Religious Observance - pupils and staff

Religious practice involves believers in duties such as the saying of prayers (sometimes at prescribed times), the keeping of fasts, and attendance at communal or family gatherings for worship or celebration.

The current pattern of the school year already takes account of most needs for the communal religious observances of western Christians as schools are closed on Sundays, and the major Christian festivals fall within school holiday periods.

For religious believers there can be a conflict between their work or education and full compliance with the needs of the faith community and individuals for religious observance.

Schools therefore need to be aware of the needs of their students and adult members of the school community in regard to religious observance, and in particular any period when significant numbers are likely to be absent from school because of festivals.

It is also helpful for teachers to know of occasions when students are likely to be fasting or engaged in exceptional religious activity out of school hours so that internal tests, educational visits and heavy homework and coursework demands can be avoided.

The Legal Position

The DfES advises Head teachers to deal sensitively with requests to attend funerals or associated events and gives them the discretion to authorise such absences.

Head teachers have the right to authorise attendance at the wedding of a family member.

When it comes to absence for attendance at other religious events the law might be thought to be less helpful, referring to a need for the absence to have been

“on a day exclusively set aside for religious observance by the religious body to which the parent belongs.”

If schools are aware of the religious communities represented within their community, it may be possible to ensure, that events in the school diary do not clash with days of significant religious importance to students or staff in the school.

It is helpful if parents can be encouraged to give schools as much notice of a proposed absence as possible and be willing to discuss how work missed will be caught up.

It is important for everyone to feel free to talk about the place of religious experience in their own lives.

It is necessary to foster an environment where:

• everyone is of equal importance
• diversity is celebrated
• where the needs of everyone are treated fairly and equally.

Cultural and religious diversity is regarded as positive and everyone can feel that they are able to express their viewpoints and beliefs in safety.

Further reading can be found in the attached files section below.

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Further information

Community Participation Officer
Children and Young People’s Service
Tel 020 8489 3884
Email faith@haringey.gov.uk

Attached Files

Filename	Filetype	Size
religious observance for pupils and staff.pdf	PDF	209K
PDF documents require Adobe Acrobat reader. Please click here to download.

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