It’s not about seats on Sunday
by Nigel Genders, Church Times:
ABOUT 15 million people alive in the country today went to a Church of England school. We now educate one million pupils every day, in a quarter of all primary schools and more than 200 secondary schools. We educate children from Christian families, and those of other faiths, as well as those of no faith. Our aim is for each child to have a life-enhancing encounter with Jesus, through daily collective worship and being nurtured in a community that is founded on Christian principles.
Our first schools were built to offer education based on the teachings of the Church of England, with the belief that moral and spiritual education was as important to children as learning skills or a trade.
Today, our report Vision for Education: Deeply Christian, serving the common good (General Synod, 15 July 2016) offers a clear purpose: to provide an education that will allow young people to develop “life in all its fullness” in their intellectual abilities, their emotional life, their moral sense, and their spiritual life.
Last year, after regional and national conferences in which we connected with more than 400 school leaders, we presented our report Leadership of Character Education. We believe that this style of education, which the report defined as “the cultivation and encouragement of an expansive range of moral, spiritual, intellectual, civic, and performance character virtues”, and is often caught implicitly through role-modelling and relationship, will equip young people to grow in wisdom, hope, community, and dignity.
Across the country, virtues rooted in the Christian faith are being taught, demonstrated, and celebrated. At St Hild’s C of E School, Hartlepool, pupils who demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit are presented with awards known as FOSCAS (Fruit of the Spirit Character Awards). At Shaldon Primary School, in Devon, an intergenerational programme has been created, forging connections between the Year-6 pupils (aged 10-11) and older members of the local community who may feel isolated. It teaches love and neighbourliness.
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