Hundreds of students at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts are spending 80 minutes each fortnight colouring in with pencils under teacher supervision after the school added special religious education to the timetable, according to a report by The Age.
The situation began four years ago following a request from some parents to introduce special religious education classes. Over the past two years, Anglican organisation Youthworks held discussions with the school, leading to the timetable overhaul.
Under New South Wales legislation, a school cannot refuse to offer special religious education classes. Department of Education policy dictates that students not enrolled in religion lessons cannot participate in school curriculum lessons or extracurricular activities during this time.
Students Blocked From Learning
These rules currently affect 94 per cent of students from years 7 to 10 at Newtown High, representing 703 children who are not enrolled in Christianity lessons. These students are blocked from learning curriculum content, and extracurricular activities are banned during the scripture periods.
The change means students are set to lose an entire week’s worth of learning time over the course of a full school year. The move prompted the creation of a WhatsApp group and a community meeting held at the school on a Tuesday evening, The Age reported.
Newtown High P&C president Lassity Martin said effectively stripping away 80 minutes of learning time each fortnight directly contradicted New South Wales Education Department warnings about missing even minor amounts of school.
“It flies in the face of other initiatives … I find it very confusing,” Martin told The Age.
She said that she respected the right to offer religious education as mandated by legislation, but could not understand why departmental policies went further to prohibit children from continuing normal lessons.
“I absolutely support parents and students who choose to attend special religious education,” Martin said. “What I don’t understand is why nothing else can be done while SRE is carried out. That’s not a legislative requirement, that’s just mystifying to me.”
Impact on School Activities
During the scripture periods, students are prohibited from participating in activities such as rehearsals for a school play or taking a saxophone lesson.
“Some students were colouring in,” Martin said. “The whole school doesn’t stop if people go off for a sporting competition. I can’t understand why SRE is being treated differently to any other subject.”
A spokesman for the Department of Education defended the policy to The Age.
“Providing core curriculum instruction to students who are not undertaking special religious education, while their peers attend those classes, would disadvantage students undertaking special religious education,” the spokesman said.
In 2023, principals across the state and the NSW Teachers Federation pushed for an urgent review of religious education in public schools, warning that scripture classes disrupted the curriculum.
Prue Car Defends Religious Education Amid Community Anger
Asked about changing the policy, NSW Education Minister Prue Car said special religious education has been an integral part of the public school system since its inception, reflecting the diverse beliefs and values of communities across New South Wales. She said that ethics classes offered an additional option for families.
Si Gladman, executive director of The Rationalist Society, argued that parents and school communities had a right to feel angered by the Labor government’s continued support of the program.
“The SRE program is immensely disruptive to the learning of all children, and especially to those kids who are forced to fill their time with non-curricular activities to allow for some of their peers to attend religious indoctrination classes,” Gladman told The Age.
He called on the Minns government to move SRE outside normal class time to return learning hours to students.
Youthworks chief executive Craig Roberts described the addition of Christianity lessons as a term 4 trial resulting from collaboration with other religious organizations.
“The principal, Dr Susan Green, has assured us the school respects the religious beliefs and choices of all students and families, and we value this approach,” Roberts told The Age. He added that he expected more religious providers to make educational offerings available as demand grows.
