Policy

It is currently the law in England that maintained schools provide a daily act of ‘collective worship’ for all registered pupils. However according to Ofsted, although 90% of primary schools nationwide are compliant with this statutory requirement, 76% of secondary schools are not. Since September 2007, schools have been under a duty to promote community cohesion, with a particular focus on achieving cohesion “across different cultures, ethnic, religious or non-religious and socio-economic groups.”

“Success through diversity” is at the core of the council’s vision, and Ealing SACRE has prepared guidance to help schools develop policies that encourage the participation of all pupils and staff; by referring to ‘reflection’ rather than ‘worship’ it is not our intention to secularise the experience, but rather to make it fully inclusive.

Reflection: some guidance for schools (pdf)

Example school policy (doc)

Guidance regarding establishing a school policy (TeacherNet)

Right to withdraw (pdf, extracted from DfE circular 194)