Education Act 1996

386 Collective worship in county schools and certain grant-maintained schools to be broadly Christian

(1) Subsections (2) to (6) apply—

(a) (subject to section 387) in relation to a county school, and

(b) (subject to sections 383 and 387) in relation to a grant-maintained school in relation to which section 379 applies,

(2) The collective worship required in the school by section 385 shall be wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), collective worship is of a broadly Christian character if it reflects the broad traditions of Christian belief without being distinctive of any particular Christian denomination.

(4) Not every act of collective worship in the school required by section 385 need comply with subsection (2) provided that, taking any school term as a whole, most such acts which take place in the school do comply with that subsection.

(5) Subject to subsections (2) and (4)—

(a) the extent to which (if at all) any acts of collective worship required by section 385 which do not comply with subsection (2) take place in the school,

(b) the extent to which any act of collective worship in the school which complies with subsection (2) reflects the broad traditions of Christian belief, and

(c) the ways in which those traditions are reflected in any such act of collective worship,

shall be such as may be appropriate having regard to any relevant considerations relating to the pupils concerned which fall to be taken into account in accordance with subsection (6).

(6) Those considerations are—

(a) any circumstances relating to the family backgrounds of the pupils which are relevant for determining the character of the collective worship which is appropriate in their case, and

(b) their ages and aptitudes.

(7) In subsections (2) to (6) as they apply in relation to a grant-maintained school, references to acts of collective worship in the school include such acts which by virtue of section 385(6) take place otherwise than on the school premises.