SACRE

Collective worship

• Schools must provide collective worship daily for all registered pupils. 
• There is no legal requirement to provide collective worship for pupils aged under five.
• Most acts of collective worship in each term should be wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character; this means that they should reflect the broad traditions of Christian belief without being distinctive of any particular Christian denomination. 
• Collective worship can take place at any time during the school day. 
• Collective worship can be provided to pupils in any sized group, for example, as a class, a year group, a phase group or a whole-school community. 
• Collective worship should take account of the family backgrounds, ages and aptitudes of the pupils involved. 
• A parent can request that their child is excused from collective worship and schools must agree to such requests. Parents do not have to give reasons. Pupils who are excused must be supervised by the school. The school may, in agreement with parents, provide alternative arrangements for worship for one or more pupils that are excused, but is not obliged to do so.
• The school prospectus should refer to parents’ right to request that their child is excused from collective worship and outline the arrangements for pupils who are excused.
• The Education and Inspections Bill 2006 gives pupils in sixth forms the right to excuse themselves from collective worship. This legislation was brought into force in Wales in February 2009.
• Teachers have the right to withdraw from collective worship. However, the school must ensure that collective worship is still provided daily for all pupils.