We need your help to send a message to the Minns government about the continued practice of allowing religious missionaries to disrupt normal curriculum time in the state’s public schools.

Parent Steven Cowgill and a small group of parents have launched a petition on the New South Wales Parliament website, calling for optional Special Religious Education (SRE) – and Special Education in Ethics (SEE) – to be run only during participating students' own time, such as breaks or before or after school.

We want to help Steven and the parents get as many signatures as they can before the petition closes on 12 April next year.

So please sign it and share it with friends and parents in your local school communities.

In an interview for our latest episode on the The Secular Agenda podcast, Steven said the petition was trying to do the “right thing by the kids who are missing out in schools with this.”

Listen to the podcast on major podcast apps or here on our website.

Read the article about the petition here on our website.

Recently revealed participation data show that, in some schools, a majority of students are forced to stop learning the normal curriculum to allow a small number of students to participate in SRE.

We know that recently the education minister, Prue Car, ruled out any changes to the SRE program.

So we have to send a message to her through this petition that the public wants reform and that kids want their learning time back.

SRE will be a topic of discussion at the first Secularism Australia Conference next Saturday, 2 December, in Sydney. If you haven’t purchased a ticket yet and would like to join us, book it today.

In solidarity,