Children Matter!

Faith Primary Schools: better schools or better pupils?

Link: Faith Primary Schools:

Pupil background and ability, rather than teaching standards, account for higher attainment levels at faith primary schools finds new research by academics at LSE's Centre for Economic Performance.

Faith Primary Schools: better schools or better pupils? investigates whether faith schools really raise pupil attainments more than other schools, or whether they simply enrol pupils with characteristics conducive to faster educational progress. Authors Dr Steve Gibbons and Dr Olmo Silva also attempt to understand whether any beneficial impact of attending a faith school comes from its religious affiliation, or from specific governance and admission arrangements.

To answer these questions, the researchers considered pupils at the end of their primary schooling in England (age-11), making use of a large census that includes information on pupils’ past and current achievements, school type and characteristics, place of residence (postcode) and schools attended.

Click the link above for the whole story. The weakness of the story relates to its belief that parents interest in faith schools relates solely to exam results. Many will be thinking of general ethos, discipline and academic breadth as well as test results

Sorry, I'm a Christian!

Link: Sorry, I'm a Christian!.

     There are those who say that an ‘apologetic’ approach to evangelism is not as relevant today as it was 20 plus years ago, due to the fact that the idea of ‘ultimate truth’ is being eroded and people are more interested in experience over reason. However, in my experience of schools work that is not the case. Yes, young people want something that works,; but the majority still seem to be looking for something that makes sense, is true, and is supported by evidence. Therefore it is still important that we prepare people to defend the Christian faith.

Great article - more at the link above

ACT not impressed with New Fundamentalists Documentary

Link: ACT - The Association of Christian Teachers - News & Comments.

       The promotional trailer for The New Fundamentalists (Channel 4, Dispatches, 6 March 2006) showed school desks in the middle of an empty classroom in the form of a cross whilst the voice-over talked about the rise of Christian fundamentalism in schools in the UK.

I tuned in, fully expecting that Rod Liddle (the investigative journalist fronting the programme) would visit ten or twenty Christian schools to find out if, how and why they are distinctive. After all, there was plenty for him to have got his teeth into.

Rod Liddle's thesis went something like this: the growing impact of evangelicalism (my word) / fundamentalism (his word) on the educational experiences of pupils in UK schools is a threat to the country's liberal democratic traditions.

This being the case, why did this edition of Dispatches focus on a handful of peripheral/sensational stories, most of which were tangential to Mr Liddle's central objection to a certain kind of Christian schooling?

Mr Liddle could have conducted a survey of a thousand non-Christian parents to find out why they choose to send their children to new Christian schools.

A vigorous examination of this controversial documentary can be found at the link above - well worth checking.

Kidology Network Forum: Are We Obsolete?

Link: Kidology Network Forum: Are We Obsolete?.

Here is a provocative question - click the link above to see how people responded.

My church has I has a large number of Homeschool families. Some of them believe and are vocal in their view that this is the only option for godly families. Now some families are starting to leave the church and join themselves with what they call “Family Friendly” churches and what I call “Inter-generational” churches. The premise is that God has given parents and only parents the responsibility to teach their children. In this view, there is no room for children’s programs or youth groups. Families must remain together in church, classes, socials, outreach events, basically every aspect of the church life.

Are we obsolete? Should churches have children’s ministries? Do we have a biblical basis for teaching other peoples kids? Does it harm families to separate them by age at church?

I am interested in your comments.

Stapleford Centre - Selected Resource

Link: Stapleford Centre - Selected Resource.

From the Spring 1992 issue of Spectrum, Andrew Marfleet asks what it means to talk about spirituality as a part of the school curriculum. Clickthe link above for the download page for this article.

What Your Church Can Do for Schools

Historically, churches have had a major investment in the education of the nation’s children. But two thirds of all schools do not have that link and they also have needs which are an opportunity for Christians to serve the community. Emlyn Williams offers some thoughts on how a local church can develop its ministry in schools.

Nearly a third of all schools are church schools and many clergy are well aware of the demands which that investment creates! But at a time when most young people have little or no contact with churches, schools have to be on our agenda if we are to take mission seriously.

Cyber-Bullying Growing

Link: CBS News.

Cyber-bullying, when kids pick on other kids on the Internet, is a very real phenomenon. A recent study found more than 40 percent of students claim to have been bullied online.

The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm recently met with some Atlanta teens to discuss the disturbing trend.

Today's kids don't even know what life is like without the Internet, Storm points out. It's an integral part of their lives, for homework, entertainment, and chatting with friends.

But the downside has become apparent to many teens and pre-teens.

"I got some anonymous e-mails, probably around 300 of them, and they all had the same message on them, saying I was a whore," says Tricia, who's 15.

Click the link above for more

Living as a christian in the world of RE

Link: Stapleford Centre - Selected Resource.

This article by Trevor Cooling first appeared in Discernment: A Christian Journal of Inter-Religious Encounter Vol 6, No 1, 1992. Click the link above for the download link

Understanding young teens

Link: Understanding young teens.

Visit this page to find a 6 part overview of the nature of work with young teens (9-13) from writer and educator Andy Back

Growing up
Young teens are no longer children, but not yet adults; the world has become a bigger place; sexual development rushes on (but there’s no legitimate outlet for all those natural urges). How do they cope? click here

Change
Parents and teachers were once reliable, but now young teens are discovering that they may make mistakes or even be wrong. Who can be trusted? click here

 

Children and Nature

Bruderhof Communities
How can we rediscover a genuine appreciation for the world around us? How can we preserve our children’s sense of wonder, and how can we recapture it ourselves? In our Bruderhof schools we have found over many years that if we do not want our children to lose their closeness to God’s world, we cannot simply teach them about it; we must bring them up in it.

Our classrooms are empty as often as they are full, even on “regular” school days. We feel that growing and harvesting tomatoes in the school garden plot, measuring rainfall, pressing flowers or ferns, and watching birds are every bit as vital to our children’s education as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Needless to say, even these can be learned by activities outdoors.

One of the highlights of our school year each spring is maple sapping – an excellent way to combine math, science, nature study, and good hard work.

This is a short extract from a much longer article