Church schools have been defended by former government minister Frank Field MP as he attended celebrations to mark the 180th anniversary of Wrockwardine Wood Church of England Primary School in Telford, Shropshire.
Previously known as the Glass House School, Wrockwardine Wood Junior School has been educating generations of local children since 1830.
Frank Field told staff, former staff and pupils who gathered at the school this evening (Thursday) that the day was an “important day for celebration”. He praised the ethos of the school, saying: “You can feel the atmosphere in this school even though the classes have finished; that sense of the importance of every individual, their worth and their potential is here. You’ve lived that out and seen it in your lives.
He praised the staff for equipping the children for “a more difficult world than the one in which we grew up”.
Before giving his talk, he said: “The Church has a presence in this country through its parish system and in this parish they built the school before they built the church. It shows the priorities and that the Church has always wanted to have a gentle subtle influence here and it does that through its school; but also it is important for democratic systems to have church schools.
“The English are generally suspicious of power being concentrated in too few hands and we have benefitted in this country that education began by the Anglican Church, and the government decided to support the Church, increasing the number of schools and then it began to think about whether it should a formal role itself. That has been one of the strengths of English education.”
And he attacked those who claim church schools should be banned to prevent indoctrination, saying: “The indoctrination largely comes from those who are opposing church schools; that’s where the nastiness and sectarianism comes from.”
He added: “Most people who don’t believe in God also believe that it is good that children are introduced to what is our history: a set of beliefs that their parents and their grand parents would have shared to some extent.
“But they are also relieved in knowing that there is a wonderful brake on all these activities in the English character because the genius of the Church of England has been to know how much religion the English nation will take – which is not very much! And the English nation doesn’t like you going beyond that limit but it also expects you to fulfil the minimum.
“Most parents that I speak to, who are not practising Christians themselves but who fathom that there is something to this story which they would like to subscribe to, want their children to know about that so their children can grow on that or reject it. For them not to have that experience, people feel it is a real loss for their children.”
The Head Teacher, Mr Bill Wade, described the school’s special place in Wrockwardine Wood, saying: “The majority of our children come from within the local community and we involve the local community with as many events as we can. We’re a popular school and we’ll be here for many years to come.”
He added: “We have got very strong links with Holy Trinity, our parish Church and we have a strong Christian ethos within the school and we work with values of tolerance, understanding, co-operation, respect. Those basic fundamental ideals underpin everything we do at the school.
“Faith schools still have an important role to play. The children who come to our school come from many different faiths; and even though we are a Church of England school and we have that strong Christian ethos we still place a great deal of emphasis of the children being aware of the other faiths within the society in which they live and have an understanding and a tolerance.
“We now live in a multi-cultural society and we want our children to be able to go out into society and have that knowledge and understanding to be able to get along with anybody they come across in the work place.”
The Revd Matthew Stafford, Rector of Wrockwardine Wood and Oakengates, said: “I’ve been humbled, in the eight-years I’ve been here, to discover what a settled community Wrockwardine Wood is. Generations of the same family have gone through the old school and the new school; and even though they may not always overtly express it they value the fact that there was that solid Christian grounding as young people that, pray God, continues to sustain them in later life. The Church of England school in this place has bestowed in them something of their God given worth and human potential.”
He described criticisms of faith schools as “nonsense”, adding: “I went to a Church of England School and in many ways the ministry I exercise in this place is modelled on my experience. It’s not a question of ramming the Christian faith down people’s throats; it is simply about making the Christian faith as relevant and as meaningful and as accessible as you possibly can so that people can come to an opinion for themselves and hopefully come to faith.”