Religious Studies

Religious Studies - Vision and Purpose

Parents' right to withdraw from Religious Studies.

Religious Studies is designed to contribute to all pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. LSA's Religious Studies Department follow the Lancashire Locally Agreed Syllabus, which is designed to be an inclusive curriculum that supports students in exploring different beliefs,  what it means to be human and to understand the world we live in. Religious Studies at LSA does not aim to influence or indoctrinate children in a faith and we do not promote any particular belief system.  Religious Studies is also an option at GCSE.

We share our curriculum on the school website to inform families of what we will study in RS. Parents have a legal right to excuse their child from receiving religious education at school, this may be for a short period of time or in its entirety. 

Requests for withdrawal should be made in writing to the Headteacher and children will be withdrawn with immediate effect of the school receiving the letter. 

Parents/carers will receive a call from the Head of Religious Studies in order to give families an opportunity to discuss the curriculum and any concerns they may have with staff; this is to inform and support parents in making their decision, parents will not be challenged on their decision to withdrawal as it is their legal decision.  

During the time that the child would have been in RS, they will be placed in a safe environment with alternative adult supervision. Withdrawal time will not be used to teach other curriculum areas e.g. additional mathematics sessions, but students will work on other subject areas at that time. 

Please note that requests for withdrawal from Religious Studies need to be made on an annual basis. Requests for children to stop withdrawal from Religious Studies can be made at any time in the academic year.