School on the mat over weekly prayer

An Auckland primary school faces a Human Rights Tribunal hearing over saying the Lord's Prayer at weekly assembly.

Victoria Avenue School in Remuera says it has recited the prayer throughout its 52-year-history.

But parent Nicki Butt, who has brought the complaint, says a prayer from any religion is not appropriate in a secular state school.

"I don't think kids learning about religion is a bad thing, but they should not be coerced into one religion from the age of 5 or 6."

Board of trustees chairwoman Sarah Fyfe said: "We are not religious zealots. We are not promoting any sort of religion. It is about the tradition and history of our school."

The row began two years ago when Dr Butt's daughter, then 5, started at the decile 10 school.

Dr Butt and her husband Daniel Wu, who is also a GP, were "surprised and annoyed" that all the children were asked to stand and chant the Lord's Prayer at an assembly to which parents were invited.

She complained to the school and the Ministry of Education before going to the Human Rights Commission. Mediation failed and Dr Butt has applied for a hearing at the Human Rights Tribunal.

Her daughter will start at a new school next year, but Dr Butt said she was not satisfied with the school's response.

"They offered to take my daughter out of assembly, but I am not going to have my children marginalised at the age of 7.

"The alternative is a state school that every single week is indoctrinating children into a religion that I, as a parent, don't want."

New Zealand has had a secular state education by law since 1877, but the 1964 Education Act creates what is essentially a loophole. It allows schools to "close" for a limited time each week for the "purpose of religious instruction".

Ms Fyfe said that since the complaint from Dr Butt Victoria Avenue School officially closed for a few minutes each Friday morning while the Lord's Prayer was said.

No child had to attend and the "two or three" whose parents did not want them there were given alternative activities until after the prayer.

No one else had complained and in a parental survey this year, 91 per cent said they wanted the prayer kept during assembly, Ms Fyfe said.

"We've bent over backwards to accommodate the issues, but we are a school that wants to reflect our community."

Ms Fyfe would not say if the board of trustees would defend its stance in a tribunal hearing.

A Human Rights Commission spokeswoman confirmed the complaint and that mediation had failed.

A Ministry of Education spokesman would not comment as commission mediation was confidential.