is where religion should be taught. There are many religions and many varieties of each. I believe it’s a personal and/or family decision. I’m taken aback to be learning now that religious instruction is compulsory in state schools in Scotland, and seems hard to avoid even in independent schools. Should I write a letter to the head of the school? Do I have any rights here? Are any schools simply secular private schools that leave religion out of the school day? Thank you!

Ask the school what exactly they cover.

It is fairly common to have a 10 minute assembly at the start of the day that says a quick prayer, covers any school news, sing one hymn and then on to normal classes. No religious instruction as such. Or she may simply have learned a hymn in singing class.

RE lessons generally cover the religions of the world so she knows the difference between Eid, Passover and Christmas etc. Not indoctrination, just information.

You could ask for her to sit those classes out, or you could simply choose a different school, but it will be hard to find a school that doesn't acknowledge Christmas, the Chinese New year, Passover, Divali, Eid etc. in some way.

The UK is a mildly Christian society that accepts multiculturalism and schools reflect that.

To me, learning hymns and saying prayers are forms of religious instruction and observance. That it happens daily is a problem for me. I wish I knew this going in.

I don’t know anything about the school, but given that it’s named after a Christian saint, I suppose I’d assume that religion would be part of the curriculum. I attended a Catholic school named after a saint, for example.

Would a non-religious school in Texas use a Christian saint’s name? I’m on the East Coast and I think it’s unlikely here.

St Leonards is a private school. My DDs went there. I'm sure all schools in Scotland, private or otherwise have some element of Christian faith teaching in school. Usually hymns and prayers in assembly. They also learn about other faiths. It's not full on but it will be there. You will struggle to find a school in Scotland that doesn't have this as part of their week to week activity.

@ApolloandDaphne Yes, not all private schools in the US incorporate religious teachings so that might be a cultural difference that the OP wasn’t aware of.

OTOH, the name would signal a Christian affiliation in the States, so I’m surprised that the OP is taken aback.

You can decline permission and your child would be removed for various parts of the day

You can always pull your DC out of their fee paying school...

Oh wait, RE/PSHE is on the curriculum in state schools too - in time your DC will also learn about many faiths and belief systems. They will learn about different religious practices -its part of growing up in a multicultural country and preparing them to be a global citizen.

Wonder if the school will be happy for you to withdraw your DC from the nativity performance, from Christmas activities, from Easter events in school...?

Vote with your purse op. But religion is part of the curriculum and learning about all religions helps children with understanding and appreciation of the world and all it's people.

The fact that the school is called St Leonard's is the clue.

This. If I didn't want religious instruction then I wouldn't choose a school with a name that suggests this. I certainly wouldn't pay private schools for it.

Even state schools in the UK have religious education, there is always going to be done element of religious teaching.

She will learn stuff about /from all
major religions, plus humanism whilst at primary school in the UK.
that said you’ve chosen a school with the word Saint in the name, so surely it’s not a surprise that there is also a Christian leaning to the school.

It's literally called Saint Leonards. What were you expecting? 🥴 They probably didn't think they needed to let you know it was a faith school.

You can ask for her to not be involved in the religious aspects though.

You have the right to remove your child from
daily worship.

All state and all private schools I have ever heard of have a religious element.

If you object to Christianity there are Jewish schools, and I believe these days Hindu and Muslim schools as well.

In the U.K. it is generally believed that religion should be taught in school and our schooling system reflects that.

It's not a faith school. It's located in St Andrews and St Leonard's college was part of the university along with St Salvator's and St Mary's (which are still part of the university today)

It is literally named after a Saint!

School teaches about all religions and respect for all religions. I wonder perhaps if its your fear you need to address

My mistake. I'm thinking of a different saint Leonards. Still a fair assumption that any school named after a saint will have some kind of religious aspects to it.

If school isn’t where different religions should be taught then where should they be?

The fact that your child is asking what certain words mean shows that you are not teaching her at home.

In the UK it's all but impossible to a find a school with no hymn singing. In fact, it's a legal requirement for state schools to provide "worship". It's completely insane and makes me seven kinds of crazy, but it is what it is.

OP, most Brits won't understand - don't take the comments personally. We're all so used to it that most people don't even see worship taking place, even where they can see 'hands together and eyes closed' and 'Morning Has Broken'.

It happens in all schools.

Because it has zero impact on anyone's faith.

Just look at the lack of religion in this country.

It really isn't an issue.

To be fair to the OP, there doesn't seem to be any mention of any religion on the website, unlike other Private schools which talk about their Chapel or pastor.

There's two halves to religion in UK schools... learning about world religions, and the "daily worship" which might be full on religious service or not mention any religion at all (as long as its based on values). Even a Nativity play can be very light on religion.

Your best bet, especially as its a Private school, is to talk to them and discover exactly what it means at that particular school.

Incidentally, despite our compulsory worship at school, most British adults never step foot in a church except fir weddings and funerals. The indoctrination as completely failed.

Any school with St in the name is a Christian school. Move her to a non-religious school. These schools still have hymns, nativity etc but they don't have weekly/daily worship.

It just doesn’t work like that. It’s a private school, they can ask you to leave.

If you look at the Humanist society Scotland website it says dc cannot opt out of religious observance at school.