A growing number of schools are side-stepping the legal requirement for a daily act of Christian worship.

The trend is such that a leading adviser on religious education says there needs to be a clarification of how the law is applied.

Even schools that have opted out of mainly Christian services must still hold daily acts of collective worship

Although every school is obliged to hold an act of daily worship - of a broadly Christian character - more and more schools are using a loophole which allows them an exemption from holding such specifically-Christian religious services.

This is particularly so in inner-cities serving non-Christian communities.

"It's time something was done so that schools aren't seen to be getting round or side-stepping the requirement," said Marian Agombar, chairperson of the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils for Religious Education .

More directly a local authority inspector who did not wish to be identified describes the current law on daily worship in schools as a "complete mess" which many schools simply ignore.

Instead of the widely different interpretations of the law, Marian Agombar says she would prefer a regulatory system "with which schools could feel more comfortable" and which could be made to work in practice.

Muslim alternative

"You can't legislate for worship - it's a very personal experience," she said.

For instance, she says that where a school had a largely Muslim population it might make more sense for collective worship to reflect that, rather than maintain the obligation for Christian acts of worship.

Collective worship was a rewarding experience for many schools, bringing many benefits, she said. But it needed to be in the context of regulations that could be more widely accepted and more thoroughly applied.

A Camden headteacher says the law on collective worship needs to be reviewed

If schools want an exemption from the obligation for Christian daily worship - a process known as 'determination' - they have to apply to local representatives of the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (Sacre).

Schools given this opt-out are still required to hold daily acts of collective worship, which will include aspects of Christian belief, but they do not have to be mainly of a Christian character.

Although there are no national figures, Ms Agombar says more schools are applying for exemptions, on such grounds as having only a minority of Christian pupils or teachers.

There are some authorities, such as the London Borough of Brent, in which most schools have opted out. Others, such as the London Borough of Camden, are moving in that direction, with six schools already granted exemptions and another six applications in the pipeline.

The headteacher of Haverstock School in Camden, Janet Wallace, which was given permission to drop the requirement this week, said that schools "were not religious leaders" and that the law on collective worship needed to be changed.

While her school had assemblies which embraced different religions and which looked at moral issues, she said that denominational acts of worship were for families to choose, rather than schools to impose.

In the shire counties such appeals are still uncommon, although the interpretation of daily worship again has many regional variations.

While there appears to be pressure from inner-city schools for changes in regulations, the Church of England Board of Education wants to maintain the present position, arguing that collective worship is a "right" which should be protected.