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It looks like my family and I will be relocating to the Sydney area (Mosman to be exact) and I've heard things about catholic education being taught in public schools. My question is, is this true? As we are not Catholic (or Christian) and I do have a slight problem if that's the case.
As far as I am aware, no single denomination is taught in public schools. However, there may be some "Christian" classes, which focus more on social science (right vs wrong etc) and Christian events such as Easter/Christmas
It looks like my family and I will be relocating to the Sydney area (Mosman to be exact) and I've heard things about catholic education being taught in public schools. My question is, is this true? As we are not Catholic (or Christian) and I do have a slight problem if that's the case.
Each public school has a religious studies class, mainly in high school. Pagans can elect to not attend a scripture class and are then just given a free period to sit and do what they want.
If you have issues with Christianity I would seriously reconsider your relocation to Mosman or even the North Shore which is by and large Judeo Christian.
As far as I know, you can always choose to sit out of these things. When I went to primary school, it was the religious parents who kept their kids out of Scripture.
Each public school has a religious studies class, mainly in high school. Pagans can elect to not attend a scripture class and are then just given a free period to sit and do what they want.
If you have issues with Christianity I would seriously reconsider your relocation to Mosman or even the North Shore which is by and large Judeo Christian.
I have no issues with Christianity, I want to make that clear, I just don't like the idea of it being a 'forced' class so now I feel a little better. I happen to be Jewish and centered my search in the North Shore for access to the North Shore Temple Emanuel.
When I went to primary school, it was the religious parents who kept their kids out of Scripture.
I found this too; I assume that a lot of religious parents worrythat their children will be taught the wrong sort of religious beliefs, whereas non-religious parents for the most part aren't that worried about the small amount of religious education that most schools provide.
Attitudes to the teaching of religion in schools is an area with interesting differences between nations. For instance, it is quite common in the USA for devoutly religious parents to send their children to state schools and to object to any form of religious education whatsoever.
OTOH, here in Australia or The Netherlands, to use another example, a large number of non-religious parents, have no problem sending their children to religion-affiliated schools.
Wow, this is weird. Must be an Eastern Stater thing because I just asked my son if he got taught religioius stuff in high school (public) here in Perth, because I certainly don't remember seeing any homework on that, or hearing about it, and he said nope. Why would you teach religion in public schools????
I remember it in grade school years ago (70's) but I thought that was long gone.
I used to live in Sydney... my daughter went to a private non-denominational school which didn't teach scripture in any organised fashion. My two step-sons went to public schools and, like Vichel, I don't recall them ever mentioning scripture classes or having scripture homework... and we certainly didn't sign any forms opting them in or out.
OP - did you consider St. Ives when researching areas to live? Sizable Jewish community (relative to other areas in Sydney) and also, I think, a Jewish school. It's not far from Mosman - similar socio-economics - not quite so close to beaches, slightly further away from the city centre (but often easier traffic-wise ... the main road to Mosman from the city can be a nightmare), and good public elementary and high school.
I used to live in Sydney... my daughter went to a private non-denominational school which didn't teach scripture in any organised fashion. My two step-sons went to public schools and, like Vichel, I don't recall them ever mentioning scripture classes or having scripture homework... and we certainly didn't sign any forms opting them in or out.
OP - did you consider St. Ives when researching areas to live? Sizable Jewish community (relative to other areas in Sydney) and also, I think, a Jewish school. It's not far from Mosman - similar socio-economics - not quite so close to beaches, slightly further away from the city centre (but often easier traffic-wise ... the main road to Mosman from the city can be a nightmare), and good public elementary and high school.
Pagans being an historical context.
There is not usually any homework for the scripture class and some high schools now have the scripture class as an optional period on Friday where persons not wishing to attend just get to school later. More likely kids who don't go were ones who attended scripture classes outside of school and used the time as a study period. And most scripture classes include most Judeo-Christian denominations.
Time wise to the city St-Ives will take longer than Mosman as St-Ives does not have a direct route either. The two main roads usually being chocker in the mornings. Mosman has the option of the ferry which is a leisurely and comfortable way to get into the city when it isn't raining.
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