Children Matter!

Catholic Schools in Scotland Fuel Sectarianism Debate

Link: Christian Today

     Catholic schools fuel sectarianism and should be phased out, said Lord Steel as he intervened in the row over denominational education in Scotland.

The Liberal Democrat peer and former presiding officer of the Scottish parliament said there was “stark evidence” that separate schools for Catholics and Protestants were perpetuating the religious divide.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Steel accused the Catholic Church of “burying its head in the sand” by refusing to acknowledge that faith schools were divisive.

While Steel welcomed religious and moral education, he said it was most effective in a non-denominational setting.

His intervention has drawn an angry response from the Catholic Church, which has insisted that the future of Catholic schools is not a matter of pressing public concern and that to debate the issue risks “fanning the flames of religious hatred”.

50 schools given RE Resource abiut Jesus

Link: Article - Scripture Union - light to live by.

More than fifty local primary schools have received free books thanks to Cambridgeshire schools worker Steve Whyatt.

Steve, who works for Scripture Union and lives in Cottenham, has been giving Hands Up books to schools all year after generous donations from Scripture Union supporters and the Deo Gloria schools trust enabled the books to be given to the schools for free.

Hands Up books are for use by teachers and assistants when reading with primary-school children in Key Stage 2 Literacy, RE and Citizenship studies. Each giant-sized book tells a story about Jesus from the gospels and is sensitively written to present Jesus in a manner that is understandable to those from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds.

Scripture Union started the project after recognising that cuts to education budgets had resulted in a lack of funds for schools to purchase resources.

Catholics defend 'gay issues' teaching

Link: Telegraph | News | Catholics defend 'gay issues' teaching.

Roman Catholic school leaders yesterday defended the way they teach children about homosexuality, rejecting calls to introduce policies against homophobic bullying.

Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham and head of the Catholic Education Service, said classroom teaching must not be a "morally neutral" zone on issues like homosexuality.

He told MPs that the Catholic Church makes a strict distinction between a person's private sexual orientation and their behaviour, stressing: "Sexual intercourse belongs within marriage."
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The archbishop outlined his views in evidence to the Commons education committee, which is investigating citizenship education in schools.

Ministers want all schools to develop separate policies on tackling homophobic bullying and headteachers are legally required to have general anti-bullying policies. But Archbishop Nichols said Catholic schools did not think it was necessary for specific measures to address bullying targeted at children who were lesbian or gay.

Head teachers wary of faith schools

Link: Non-believers

    It's the mainstream faiths - not the minority religious extremes - that divide headteachers.

The latest findings of the Headspace survey of primary and secondary headteachers, carried out by Education Guardian and EdComs, and administered by ICM, shows that many heads are deeply concerned about the effects of faith schools on the education system. Of the 801 headteachers who replied to the questionnaire - of whom 28% actually work in religious schools - 47% felt there should be either fewer or no faith schools, while 32% felt there should be no change. Only 9% agreed with the government's policy of increasing the number of faith schools.

"There is a great deal more anxiety about a formal linking of religion to politics and education than there was 20 years ago," says Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers.

More at the link above

Faith Schools Top New Primary School League Table

Link: Christian Today

      Faith schools have come out top in a new league table of primary schools published this week by the government.

Of the 209 primaries achieving “perfect” results, Church of England, Roman Catholic and Jewish schools account for a considerable 127.

All pupils at the “perfect primaries” reached the expected standard for 11-year-olds in English, maths and science.

The new league table of nearly 16,000 primaries shows a massive rise in the number of faith schools making the top category.

Faith schools currently make up just a third of all schools in England. While in 2005 faith schools made up 44 per cent of the top primaries, this proportion has risen to more than 60 per cent this year, The Telegraph reports.

Dawkins campaigns to keep God out of classroom

Link:EducationGuardian.co.uk.

The University of Oxford geneticist and campaigning atheist Richard Dawkins has established a foundation to keep God out of the classroom and prevent "pseudo science" taking over in schools, it emerged today.

