Question about faith in schools

My Year 1 niece came home from the end of term last week and told me about how the teacher taught them about how "Christmas is REALLY about Jesus's birthday and it is important to celebrate it because without Jesus we wouldn't have anything on earth because he made everything including people and trees".

Since she comes from an agnostic family and goes to a state funded school, I found this quite shocking. And she was quite perplexed that no one explained this Jesus guy to her before.

I know RE is required, but I guess I thought it was more "World Beliefs" than just Christian ones. Since my DH and his friends went to the same school, they all had the same experience. I was wondering if anyone's kids have had different experiences than my niece?

Schools are allowed to handle it how they want to.  This is one area that I found shocking coming from the US. 

I know RE is required, but I guess I thought it was more "World Beliefs" than just Christian ones. Since my DH and his friends went to the same school, they all had the same experience. I was wondering if anyone's kids have had different experiences than my niece?

I imagine she probably was exposed to Sikh or Hindu beliefs around Divali etc.  The playgroup I work at is Christian based but we cover other cultures and beliefs (in fact the Early Years Foundation Stage requires us to).  The kids in my key worker group had a blast playing dreidel recently and equally so singing in our nativity play.

My daughter has a Christmas play at school every year and they sing songs about Jesus and God and how he created the earth, etc.  They also sing non-Christmas related songs at their assemblies throughout the year that have themes putting your faith in God and how He sacrificed His only son for us, etc.  I also found this shocking...coming from the US the kids aren't even allowed to hand out Christmas cards or say the word Christmas without backlash.

Last year they had a few sessions on Judiasm and went to a synagogue...but IMO the teachings on other faiths are more 'World Beliefs' and the Christian beliefs are the ones being (what some might call) pushed onto them.  I've also never heard atheism being mentioned...or just the general idea that some people don't believe in anything.

I've also never heard atheism being mentioned...or just the general idea that some people don't believe in anything.

At the school I work we cover atheism and agnostics as well as other religions-- it is a high school , and it is a special high school for boys with behaviour, social and emotional disorders. Many of them are very against religion and it is covered in more sharing of understanding of what some people believe then being the thing to believe.
My daughter went to a Catholic school, so naturally that focused on Christianity- but it even there at the High School level focussed on creating arguments and debates, it wasn't presented as this is what you must believe.
I don't have any experience at younger leves.

I work at a state school in London and was shocked when they read out verses from the bible during whole-school assembly on Friday.  From what I've heard from my husband and his friends, that is the norm here.  It seemed particularly bad given that at least 25% of the students are not Christian (i.e. Muslim).  However, after assembly I opened the Christmas cards my students had given me and I got one from one of my Muslim students with a verse from the bible inside!

I work at a state school in London and was shocked when they read out verses from the bible during whole-school assembly on Friday.  From what I've heard from my husband and his friends, that is the norm here.

I'm not sure if it's the norm or not now, but I attended a state secondary school near Bristol in the '90s and we didn't have any religious stuff in our assemblies at all. We only sung hymns/mentioned the bible on three occasions in the 7 years (that I can remember) - once on the first morning of Year 7 (welcome assembly) and also during the Founder's Day ceremonies in the local church (which we attended twice - once in year 7 and once in year 13).

I went to a state primary school too, but it was a CofE school, so hymns, prayers and bible verses/stories were the norm in assemblies.

However, after assembly I opened the Christmas cards my students had given me and I got one from one of my Muslim students with a verse from the bible inside!

I got a Christmas card from a Muslim colleague who came for beers after work and told me about his Christmas tree, and how Santa is coming to his house, and the roast turkey they are having.

My son attends a state run school- He did have a christmas play, and sang holiday songs, but he also on occasion comes home with cards with some muslim or hindu holiday.   His school seems to keep it pretty fair, and I actually am happy he gets to learn about other cultures.  I like the way they handle the religious stuff here, include everything vs excluding everything.

I got a Christmas card from a Muslim colleague who came for beers after work and told me about his Christmas tree, and how Santa is coming to his house, and the roast turkey they are having.

My great-aunt is a Jehovah's Witness and they never had a Christmas tree or participated in tradition Christmas celebrations...but they exchanged gifts a few weeks before Christmas (so her kids wouldn't feel left out).  I know if you go waaaay back, Christmas was not started to celebrate the birth of Jesus but that's what it has come to represent in modern day so I find it strange when certain people celebrate (just my opinion).

I know if you go waaaay back, Christmas was not started to celebrate the birth of Jesus but that's what it has come to represent in modern day so I find it strange when certain people celebrate (just my opinion).

I don't mind if people want to have a harmless good time in the middle of winter, whatever reason (or lack of one) they may have.

I went to nursery school in the UK back in the '60s and we did sing hymns and learn bible stories, etc., but it did me no harm. I grew up into a good healthy atheist. 

Ok, I am glad its not a specific school thing. And I am glad I find this out before our own kids come home saying things like this!

I imagine she probably was exposed to Sikh or Hindu beliefs around Divali etc.  The playgroup I work at is Christian based but we cover other cultures and beliefs (in fact the Early Years Foundation Stage requires us to).  The kids in my key worker group had a blast playing dreidel recently and equally so singing in our nativity play.

According to my DH they didn't learn about Judism in school because there weren't/aren't any synagogues in the area, but they did learn about Diwali. My niece pretty much makes up the "ethnic" population of her class as she is mixed race, so I assume her teachers don't feel like they would offend anyone if everyone in her class is christian.

I got a Christmas card from a Muslim colleague who came for beers after work and told me about his Christmas tree, and how Santa is coming to his house, and the roast turkey they are having.

I work for a company where half the people are Jewish and all of them said they celebrated Christmas as a child in the UK because they didn't really have the choice not to. They still had to do the school Christmas plays, learn about Santa, etc. Only once their children are grown do they expect to only celebrate Hanukkah. I should mention that none of them ever mentioned disliking Christmas-but they all did say they felt a pressure to celebrate.
I know its not too different in the US, but I went to a very christian public school and the few Jewish friends I had didn't celebrate Christmas. Sort of wish the UK had some sort Thanksgiving, maybe that would alleviate some of the pressure to celebrate a major national holiday that's mainly focused on Christmas now.

I should mention that none of them ever mentioned disliking Christmas-but they all did say they felt a pressure to celebrate.
I know its not too different in the US, but I went to a very christian public school and the few Jewish friends I had didn't celebrate Christmas. Sort of wish the UK had some sort Thanksgiving, maybe that would alleviate some of the pressure to celebrate a major national holiday that's mainly focused on Christmas now.

This is what I meant about my great-aunt.  She has said before that she feels like she is compromising on her religion because she feels pressure to celebrate 'something' around Christmastime so her kids don't feel left out when all the other kids are talking about the gifts they got from Santa.  Personally I couldn't compromise my religious (or non-religious) beliefs by doing something like that.

All DS remembers about assemblies at his state primary school (which I thought was pretty religious) was the head teacher playing a recording of "Carnival of the Animals"! Fair enough.