The court today handed down its unanimous judgment in an appeal brought by a young girl, anonymised as JR87, and her father, G.

Darragh Mackin, director at Belfast firm Phoenix Law and solicitor for JR87 and G, described the ruling as “a watershed moment for educational rights in this jurisdiction”.

The UK Supreme Court found that the syllabus set by the Department of Education is not being delivered in a way that is “objective, critical and pluralistic”, which it said “amounts to pursuing the aim of indoctrination”.

The fact that the young girl in the case could be withdrawn from religious education was not sufficient, the court said, to avoid a finding that the current practice is in breach of Article 2 of Protocol 1 and Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Mr Mackin said: “This decision is a watershed moment for educational rights in this jurisdiction.

“The Supreme Court has confirmed that all children are entitled to an education that respects their freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

“The judgment makes clear that the state cannot rely on withdrawal mechanisms to justify religious instruction.

“Schools must not place children in the impossible position of being singled out or stigmatised simply because their families do not share the religious worldview embedded in the curriculum.”