Not my kids school but blimey, seems a bit heavy handed to make the threat of permanent record on the kids notes.

‘other religions’ seems to imply non-Christian but it’s not clear and it doesn’t look like a religious school.

and to cap it all it’s in Comic Sans!

Refusal to allow your child to attend this trip on religious grounds it should say, possibly.

Nothing wrong with that IMHO. Why woud anyone not want their kid to do this if not for racist reasons? I’m a full on atheist and I’d expect my kid to go.

Whilst I can appreciate that RE is part of the National Curriculum, on what planet is wanting to avoid it “racial discrimination”? That’s outrageous.

If that is true then 😯 followed by a dose of 😯

The idea of the trip sounds great.

WTF the ‘Racial Discrimination’ note threat is all about, I don’t know.

Send your child along as demanded, but ensure that they wear a colander on their head all day as accords with your families strict pastafarian beliefs.

It’s the pre-meditated warning that is concerning.

It’s the pre-meditated warning that is concerning.

this.

It just seems completely overboard as an opening shot.

Why not ask for slips to be returned and, for those who don’t return them, send out a more detailed letter explaining why the trip is necessary and what the consequences are (and further explain why it would go on the permanent record which I really don’t understand).

What has any of this to do with race? Thank goodness the writer has nothing to do with education…..oh, wait….a Head Teacher!!!!

If that is the first notice of the “event” it is well out of order. If the school is concerned of resistance to religious education, they should go into much more detail about what the day entails to alleviate any possible concerns.

Frankly if I had received that letter I would be complaining to the LEA/Ofsted/governors ect. Threatening a child’s educational record like that is just disgraceful.

So the parents decision to not allow the kid to do the trip will mark the kid out as a racist until he/she is 18.

Could be interesting when doing interviews for colleges.

‘So, I see you are a racist….’

Why woud anyone not want their kid to do this if not for racist reasons?

As an atheist, I once discussed with a Muslim co-worker as to whether he thought it was a good idea for me to send Christmas cards to my Muslim neighbours. I was thinking Santa and Xmas trees rather than nativity scenes, my thinking was that it was ‘compliments of the season’ and I’d be honoured if I received an Eid Mubarak card or some such from them.

He told me that it’d depend to an extent on the nature of their household’s faith but it was likely that it would cause offence as it’d be interpreted as them ‘supporting’ an alternative religion. (I’m paraphrasing as it was a while back, sorry.) So I can see why, rightly or wrongly, some parents would want to hold their children back from such activities.

It’s still not racism though. It’s intolerance, ignorance, fear and indoctrination, but it’s not racism.

Religious, errm, intolerance comes under the same banner as racial discrimination, I think.

It’s not the kids fault if it’s parents are afraid to expose them to the details of religions other than the one they believe in though.

and to cap it all it’s in Comic Sans!

Not that strange, Pretty standard font in Primary Schools these days.

My OH’s school use it for everything as standard.

The person who wrote the letter needs to learn more spellingz & grammarz.

Mrs Small looks really funny.

Picture

Stupid, stupid letter.

Send it to the Daily Mail, whoo-whee, their heads would explode. 😆

I think its actually quite clever isn’t it?

the real religious bigots, of whatever persuasion, close minded and those who refuse to tolerate / integrate with others would be the ones exposed….

As an aside, I’m wondering how RE is taught in schools these days? When I was at school it was the Christian Bible story taught pretty much as fact, and that was it. I’m curious as to how concepts such as faith and belief are taught.

They do a much better job nowadays, like they do with everything. Education has come on a lot in 30 years as have many things.

It’s learning about religions around the world as you’d expect.

The Daily Mail already have it 🙂

Why woud anyone not want their kid to do this if not for racist reasons?

Because i am not religious and as far as I am aware not liking the beliefs of the religious nor wiahing to have my kids exposed to it does not make me a racist. Could you explain why it does?
It is odd, and I would wonder if it is legal to put a racial discrimination note on the file for the actions of the parents – its not like the skipped school to go on an EDL march
As THM notes what has any of this to do with race?

