St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

A faith school for secular folk?

I went to a meeting on Ravenscliffe in July. It turned out to be the launch of a campaign for action on crime, housing and education. Inevitably they got to talking about the loss of “their” secondary school.

Immanuel C of E Community College is not a straight replacement for Eccleshill Upper School. It is over a mile away, it admits from Year 7 instead of Year 9, and it has its own admissions policy instead of a policy decided by Education Bradford. It admits 50% “church places” (pupils with a church connection) and 50% “community places” (pupils who live nearest to the building). If only 120 places go on where pupils live, some children in Ravenscliffe wouldn’t get into Immanuel. They’d be offered places at Carlton Bolling, which has many Muslim pupils from Asian family backgrounds. (In fact this hasn’t happened much, because a lot less than the 50% church places have been taken up.)

At the meeting, Councillor David Ward said there were some bad decisions of the past which you could get out of. For instance, a new consortium of developers would (he hoped) overcome the “demolition corridor” mistake of 1987-88. But there were other decisions which you just had to live with, and Immanuel was one of these. There was absolutely no point in the residents “demanding” a school of their own, or a change in Immanuel’s admission policy, and they just had to face the fact. Carlton Bolling is a good school, and both Immanuel and Carlton Bolling will probably improve markedly over the next five years.

Behind the discussion of schools lies one of race and religion. Several parents said they would never send their children to a school which was full of Muslims, and they would send them to Leeds instead. But neither did they want a “Christian” school. I was very struck that no-one said “I’m a Christian even thought I don’t go to church, and I think my child deserves to go to a church school”. Instead they all said “I don’t want a faith school: I would like a local non-religious secondary school for my child”.

The Ouseley Report asks us to find ways of mixing cultures in schools. In fact many church schools achieve this (e.g. Holy Trinity Ashton-u-Lyne, where my parents live). The whole episode made me wonder if we have anything to learn from the American experience of bussing, and next month I’ll try to bring you what Brian Shaw, the editor of the Lexington parish magazine, thinks about that.

John Hartley

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. October 2002, Page 9.
Home Page. Index of articles. Schools: index, Church & School, Creationism, Get involved, Ravenscliffe, Bussing. In this issue: (October 2002) Vicar's Letter, Roof Money, Window, Question, Schooling, Deanery.	A faith school for secular folk? I went to a meeting on Ravenscliffe in July. It turned out to be the launch of a campaign for action on crime, housing and education. Inevitably they got to talking about the loss of “their” secondary school. Immanuel C of E Community College is not a straight replacement for Eccleshill Upper School. It is over a mile away, it admits from Year 7 instead of Year 9, and it has its own admissions policy instead of a policy decided by Education Bradford. It admits 50% “church places” (pupils with a church connection) and 50% “community places” (pupils who live nearest to the building). If only 120 places go on where pupils live, some children in Ravenscliffe wouldn’t get into Immanuel. They’d be offered places at Carlton Bolling, which has many Muslim pupils from Asian family backgrounds. (In fact this hasn’t happened much, because a lot less than the 50% church places have been taken up.) At the meeting, Councillor David Ward said there were some bad decisions of the past which you could get out of. For instance, a new consortium of developers would (he hoped) overcome the “demolition corridor” mistake of 1987-88. But there were other decisions which you just had to live with, and Immanuel was one of these. There was absolutely no point in the residents “demanding” a school of their own, or a change in Immanuel’s admission policy, and they just had to face the fact. Carlton Bolling is a good school, and both Immanuel and Carlton Bolling will probably improve markedly over the next five years. Behind the discussion of schools lies one of race and religion. Several parents said they would never send their children to a school which was full of Muslims, and they would send them to Leeds instead. But neither did they want a “Christian” school. I was very struck that no-one said “I’m a Christian even thought I don’t go to church, and I think my child deserves to go to a church school”. Instead they all said “I don’t want a faith school: I would like a local non-religious secondary school for my child”. The Ouseley Report asks us to find ways of mixing cultures in schools. In fact many church schools achieve this (e.g. Holy Trinity Ashton-u-Lyne, where my parents live). The whole episode made me wonder if we have anything to learn from the American experience of bussing, and next month I’ll try to bring you what Brian Shaw, the editor of the Lexington parish magazine, thinks about that. John Hartley
Top of page.	This web page was last updated on 8th October.