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Monday, June 16, 2008

BHA and Collective Worship in Schools

From BHA Facebook group.

Post #6
Bob Churchill (West Midlands) replied to Kate's poston May 13, 2008 at 4:17 AM

As part of our broader Education Policy, the BHA campaigns specifically on Collective Worship:
http://tinyurl.com/43k8cp

From that page:
"We believe that the parental right to excuse their child is not a proper or satisfactory solution. We would like to see the immediate withdrawal of current DfES guidance (Circular 1/94), which gives a narrow interpretation of the legal requirement for "broadly Christian" worship, and its replacement with new guidance encouraging inclusive assemblies and making it simpler for schools to seek "determinations" in order to hold assemblies suitable for all their pupils. Ideally, this would be followed by repeal of the legislation requiring acts of worship in schools, and changes in legislation to give schools much more flexibility about how they conduct assemblies, with schools offering time and space for optional worship for those who want it."

We submitted this Parliamentary Briefing:
http://tinyurl.com/4mbfd7

We have detailed advice on the "requirement" of collective worship and what you can do about it, here:
http://tinyurl.com/3sg5um

And wee have produced ideas and constructive advice on more inclusive assemblies here:
http://tinyurl.com/hbosp

Some of our Local Groups up and down the country also have people who are able to offer talks to school assemblies, just as vicars and so on currently get their guest spots (we don't object in principle to visitors coming into school assemblies, so long as there is balance and that it is clear that the children are not expected to believe whatever they are told!). A list of Local Groups can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/fpj7l

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