11 Plus Exams Forum

In my child's secondary school, the daily whole school assemblies are replaced with tutor periods four days a week.

One of the purpose of these periods is to give the students the opportunity to read a book. I think it's great and I am really pleased with this.

But this goes against the rule of the 'daily collective act of worship'

Any comment?

I don't think cllective worship is so relevant these days - most people don't worship at home (or go to church temples etc on a regular basis) so I don't see why school children should be compelled - their time is better spent on reading etc.

The assembly is important in bringing the school community together.

Where year 7 pupils can be in the same room as year 11 students at the same time.

The assembly communicates to the whole school academic and sporting successes as well as whole school information.

The assembly gives students the opportunity to perform and give readings to a large audience.

Not having whole school assemblies causes fragmentation of the school and isolation of the year groups.

Worship within the assembly is obviously important in religious based schools and schools where there is a strong tradition of worship.

However, where the wider community and the school itself reflects modern trends of non-worship then worship within the assembly could be seen as unnecessary or inappropriate.

I agree with all the above comments.
But is it necessary to have daily assemblies, or could the time be better used with some other activity, like reading, and less frequent whole school assemblies?
Daily assemblies are often seen as a repetitive chore that fail to engage pupils. I think that having less of them would keep the interest.