The new Richard Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason will subsidise books, pamphlets and DVDs for teachers to fight what the professor describes as the "educational scandal" that has seen the rise of "irrational ideas".

He also has designs on the home

He also plans to campaign against children being labelled with the religion of their parents. "It is immoral to brand children with religion," he said. "This is a Catholic child. That is a Muslim child. I want everyone to flinch when they hear such a phrase, just as they would if they heard that is a Marxist child."

Prof Dawkins' views have sparked criticism from academics, religious leaders and fellow scientists. The Church of England described them as "disturbing", while others complained that Prof Dawkins' foundation bore the "whiff of a campaigning organisation" rather than a charity".

John Hall, dean of Westminster and the Church of England's education officer, told the Independent today: "He is clearly looking for a fight. His clear intention is to push his view that religion is dangerous and that to bring up a child in their parents' beliefs is a form of abuse. Obviously I am concerned about that. There are good grounds for thinking that this would just be a charitable vehicle for pushing Richard Dawkins' views."

We'll bring you more about Dawkins as this issue unfolds

Intelligent Design Filtering into British Schools as Darwin Debate Intensifies

Link: Christian Today

    The debate over Intelligent Design and evolution has come to the forefront of debate in the UK again this week, with various science teachers around the country saying that they believe Intelligent Design classes would benefit students.

A chemistry teacher at Liverpool's Blue Coat School, Nick Cowan, said information packs on Intelligent Design are extremely useful in debating Darwinist evolution.

Education officials, meanwhile, have said that Intelligent Design, which argues that evolution can in no way explain all creation in existence, and that there must be an intelligent creator behind them, is not officially recognised as science.

The information packs on Intelligent Design have been sent to 5,000 secondary schools by a group of academics, scientists and clerics, called ‘Truth in Science’.

The Department for Education and Skills said the packs were inappropriate and not supportive of the science curriculum.

TV Personality Offers Support for New Faith School

Link: Christian Today

    Television Presenter Diane Louise Jordan is encouraging parents and teachers to consider their children's spiritual and moral education as well as their physical well-being as she attends the opening of a new faith school by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Bromley.

The announcement comes at a time when TV Chef, Jamie Oliver is campaigning for school children to have healthy dinners.

”A holistic approach to education is what every child needs, in fact it's what every individual needs,” Diane Louise Jordan told Premier Radio today.

She went on to state Bishop Justus School in Bromley as an example.

“Without compromising its own beliefs, Bishop Justus School is an inspiring model of embracing diversity.”

The faith school, which offers 50 per cent of its places on the basis of religious commitment and 50 per cent of community places without reference to religious commitment, has been running for three years, but will open officially on Friday.

Johnson Encourages Religious Teachers to go on Exchange Programmes

Link: Christian Today

   Education Secretary Alan Johnson encouraged faith schools Wednesday to send teachers on exchange programmes with schools of different faiths to help promote "community cohesion".

"This is about all faiths," he told the BBC. "It's not just about one particular faith, i.e. Muslim schools.”

Earlier this year, several faith leaders agreed that their schools would teach their pupils about other faiths in Religious Education classes.

Johnson told the BBC another initiative could be see faith schools twin with non-faith schools.

The aim, he said, was that "children get a good balance of what all the religions are about, and there's an understanding and cohesion about how we teach religion".

'Inclusive' Faith Schools Face Opposition from Faith Communities

Link: Christian Today

       Education Secretary Alan Johnson said he thought the amendment made "good sense". But faith groups, including Muslim and Jewish representatives have criticised the idea.

The Catholic Education Service also opposed the new plan.
Director Oona Stannard said faith schools were "not part of the problem".

In a lengthy statement issued by the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales, Ms Stannard said the governing bodies of Catholic voluntary aided (VA) schools were the admissions authorities "and should remain so without political interference".

"Their role should not be compromised by a requirement to implement social engineering through externally imposed admissions quotas," she said.

"Schools with a religious character are part of the solution for society, not part of the problem."