# UK education - how do you remove the Church England from the Education system? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 15, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513 "2006-11-15T12:39:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/1 "2006-11-15T12:39:10Z")
I was having a debate with colleagues about the position of religious (specifically Anglican/Catholic schools) in the education system in England and how they are divisive in a largely secular country, and at odds with a modern system of education. Given that the recently passed Education and Inspections Act contained a requirement for schools to promote “community cohesion” there must be others in parliament and in the government that accept this is the case to some extent. So, if you wanted to secularise all the school in England, what’s to stop you? Surely you could just pass an Act removing all religious designations to schools and reform the system of school organisation accordingly? Well in theory, yes, but in reality as the Church of England owns a significant portion of the land those schools are built on this would be very difficult (I can’t forsee a scenario where the Church cheerfully waves all this legislation through and then donates its land free of charge to the state). It would be a massive cost to take over all this land under compulsory purchase, and for the state to confiscate it (even through passing of a law) is simply theft and couldn’t be defended - could the state also declare that it can confiscate property of individuals to build schools where it wanted to? Too horrible a precedent to set. So what would be the solution? Shall we play fantasy government for a bit? What laws would you pass or policies would you set to secularise the state-funded school system? ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/2 "2006-11-15T12:40:21Z")
Personally, I’d like to declare the state secular through an Act of Parliament and then use compulsory purchase for all the land owned by the church. I accept that it would be a massive cost to the state’s coffers but ultimately it would be an investment as the state would increase its assets, or you could incentivise private sector/charity purchasing of the land under agreement to provide education on it. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/3 "2006-11-15T12:45:41Z")
> [@](#): > > So, if you wanted to secularise all the school in England, what’s to stop you? Religious schools tend to perform better and have better standards of discipline. > [@](#): > > A new report shows Catholic schools get better results for five to 16-year-olds than other schools and are more ethnically diverse. Catholic schools also scored better academic results at primary level and GCSE, behaviour was better and bullying was less of a problem, according to the report, Quality & Performance: A Survey of Education in Catholic Schools, which was based on official data taken from Ofsted, the schools inspectorate. From [here](http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article1870845.ece). It’s unclear why you’d mess with a system that seems to be working. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/4 "2006-11-15T12:51:13Z")
Ehm, it’s been a while (over a century in one case, 70 years in the other), but both Spanish republics forbade “people who have taken religious orders” from teaching. In both cases, shortly because exploding. The socialist grandfather of one of my classmates fought on the “national” side and claims it was in defense of his right to send his five sons to whichever school happens to teach best. I went to “the Nuns” K-8, 9-12 at the Jesuits, the college where I studied was founded by a Jesuit and three of my teachers there where SI. Physics is physics is physics. Yes, Father Victory “the Divine” was prone to washing poetic in German; he never brought theology to class though. Perhaps I’m too close to the picture to see it properly, but I can’t find any instance where my teacher-priests’ weekend jobs impinged upon their teachings. We studied evolution, comparative theology, geography, draftsmanship, history of philosophy, logic, geology, math… The one instance when one of the college SIs declared one class “optional”, he dedicated it to “how do planes and helicopters fly”. Do you also think that “people who have taken orders” should not be allowed to have any major other than Theology, or would you “merely” restrict them from teaching? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/5 "2006-11-15T12:54:14Z")
I think there is a wide range of teaching in religious schools. Certainly there are faith schools which teach Christianity is a mistake, or that evolution never happened. But my school was founded by a Christian and we teach evolution. Christianity is taught in religious classes alongside other religions. There are atheist teachers (like moi) and no questions are asked about your faith when applying for jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/6 "2006-11-15T13:00:57Z")
