FAITH schools are still relevant in today’s society and could even help tackle authority respect issues, according to East Lancashire headteachers.
The views come as Whalley CofE Primary School in the Ribble Valley announced it had tightened its admissions criteria for reception class intake for 2014, giving priority to children who attend the village’s parish church over those from other denominations.
And new free schools Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Blackburn, and Burnley High School, which have both been given permission to open in September, claim they will have a ‘Christian ethos’.
Dr Steve Austin, who has been headteacher at Whalley Primary in Church Lane since 2011, said: “Church schools are still very relevant.
“We have made a couple of changes to the admissions criteria over the last couple of years.
“We have strengthened the church criteria in our most recent changes because we did not want to lose children who were committed church goers.
“Children who go to the Church of England will now be given priority.
“It is what most schools do.
“We also had two categories of siblings living in and out of the catchment area, which we brought together as we did not want them to be split up.”
Mark Standen, headteacher at Holy Trinity CofE Primary School in Darwen, said, regardless of which faith a school decided to follow, having a religious ethos helped teach children life values.
He said: “As we are getting poorer and poorer as a community, values are being neglected.
“Kids are not frightened of police, authority and teachers anymore, but when we are in school, we can talk about love, trust and being a family.
“Whatever faith you are or whatever background you come from, you cannot escape the values of life.”
St Mary’s RC Primary School in Burnley is one of the first in East Lancashire to have set up a chaplaincy team dedicated to helping pupils develop their faith.
Wendy Read, who helps run the group, said: “Faith schools absolutely still have a relevance in today’s society. We teach the values of right and wrong, being able to forgive and accept people for who they are.
“It is a tough world out there and Burnley has its problem areas. A lot of parents are going through tough times whether it is financial problems or family break down, but if we have faith as the basis of our school, we can show that there is light.”
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