The Parental Right to Withdraw Pupils from Religious Education

Burlington Junior School adopts a locally agreed syllabus (Kingston SACRE). Our R.E. lessons are inclusive and explore a range of religious and non-religious world-views.

R.E. is a legal entitlement for all pupils, unless they have been withdrawn by their parents for some or all of the R.E. curriculum. 

Legal Position

The School Standard and Framework Act (DfE 1998) states that:

If the parent of a pupil at a community, foundation or voluntary school requests that s/he may be wholly or partly excused from receiving religious education given at the school in accordance with the school's basic curriculum, the pupil shall be excused until the request is withdrawn. 

Exercising Parental Right to Withdrawal from Religious Education

The procedure for withdrawal from Religious Education is as follows:

1. Parent/carer submits a request to withdraw their child/ren from R.E. in writing to the Headteacher. This should share whether the request is to withdraw a child from all or part of the R.E. curriculum. 
2. The parent / carer is invited to meet with the class teacher to discuss the request. The Kingston Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education is made available for the parent / carer to read. Expectations about alternative provision for pupils withdrawn from R.E. lessons will be shared. 
3. The Headteacher will make the decision about whether total withdrawal or partial participation will be put in place to meet the request of the parent / carer. The agreement will be communicated in writing by the Headteacher. 

Accommodating a Pupil who has been Withdrawn from Religious Education 

Unless the child is being provided with a religious education away from the school premises, the school continues to be responsible for the supervision of any child withdrawn by its parents from R.E.

• This may mean the child takes work to another class, or joins another class who are working on a different area of the curriculum. 
• A pupil may sit in an area away from the classroom to complete activities where another adult is supervising a small group of pupils.