Building faith and community in Church of England schools

A new debate has erupted over faith schools as the government proposes to increase the number of religious schools.

A poll in the wake of the London terror alert reported that 64% of people were against the idea of giving state funding to more faith schools. Yet across the country, and this Diocese, places at Church of England schools are fought over and highly prized by parents who have no faith themselves. What do our church schools offer that makes them so successful, both with parents, the community, and the league tables? Rebecca Paveley and Natalie Abbott spoke to a Christian headteacher, a vicar and Diocesan education chiefs to find out. And below, Sally Jarman explains what she values about her local church school for her own two children.

‘Faith school’ is a relatively new term which has invaded the education debate. Church of England schools were originally described as ‘schools of religious character’ and many parents see them as different from the faith schools so hotly debated in the media at present. ‘Faith school’ is usually taken by the public to be an exclusively Muslim, Jewish or Christian school like the Emmanuel school in Oxford. But faith is at the heart of the establishment of our church of England schools, though uniquely, they are almost always community schools too, required to take children from a catchment area, regardless of their faith.

This task of serving the community is key to the mission of the church in the diocese, and is at the heart of the Christian faith. The Bishop of Reading, the Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, has recently taken over as chair of the diocesan board of education. He places the Gospel message firmly at the heart of the church’s – and the Diocese’s – education policies.

In a recent address, he said: ‘We believe that the environment of faith is the best environment in which to nurture and educate young people. And because the truth directs us to love each other with gracious, tolerant and accepting openness, we build an environment in church schools that is able to honour God and also honour people of all faiths or of no faith at all.

‘We help those who are already Christian and we lay before others the delights and challenges of the Christian faith without coercion or judgement.’

There are 280 Church of England schools in the Oxford Diocese, more than half of which are over-subscribed – suggesting that parents aren’t concerned about sending their children to a ‘faith’ school, even if they don’t share the Christian faith. Of course, it helps that our schools tend to be at the high achieving end of all the school league tables.

There is enormous variety within Church of England schools. Voluntary aided schools teach their own faith during Religious Education lessons, though they also teach youngsters about other faiths too. Voluntary controlled Church of England schools have to teach the locally agreed religious education policy.
Schools have a varying amount of contact with the local Anglican clergy – levels depend on individual heads, and individual clergy.

The Revd David Wales,  priest in charge of Weston Turville, Buckinghamshire said he and his assistant priest visit their local school frequently for worship, teaching and pastoral care of teachers and pupils, and the school uses the church several times a year.

He said it wasn’t all about contact with the vicar, however, and that the church runs a successful summer holiday club which was used by around 100 children.

Asked what he hopes to achieve by having close relations with the school, he said: ‘We want to make  contact, build bridges, keep the rumour of God alive, and hopefully excite all to explore the Christian faith.’

Sue Newby has been headteacher of a voluntary controlled school, Wroxton in north Oxfordshire, for 23 years.
She was recently ordained as an OLM – an ordained local minister.

She said many of her parents do consider their own beliefs very carefully before they send their children to a church school.

‘Parents often say they want their children to be in a school where there is a strong Christian ethos. It also appeals to parents that C of E schools are often quite high in the league tables but the ethos and expectations we have of our children do feed into our academic results.

‘I have Muslim and Hindu children and when their parents apply, they say they want their children to be in a church school because they want them to be in place where religion is valued, even if it isn't their own religion.

‘I do also have quite a large percentage of Christian parents in my school – they want their children in an environment where God is valued.’

Director of Education, Leslie Stephen, agrees.

He said: ‘Church schools are popular with parents of different faiths and backgrounds because they take God seriously.

‘In our diocese our schools are firmly routed in the mission of the church and we believe that they are here to serve the whole community, just as the church is there to serve the entire parish.’

The Church of England has backed the government’s plan to increase the number of faith schools. Its policy, and that of this Diocese, is to support Muslim, Jewish and other faith schools as a positive sign of the secure place of people of other faiths in the UK.

As our schools strive to contribute to community cohesion from a solidly Christian base, so it is hoped other faith schools will promote self-respect and self-confidence in their pupils – the best antidote to discord.