Primary RE

[HeyToTheHo]

I am a parent trying to understand primary school RE curriculum requirements.

So to not drip feed, I am an atheist who is respectful of people who do beilieve in god/gods but feel very strongly that children should not be indoctrinated one way of the other to have a sense of ‘I believe in ...’ forced on them by adults.

My husband is very religious, I’m not. We each discuss our views with our children and they understand it’s a personal choice and no one view is right.

Both my kids are in primary school and talk about ‘well god made the sun, and kindness, and food, etc’ - very matter of fact.

Their school is a standard state school and the school prayer etc I would describe as God-lite

Help me understand what has to be taught and if there is good practice in ensuring that children are taught about religion (and lack of religion) without bias either way

Btw I am not trying to be THAT parent and be a pain in the arse for the very good teachers at the school. Just trying to understand.

You'd need to check what your local syllabus is if they're in a maintained school. Academies can set their own but a lot will still follow the local guidance.

There is a bias in state education in England towards Christianity because that’s the state religion. Technically schools are supposed to have a daily act of worship of a broadly Christian nature though many dodge this. My DC’s non church primary occasionally has a local vicar give an assembly, the secondary I work at has the Gideon society come in to distribute bibles.

But they also visit the local mosque and learn about Buddhism etc.

Our son went to catholic school I was brought up catholic. My husband isn't religious at all but he supported the school events.
Turns out our son now 13 isn't religious at all if anything I wouldn't be surprised if he is atheist.
We talk about religion like theology and I don't try for him to have faith. It's a personal belief.
He gets religious education as a subject and hates it but I told him to take it as history even though sounds mostly like fantasy.
As long as you and your husband are tolerant you don't need to do much else.
I've always had an open dialog with our son because he didn't even believe in Santa.
He said it doesn't make sense the same as bible stories.
He had a choice and that's what it's all about

Be tolerant and accept that for now while they are little they can believe that God made the earth and all creatures in it.
It's a nice thought and kids learn later on that there are other theories of creation.
I still have a strong faith but isn't based on religion. I like to believe in heaven and God but I'm perfectly accepting of those that don't like my husband and son.

If you have concerns, you can have a quick non-confrontational chat with the teacher about it, just a five minute "I was wondering what the school approach to RE is" I imagine would be fine.

Generally speaking, most non-denominational schools don't push religion in any way, shape or form. It's possible that because your kids are very young they've misheard/misunderstood/misinterpreted something that someone has said, or they may be parroting something another child in the class said during the lesson.

I went to a C of E Primary and the extent of our religious indoctrination was an assembly once a week by the vicar (which we all sniggered a bit at) and the song we sang at the start of each assembly was often, but not always, a hymn or religiously themed. "This little light of mine" or "Care for them" or "Streets of London" as examples.

I wouldn't worry too much about it, regardless.