What **Dominic Mulligan** said. The Church-State-School situation that exists in the UK seems to work rather well. We’re not talking about the same kind of religious involvement that might be observed elsewhere, say, with right-wing fundamentalist interference of the science curriculum. Most of the religious influence exerted in UK schools is ‘Christian values’ stuff - fair treatment, equality, tolerance, etc… I’ll admit that there’s a possibility of my view being somewhat slanted; I’m a foundation\* governor at my local C of E controlled primary school (\*foundation governors are appointed by the church). ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/7 "2006-11-15T13:07:20Z")
[QUOTE=Dominic Mulligan] Religious schools tend to perform better and have better standards of discipline. [/QUOTE] But how much of that is down to the fact that they are a faith school or school with a religious character? A report by the NFER ([accessible here](http://www.nfer.ac.uk/research-areas/pims-data/summaries/admissions-who-goes-where.cfm)) found that voluntary aided and controlled schools had a lower proportion of children with SEN and Free School Meals (i.e. less deprived kids) and had higher prior-attainment at KS2 meaning the children were already doing well before they started at the school. Aspirational parents are willing to become members of faiths to ensure their children get into a good school, if that’s what it takes, and as these schools can select on the basis of faith this isn’t really showing that they’re necessarily better at educating children (just that they have the ability to select their intake more than non-faith schools). I would argue that VA/VC/faith schools achieve better because of their ability to select (ensuring their intakes are able and committed to education in a way that other maintained schools can’t), not because they educate better. So in that respect they are divisive as they compound an unfair system based on selection, thereby making the system broke. That’s why I’m asking how you’d fix it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/8 "2006-11-15T13:26:55Z")
[QUOTE=Illuminatiprimus] So in that respect they are divisive as they compound an unfair system based on selection, thereby making the system broke. That’s why I’m asking how you’d fix it. [/QUOTE] Aaaah, that’s a completely different question! Which one are we supposed to talk about, how to kick the Church of England (or any other for that matter) from the educational system, or how to ensure that religious beliefs or lack thereof do not interfere with access to adequate education? ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/9 "2006-11-15T14:12:11Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] What **Dominic Mulligan** said. The Church-State-School situation that exists in the UK seems to work rather well. [/QUOTE] It’s not that simple though. Are religious schools practicing a ‘back door’ selection policy that biases results? Are the house prices in the catchment area giving a middle class bias to the intake? Does an initial perceived advantage get widened year on year as ambitious parents either move into the catchment area or conveniently catch the Jesus bug? New academy schools get more resources and a lot of them are faith schools. Faith schools do well, but whether that has anything to do with them being faith schools is debatable. [Impact of Specialist and Faith Schools](http://www.nfer.ac.uk/research-areas/pims-data/summaries/isp-impact-of-specialist-and-faith-schools.cfm) > [@](#): > > Summary and conclusions > > The value-added analyses confirmed the findings of some earlier research by indicating that some specialist schools and some faith schools perform above expectations on some outcomes. However, further research would be needed to identify the nature of the advantage and the reasons for it. > > The most noteworthy findings were that: > > ``` > * technology colleges and language colleges performed slightly above the norm on all of the outcomes investigated > * Jewish schools performed exceptionally well on all but one of the outcomes > * church schools performed consistently well in English. > > ``` > > It is important to note, however, that these positive associations are not necessarily causal. The analysis took into account prior attainment (the chief determinant of performance) and other important pupil- and school-level variables. However, there are relevant factors concerning intake (such as ethnicity, EAL, and parental support) which could not be included because data was not available. There are also questions about whether the enhanced performance of specialist schools is due at least in part to the additional funding which they receive. It would be worthwhile to undertake a further study, using qualitative and quantitative methods, to explore these issues further. IMHO the divisiveness of faith schools, in a society struggling to integrate minorities, outweighs anything else. It’s not like secular schools can’t be as good or better. And IMHO the State has no business funding the corruption of kid’s minds with mumbo jumbo in the first place, parrticularly Islamic schools when intergration is already an issue. I went to a C of E Primary School but that was decades ago and it was the only school in a small village. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/10 "2006-11-15T14:27:23Z")
