" Religious assemblies conducted by the school". What exactly is it?

[Megan70]

DD will be starting next year in Sydenham girls school. We are asked for parental permission to let her go to " Religious assemblies conducted by the school". We are not believers ourselves, we haven't raised the children in any particular religion and we don't intend to do that. What happens at these assemblies exactly? is it a talk about different religions in general, do they read bible, Koran and religious books? If I give my permission does that mean that my daughter will be able to chose IF SHE WANTS to attend or not or will she be FORCED TO attend to everyday/ everyweek assembly although she might not want to? If I don't sign what will she be doing meanwhile other children are at the assembly? and what porcentage of children attend or not to these meetings? I just feel a bit uncomfortable as we have raised our children in ethical values not "religious scripts", I could have registered her in a christian/ religious school if I wanted to, but I consciously didn't.

Just an example my dc went to a catholic school, their assembly was singing one song, saying one prayer and then discussing whatever topics were going on at the time- recycling, damage to the seas, extreme weather, friendships, bullying and so on.

Why don’t you ask the school?

Are you new to the UK? In England, there is no such thing as a secular school - all schools have to have regular assemblies of a religious nature, and unless they get permission to make them relate to a different religion, they have to be 'mainly Christian in character'. Asking parents' permission is unusual and suggests many local families do opt out.

In practice CofE schools will sing a hymn, they will say a prayer, and there will be some motivating story. Catholic schools do more praying and hymns. Community schools will have a song and some moral and motivating stories and many don't bother mentioning religion. Or they may get various speakers including religious ones to give a talk.

I'd go along with it unless it turns out the head is trying to evangelise their version of Christianity.

Obviously can't answer for this specific school, but other than occasionally including a non-secular prayer or some inspirational type talk, my DC's secondary school doesn't really have much of a religious element in their assemblies.

And yes, unless you explicitly say you wish her to be excluded from them, she will be expected to go. She won't be able to decide on a case by case basis (or most DC would just decide not to bother).

Assemblies aside, the school curriculum will include some form of teaching about different religions - and yes, it might include reading different religious texts. But I would expect this to be tackled from an understanding about others' beliefs point of view.

Oh, another Sydenham poster! I went to Sydenham High.

The assemblies will introduce pupils to diverse religions and cultures and won't be proselytising. It will be interesting.

The trap to be wary of is that some non-church schools with a vaguely atheist SLT will outsource the religion to external groups, prefacing it with “here’s some Christians to talk to you about Christian stuff”.

Unfortunately the sort of people who volunteer to go into churches and talk to children about Jesus vary greatly, but if the SLT are starting from a prejudiced assumption that “Christian” = stereotypical US creationist homophobe then they may, as happened in my DCs’ primary school, be happy to let a random bunch of happy clappies in and tell them that Christians don’t believe in evolution. This is of course flagrantly untrue and actually harmful to self-identified Christian/atheist and agnostic children.

In school for me it was just little bible stories ect...often stories that promote ethical decisions. I'm not particularly religious but I actually think it is a good thing for children to receive an education in these areas. Even better if they read from a wide range of religious texts but I doubt it would be that. It'll be Christianity probably unless it is a heavily populated muslim school or something? I wouldn't stop my kid going either way. These things promote tolerance of other cultures and religions and ultimatey, you may not be spiritual but that doesn't mean your child doesn't have the right to be one day and an education in base religions may be something that really appeals to her and gives her a starting point for her own 'spiritual journey' as it were.

My ds is in yr7 of a Catholic school, they have mass as a class every 2 week, other mass are optional. He has re but has so far covered belief and why people believe all sorts of things, Catholic mass and confession and Hinduism. Next year includes Muslim and Jewish faiths. We're not Catholic and he's not religious but does find the lessons interesting

Thanks everyone. It seems that every school has different practices and I will be asking the school specifically what they do in the assemblies. Answering jackparlabane, I didn't grow in the UK, I grew up in a mostly Christian country, where if you choose to go to a public school there is no mention whatsoever about religion, unless you go to a religious school. I don't have anything against any religion in particular and I am happy if my children learn a bit of different ones, so they know that everyone have different beliefs and they are based in mutual respect, but I wouldn't appreciate my children to be imposed a religion that I myself (or them) didn't choose for themselves.

Community schools will have a song and some moral and motivating stories and many don't bother mentioning religion

No song but otherwise this in the local comp

OP by allowing them to go to these assemblies then you are achieving your aim of letting them choose for themselves. Currently you are only allowing them to do what you have imposed upon them - not being religious. Let them go then they can make up their own minds (unless you have already turned their mind in one particular direction, which of course is your right as parent).
It's confusing that you say you want them to make up their own minds, yet you don't want them to go and hear from religious people who might tell them the other point of view from yours.

It's a school assembly with a couple of hymns and probably a reading to offer some sort of moral and social guidance. There will be school notices too.

Your child is not going to be brainwashed into a religious cult .

Your child is not going to be brainwashed into a religious cult

Sorry some schools do actually push religion in a way that could be described as "brainwashed into a religious cult".

At our school (secondary comprehensive with a range of faiths) our assemblies are broadly Christian but only in so far as it could be considered broadly Muslim, Jewish, any other human with reasonable human values.

They tend to be about positive personal qualities, maybe a story about someone who struggled and came out the other side, stories linked to different religious festivals, international women's day, D day, some local vicars and youth workers come in to talk about their views, last year someone from the local mosque came in which was good and id love to hear them again.
Every now and then you get the happy clappy gap year intern in but even then they are usually a story about how they believe God created each one of us with our own talents and to remember to celebrate your talents and use your gifts to make the world better.

It is more 'food for thought' than religious preaching.

I have a daughter at Sydenham (girls, assuming that's the one you mean) - no preaching as far as I'm aware. There's a Christian union (we are christian but she doesn't go to it),but the assemblies all seem to be about High Performance Learning objectives. 'Growth Mindset' sometimes feels like a cult of sorts, but I'm not aware of any religious aspect and there are children and teachers of many faiths and none. Think it's just a standard disclaimer. Not aware of any hymns either.