tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-146780325302102876.post5138322268671654107..comments2024-03-20T08:06:18.312+00:00Comments on Benny's Blog: Church Schools - Ethos or Admission?Benny Hazlehursthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106740133903626260noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-146780325302102876.post-63586585582072079262011-05-15T23:48:48.192+01:002011-05-15T23:48:48.192+01:00Thanks Liz - I did post a reply last week, but Blo...Thanks Liz - I did post a reply last week, but Blogger seems to have lost it when it crashed.<br /><br />Sadly, I agree with your analysis. I have seen it happen all too often. If we continue to collude with this, it points to church schools being more concerned with keeping their advantage on the league tables, rather than developing a Christian ethos.Benny Hazlehursthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11106740133903626260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-146780325302102876.post-68945494462635630852011-05-11T21:45:07.908+01:002011-05-11T21:45:07.908+01:00@ Liz: Yes - that has been my experience too (sad...@ Liz: Yes - that has been my experience too (sadly). I wonder how much we kid ourselves (in the CofE) that we maintian this system for the sake of continuing the Christian ethos, or whether it is more about continuing to attract higher achieving families and students to make us look good.Benny Hazlehursthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11106740133903626260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-146780325302102876.post-40840711653477709202011-05-10T22:04:07.519+01:002011-05-10T22:04:07.519+01:00My experience of church schools ( Anglican) is tha...My experience of church schools ( Anglican) is that they are institutionally biased towards middle class professional families For example, they entry criteria to One well perfoming church of England school in the SW meant that professional parents in the know, make sure they all attend church so they can get the Vicar's letter. Many of these parents join church groups and seem devout, but as soon as they get a school place for their eldest child, most of them aren't seen at church again. Once the eldest child has a place, siblings get priority. In terms of Christian input in the school- they had one Eucharist per school year, and only the odd teacher went up for Holy Communion. The rest were either too embarrassed and there were rumours about not taking it because someone had spit into the wine. I found the same rumour about spitting into the wine at another church school my grandchildren attended.<br />They didn't have any special assembly for the various church festivals.In fact apart from the one Eucharist each year, there was nothing to show it was a church school.<br />The difference lay in the fact that this school was way ahead in terms of Academic achievement, way over the other secondary schools in the city. It had nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with knowing how to play the system .Liz Perrottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-146780325302102876.post-77616231912355706352011-05-10T20:35:50.486+01:002011-05-10T20:35:50.486+01:00Thank you both.
Shortage of places is certaily an ...Thank you both.<br />Shortage of places is certaily an issue, and the greater the competition, the more courage it takes to open up admission poilicies to all. However, the effect of squeezing out non-church families is also felt all the more by those who feel discrimianted against.Benny Hazlehursthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11106740133903626260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-146780325302102876.post-3926809049637823702011-05-09T07:37:32.438+01:002011-05-09T07:37:32.438+01:00Ethos every time, Benny. If only other church scho...Ethos every time, Benny. If only other church schools would show the courage and commitment of St Mary's, the question of quotas would disappear. Thanks for this.Perpetuahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-146780325302102876.post-64927974785208140602011-05-08T23:40:16.796+01:002011-05-08T23:40:16.796+01:00Many thanks, Benny, for the St Mary's experien...Many thanks, Benny, for the St Mary's experience. it's especially significant because as long as people hang onto quotas they think they need them, rather like not treading on the cracks in the pavement because you believe if you do bears will eat you. Until you try it you'll never know! Same goes for women's ministry... The ethos is maintained by leadership, governance and trust much more than by excluding outsiders. You do need some critical mass, of course, but as long as you genuinely reflect local population, this should be possible. The real problem, to my mind, is caused by shortage of places.Bishop Alan Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13879516755776951638noreply@blogger.com