[QUOTE=tagos] It’s not that simple though. Are religious schools practicing a ‘back door’ selection policy that biases results? Are the house prices in the catchment area giving a middle class bias to the intake? [/QUOTE] Well, I can only speak for the school of which I have experience and in this particular case, the admissions policy is probably the most lenient in the area; we regularly accept pupils that have been refused admission elsewhere and this policy is the way it is explicitly because of church influence. I would not wish to generalise from a sample of one though. > [@](#): > > Does an initial perceived advantage get widened year on year as ambitious parents either move into the catchment area or conveniently catch the Jesus bug? I’m not even sure the ‘Jesus bug’ comment is relevant in the case of C of E controlled schools. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/11 "2006-11-15T14:28:11Z")
Tagos has summarised my thoughts quite nicely - I think my main point was removing “mumbo jumbo as truth” from schools, which wouldn’t be difficult in theory but in practice (with the Church owning so much of the assets of these schools) it wouldn’t be straightforward. The fact that this whole process would also close a significant loop in the system with regards to selection and unequal access to education is a significant and welcome bonus. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/12 "2006-11-15T14:35:07Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Well, I can only speak for the school of which I have experience and in this particular case, the admissions policy is probably the most lenient in the area; we regularly accept pupils that have been refused admission elsewhere and this policy is the way it is explicitly because of church influence. I would not wish to generalise from a sample of one though. I’m not even sure the ‘Jesus bug’ comment is relevant in the case of C of E controlled schools. [/QUOTE] It might be a facetious way of expressing it but the phenomena of parents suddenly becoming regular church goers when little Timmy is approaching school age seems well established anecdotally. What’s your experience with this? As to how to get the religion out of schools? Stop funding them all together like was done with the old style direct grant grammar schools and buy those that don’t go completely private, out. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/13 "2006-11-15T14:56:55Z")
Just curious as someone who isn’t from the UK, do you actually have to be religious to go to a religious school? That’s not the case at most of the more respected religious schools in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/14 "2006-11-15T15:06:01Z")
[QUOTE=Martin Hyde] Just curious as someone who isn’t from the UK, do you actually have to be religious to go to a religious school? That’s not the case at most of the more respected religious schools in the United States. [/QUOTE] Basically, yes. Or at least the pretense of it by parents who dutifully attend church for a while. Recently there was an attempt to impose on-faith quotas but the faiths lobbied hard and got this replaced by a nebulous and unenforced ‘commitment to diversity.’ ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/15 "2006-11-15T15:17:47Z")
[QUOTE=tagos] Basically, yes. Or at least the pretense of it by parents who dutifully attend church for a while. Recently there was an attempt to impose on-faith quotas but the faiths lobbied hard and got this replaced by a nebulous and unenforced ‘commitment to diversity.’ [/QUOTE] Don’t forget the requirement to promote community cohesion - the Education and Inspections Act 2006 amends the Learning and Skills Act 2000 to say at S23A(6): “The foundation of a school to which this section applies shall, in carrying out its functions in relation to the school, promote community cohesion.” If that doesn’t make schools start to take the requirement to have broad and balanced intakes seriously, I don’t know what will. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/16 "2006-11-15T15:20:31Z")
[QUOTE=Illuminatiprimus] Don’t forget the requirement to promote community cohesion - the Education and Inspections Act 2006 amends the Learning and Skills Act 2000 to say at S23A(6): “The foundation of a school to which this section applies shall, in carrying out its functions in relation to the school, promote community cohesion.” If that doesn’t make schools start to take the requirement to have broad and balanced intakes seriously, I don’t know what will. :smack: [/QUOTE] You cynic you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/17 "2006-11-15T15:33:55Z")
