Ask the expert

Q. Several families have carefully chosen a non-denominational primaryschool, as they are not believers and prefer their children to learnabout all religions equally but follow none themselves. The parentsobject to the headteacher playing Christian hymns at every assembly andleading 'quiet thoughts' that begin with 'Dear Lord' and end withchildren repeating 'Amen'. They have told their children just to waitquietly through these, but staff tell children they must sing and saythese words. Some staff insist they are following guidelines in offeringa broadly Christian education. But do they have the right to imposetheir own religious beliefs in this way?

A. The school is correct in providing a daily act of collective worshipof a 'broadly Christian nature', as this is a statutory requirement.Parents can ask for their children to be excused from this and do notneed to give reasons. However, many parents would not want theirchildren to be excluded from assembly, which is an important time forchildren and teachers to come together and learn from each other. TheDfES has advised schools to distinguish clearly between assembly andcollective worship. Governors should have a constructive debate withparents and draw up a policy on collective worship which ensures that asmany pupils as possible can participate.