MORE IMPORTANTLY it is NOT a statutory requirement to attend RE but it is a statutory requirement for schools to deliver it so it is also factually incorrect

In England and Wales Parents have the statutory right under Section 71 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 to withdraw their children from RE lessons and acts of Collective Worship at all maintained schools, including faith schools. Parents are not obliged to give a reason for requesting withdrawal.
The parental right to withdraw a child should be freely exercisable and the school must give effect to any such request.

To assume everyone who does it is a racist is a massive non sequitor and I thought the point of RE was to teach tolerance – apparently this is not extended to those of no faith as I assume they are not part of the local community

I will be surprised if this is real tbh

What a silly letter to make the assumption of racism if one does not attend …

🙄

It’d be interesting to see how it’s all presented. Religion baffles and frustrates me the more I think about it. It must be difficult to teach and make sense of it. I think I’d rather see it called Cultural Education or something similar (may be less hooha about it if it was) and have religion as something linked to cultures, backgrounds, shared experiences, etc., I think that’d make more sense.

The parental right to withdraw a child should be freely exercisable and the school must give effect to any such request.

Thanks for posting this Junkyard. Good to know. When the times comes with my kids I’ll be having a good look at what is being taught before letting them attend!

How has the child (whose decision it is unlikely to be), let alone the parents, been shown to have discriminated on any ground, unless their reason was objecting to one particular religion/race?

This is what happens when you combine thick people and political correctness.

Very well IMO. The sole teaching of the synoptic gospels as it was in my day has long gone. The A level which combines ethics and philosophy is particularly good and challenging. A lot of questioning analysis and interesting application. The philosophy can be esp challenging for 16-18 year olds.

As an aside, I’m wondering how RE is taught in schools these days?

And is atheism taught, from the outside it seems that there is still an assumption that everyone is a believer until they make a decision not to be.

I would ask the school why they think it’s “racist” and then watch, and probably help, them tie themselves in knots.

Er, there is no national religious education curriculum and it is not part of the national curriculum but it is statutory that it is taught. V strange/heavy handed letter IMHO (I am a primary re coordinator) but perhaps there are local issues we don’t know about?

Seems a bit harsh to label the sprog as a racialist.

And is atheism taught, from the outside it seems that there is still an assumption that everyone is a believer until they make a decision not to be.

No, why would it be?

They tell you about stuf that goes on in the world around religion. They don’t try and get you to believe it, or debate its merits. It’s not a sermon and it’s not theology.

I don’t get your point about assuming everyone is a believer – what do you mean?

When I were a lad, circa 1993-2000, we were taught about all the major religions; Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Judaism, Buddhism. They were all taught with the same approach ie learn about key beliefs and key figures within that religion then we’d have a trip to a mosque, synagogue, chapel, temple. T’was all quite civil as I recall. Permission slips were sent out, if you didn’t want to go, or your parents objected, then you didn’t go. I thought it was a great excuse to get out of the school building and see something different.

Junkyard – lazarus 
As THM notes what ….

Blows a kiss up north!!!! 😉

Send your child along as demanded, but ensure that they wear a colander on their head all day as accords with your families strict pastafarian beliefs.

😆

I’m convinced it’s a stupid letter after all.

This is what happens when you combine thick people and political correctness.

In my opinion, impossible not to have one without the other.

really tucker what is the politically correct view on genital mutilation out of interest?

I’d challenge that.
They can’t label the child as racist when it’s the parents making the decision, a nice embarrassing court case with that school has got my juices flowing already.
Annoys the hell out of me when schools try to shove religion down the throats of the pupils…by junior school I’d decided religion was utter tosh and thankfully my parents then started writing letters to the school asking for me to be excused from RE which the school did.
I’ll do the same for my children when they can make that decision.

The absolute best thing about that letter is that the majority of people who read it will naturally assume it’s the work of someone trying to stir up racial hatred (which of course is a criminal offense).

And just to note, ‘race’ is being used here in its modern form, to denote a group of people who are ‘different’, even if that difference is one they chose, e.g. various religious groups, ‘travellers’, presumably pedophiles, etc.