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The Proposed Church of England Academy for Hereford
If segregration by skin colour was wrong under apartheid why do we allow children to be segregated by their parents' religion?
All children are born atheists. There are no Christian babies, Muslim babies, Sikh babies, Judaist babies, Hindu babies etc. They acquire their religion through family, community, peers and social institutions.
All of us want children to grow into adults who can make an informed and knowledgeable decision about which religion, if any, they wish to follow. Lack of knowledge, or education in a single-religion faith schools, simply leads to bigotry, intolerance and a "them and us" mentality. It also leads to claims that only faith schools have "moral values" and a "moral ethos" - something that is deeply insulting to those of us who lead moral and good lives with no need for a supernatural god or an organised religion.
With over 35% of the UK population now saying that it does not believe in a god, over 65% saying that it has no religion and over 93% not attending any acts of organised worship, the role of faith schools is a desperate attempt to bolster church congregations. C of E congregations are dwindling in number and increasing in age. When the current generation of church-goers dies, the C of E will find itself with thousands of expensive but empty churches - it desperately needs young bums on pews. (Source: National Census (2001), Harris polls (2004), ICM polls (2004) and C of E reports.)
On the other hand, faith schools, worship in schools and the disorganised chaos that is compulsory Religious Education are doing a fantastic job of turning young people away from religion - recent studies show that over 60% of young people below the age of 19 claim to be atheists or agnostics. The more it is forced on them, the more they are likely to question it. (Source: DfES studies and C of E studies.)
Division and segregation rather than inclusiveness and integration
Herefordshire is well on the way to setting up a new faith school to be run by the Church of England.
According to an internal C of E report (see below):
- it will be "based on Wyebridge Sports College in the South Wye (formerly known as Haywood High School)."
- "The Sponsor has to find £1.5 million of sponsorship money for the Academy project. This goes neither to capital or revenue funding but to an endowment for the use of the Academy."
- "The C of E has already sponsored a number of academies now open, and plans to sponsor another 30-40."
- "The most significant piece of information is that a charitable trust has extremely generously offered the full £1.5 million for our sponsorship and this will be gratefully and thankfully accepted. The actual sponsor wishes not to be named, nor to play any part in the governance of the Academy."
As well as a decision by Herefordshire to take government money (which is only available for new Academies and not for local authority inclusive community schools) this indicates a shift in government policy since previously the "sponsor" had to find 10% of the capital (building) cost of new academies. This seems to have been watered down to an "endowment" - which effectively means that the C of E has to find nothing up-front. Even if they did have to find 10% of the building costs, they would do so by borrowing under PFI etc. The C of E Dearing report makes it very clear that there are accountancy tricks that would involve no cash up-front.
Since the anonymous sponsor will not play any part in the governance of the Academy there is no way (or need) to get his/her name since he/she could have just handed money over to the Church anyway - and your name is not necessary public if you contribute to a Church! It would be a very different matter if the sponsor was to run the Academy but in this case it is the C of E itself - whose divisive policies still argue for its right to discriminate against people based on their gender or sexuality.
American Management Consultants lead the way on academies
Industry and commerce is littered by Management Consultants called in when companies lack the confidence to run their own businesses. In this case, the government has selected Navigant, an American Consultancy to do the job of easing the Academy into existence. There will no doubt be the usual nominal "feasibility" studies, plus very selective "consultation" based on wildly biased points of view.
(Note: with fundamentalist, anti-evolution, Christianity being flavour of the decade in the USA we have to ask if an American firm can be truly impartial on this issue. We are not saying that they may be biased, but we are saying that the question needs to be asked. We would also like to ask if the size of their fee depends on their success in getting the school established - in which case they are obviously partial.)
The usual things raised under these circumstances are:
- "You do realise that you won't get any government money if you say no?"
- "We are sure you will welcome the Christian values and Christian ethos brought to the new school" - a profound insult to all those who manage to have strong moral values and lead good lives without the necessity of religion. So much for "inclusiveness".
- "Church schools have better results." Well, of course they do! Talk about stating the glaringly obvious! They define their own selection criteria (therefore they have a more middle-class intake - "how to get your child into a C of E school even when you are not a Christian" is a favourite topic at middle class dinner tables) and they have a far lower proportional of pupils from deprived backgrounds compared with local authority community schools.
We need inclusive and integrated schooling - open to all
One look at Northern Ireland, and the increasing number of intolerant Muslim schools, will show the dangers of allowing divides along religious grounds.
The only way for children to become tolerant of those with different beliefs and from different ethnic backgrounds is for all schools to be genuine inclusive community schools run by local authorities.
The study,"Social Capital, Diversity and Education Policy", illustrates the problems associated with segregation on religious ground.
We call for an end to government blackmail -"set up a faith academies or we won't give you any money" and a return to investment in local authority schools where children of all backgrounds can mix freely with one another in harmony.
