Right to withdraw from RE
Information making parents and carers aware of their right to withdraw their child from all or part of religious education. Maintained schools must publish it and academies should. Schools should say the same about collective worship.
Check this on my websiteWho it applies to
- Published on
- The school's own website
- School type
- Academies and maintained schools
- School stage
- All stages, from early years to sixth form
- Does not apply to
- No school types are excluded
When is it due?
- Renewal
- No fixed date
The official sources set no renewal date. Keep it accurate whenever it changes.
What's needed
Publish information on parents' right to withdraw pupils from religious education and collective worship, and how to request it, on the RE page (guidance says schools should).
What it must contain
No parts listedThe official sources name no separate parts for this requirement. We check that it is published and easy to find.
What the official sources say
Set out in 1 official source:
What maintained schools must or should publish online
– information to make parents and carers aware they have the right to withdraw their child from all or part of RE
Should§ Curriculum > What all schools must publish
Questions schools ask
Does every school have to publish the right to withdraw from RE?
Maintained schools must publish it. Academies should publish it.
When does the right to withdraw from RE need to be published?
Renewal: No fixed date. The official sources set no renewal date. Keep it accurate whenever it changes.
Where does the requirement for the right to withdraw from RE come from?
It is set out in What maintained schools must or should publish online.
Changes to the official sources
The sources for this item do not publish dated change notes. Their current versions are listed above.
We last checked these sources on 21 September 2026.
Is this on your school's website?
We check your site the way an inspector or a parent would find it: page by page, against the official wording of each requirement. If it's there, you get the page and the words we found. If it isn't, you get every place we looked.
Check this one requirement free, or scan your whole site against every requirement.
Official wording that does not apply to schools (2)
1 If the parent of a pupil at a community, foundation or voluntary school in England requests that he may be wholly or partly excused from receiving religious education given at the school in accordance with the school's basic curriculum, the pupil shall be so excused until the request is withdrawn.
1A If the parent of any pupil at a community, foundation or voluntary school other than a sixth-form pupil requests that he may be wholly or partly excused from attendance at religious worship at the school, the pupil shall be so excused until the request is withdrawn.
Official sources last checked 21 September 2026 · register version 1.0.4