Action plan
Please click here for an action plan to oppose new faith schools.
If you think this is an important issue:
- Can you spare a little of your time to help with this campaign?
- Do you have friends in Herefordshire, Worcestershire or the Welsh borders who might be willing to help?
- Do you have any contacts in the local or regional media?
If you want to do something about the rising power of religion in education, please get in touch with us.
Contacts for action in Herefordshire
Note: the details below are taken from the very good and comprehensive Herefordshire Council web site.
No reference to the proposed academy was found on the Herefordshire web site.
LEA
Director of Children's Services: Ms S Fiennes
Hereford Education & Conference Centre,
PO Box 185,
Blackfriars Street,
Hereford,
HR4 9ZR.
Tel: (01432) 260900
Fax: (01432) 260957
E-Mail: education@herefordshire.gov.uk
Web: www.herefordshire.gov.uk/education/index.asp
Councillors
Cabinet Member (Children and Young People) and Deputy Leader (Independent Ledbury Ward): Councillor Don Rule MBE
Home Phone: 01531 633703
Mobile: 07840 957119
Email: dwrule@herefordshire.gov.uk
Please click here for a full list of councillors and contact details.
A briefing note for all connected with Hereford Diocese
This document is circulating within the Church of England in Herefordshire.
Many of you will have heard of the proposal to have a Church of England Academy in the South Wye district of Hereford. This note is to give you the basic information about this as it stands in January 2007. You may wish to have had this earlier, but the information about the proposed academy has been changing over recent weeks and we did not wish to put out information that was inaccurate as soon as it was published. (There is always a risk of this!)
The basic information is as follows:
- The Department of Education and Science (DfES) approached Hereford Local Authority (LA) in the summer of 2006 with a proposal for an Academy based on Wyebridge Sports College in the South Wye (formerly known as Haywood High School). The LA were keen, and when asked by the DfES about a preference for an Academy sponsor, asked that this be the Diocese of Hereford.
- The DfES then approached the Bishop and officers of the Diocesan Board of Education (DBE) to ask whether the Diocese would act as Academy sponsor. The response was positive. We said we would be delighted to consider this but made it clear at the outset that, while the DBE would be able to provide experience, time, insights and energy, it would not be in a position to provide any money. The financial aspects of sponsorship would have to come from elsewhere. The DBE therefore agreed to consult with the DfES and LA and other parties including Wyebridge College on this basis. For some weeks this had to be entirely confidential until all parties could be properly informed of the proposals.
- Following these talks, the Diocese agreed to consult further with a view to sponsorship of the Academy.
- The Sponsor has to find £1.5 million of sponsorship money for the Academy project. This goes neither to capital or revenue funding but to an endowment for the use of the Academy. Needless to say, it was thought to be no small undertaking to raise this money, even though the National Society of the Church of England undertook to raise an initial £1 million on our behalf.
- It should be noted at this stage that the C of E has already sponsored a number of academies now open, and plans to sponsor another 30-40. The National Society will take responsibility for the sponsorship funding all of these.
- An academy goes through 3 stages before it can come into being -
- Some further facts about the Academy include -
- It will be a C of E Academy, part of the Diocesan family of schools.
- It will serve the South Wye area, and there will be no 'church places' in its admissions policy - as for example The Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School has.
- The staff and governors of the existing Wyebridge College have given their warm approval to the Academy.
- The subject specialisms of the Academy are likely to be Sports, Science and Health.
- The DBE has contributed - and will continue to do so - to the thinking about the ethos, curriculum and direction of the Academy.
- The Academy will be independent of the LA, financed by central government, but run by a Charitable Trust, the majority of whose members, as also with the Governing Body, will be appointed by the Diocese
- The Academy will look to engage with the wider community as fully as possible, and the parish of South Wye has been party to the negotiations. We expect the health specialism to be developed so that it can include the dimensions of social, community and spiritual health.
- The most significant piece of information is that a charitable trust has extremely generously offered the full £1.5 million for our sponsorship and this will be gratefully and thankfully accepted. The actual sponsor wishes not to be named, nor to play any part in the governance of the Academy.
A concluding note
It is hoped that this information will be helpful to all those with an interest in this important development. We would point out that we do not expect this whole project, marvellous opportunity though it is, to cost the diocese anything in financial terms.
We plan to issue a further bulletin in due course, sometime during the feasibility stage, if that stage is reached. In the meantime we covet your goodwill and prayers as this venture progresses. The church centrally believes this is a major way it can support the extension of the Kingdom of God into some very needy areas of the country and can contribute towards the aims of 'Faith in City'. This is a view which we endorse strongly within the diocese. We are delighted to be able to be party to this exciting development. We believe it will not only strengthen the education offered but also further the church's work in the community.
© 2007 UK Secularists
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