[QUOTE=tagos] It might be a facetious way of expressing it but the phenomena of parents suddenly becoming regular church goers when little Timmy is approaching school age seems well established anecdotally. What’s your experience with this? [/quote] I’m astonished by it. As far as I know, it simply doesn’t happen here. I’m wondering if there’s some lumping together of terminology going on in this thread; there are different [types](http://www.direct.gov.uk/EducationAndLearning/Schools/ChoosingASchool/ChoosingASchoolArticles/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4016312&chk=mIV5hA) of school, each with their own arrangements and each with different levels of control(with which is implied responsibility) by the various elements of the governing body. The church (or other charitable organisation - it doesn’t have to be a church) doesn’t really have the capacity to subvert the curriculum. I’d like to see a citation supporting the notion that there _really is_ a significant level of ‘mumbo jumbo’ being presented as truth. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/18 "2006-11-15T15:45:22Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I’m astonished by it. As far as I know, it simply doesn’t happen here. I’m wondering if there’s some lumping together of terminology going on in this thread; there are different [types](http://www.direct.gov.uk/EducationAndLearning/Schools/ChoosingASchool/ChoosingASchoolArticles/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4016312&chk=mIV5hA) of school, each with their own arrangements and each with different levels of control(with which is implied responsibility) by the various elements of the governing body. The church (or other charitable organisation - it doesn’t have to be a church) doesn’t really have the capacity to subvert the curriculum. I’d like to see a citation supporting the notion that there _really is_ a significant level of ‘mumbo jumbo’ being presented as truth. [/QUOTE] In my outdated experience there was plenty. No ‘if God exists’ about it. [Core Curriculum](http://www.deni.gov.uk/index/80-curriculumandassessment_pg/80-curriculum_and_assessment-religiouseducationcoresyllabus_pg.htm) > [@](#): > > Religious Education (RE) is a compulsory element of the curriculum. A core syllabus drawn up by the 4 main churches was made compulsory for all pupils from September 1996. It is not open to the Department of Education to alter the content of the core syllabus. While the core syllabus is Christian in content, it is intended to comprise around half of the teaching time for RE, allowing schools scope to include study about other world religions if they so wish, or to extend to any RE related subject matter that the school considers relevant for its intake of pupils. Under current arrangements, parents have the right to withdraw their children wholly or partly from religious education or collective worship. From the curriculum. A search of it for athiest or athiesm gets zero hits. Looks like all Jesus All the time to me. No ‘Attainment’ that at any point requiring critical thinking or even knowledge of any other religion. > [@](#): > > STATEMENTS OF ATTAINMENT FOR KEY STAGE 1 > > The statements of attainment are non statutory and are included as illustratory material for the guidance of teachers. > ATTAINMENT TARGET 1: THE REVELATION OF GOD > > Pupils should develop an awareness, knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the key Christian teachings about God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, about Jesus Christ and about the Bible; and an ability to interpret and relate the Bible to life. > God and the Bible > > Pupils should be able to: > > a. recognise that the Bible is a holy book listened to with reverence. > > . Talk about the use of the Bible in Church and elsewhere. > . Read from the Bible in a service of worship. > . Dramatise a Bible reading. > . Talk about how Jesus listened to stories from the Bible (Old Testament). > > b. illustrate the wonder and variety of God’s creation. > > . Talk about what God has made: people, flowers, birds, animals. > . Make a collage of God’s world. > . Bring in and talk about photographs of themselves. > . Plant bulbs and seeds; observe the way in which they grow. > . Go for a nature walk. > . Collect leaves, pine cones. > . Make seasonal displays. > . Look after birds and animals. > > c. recognise that God cares for his creation and people. > > . Participate in a Harvest Thanksgiving service. > . Make up a prayer expressing thanks for God’s care and providence. > . Make a classbook depicting growing things and how they change. > . Dramatise the story of Noah. > > The Life of Jesus > > Pupils should be able to: > > a. demonstrate their knowledge of the Christmas story and of its significance. > > . Retell the Christmas story. > . Design and make a Christmas card illustrating the Nativity scene. > . Make a model of the crib. > . Make up a prayer thanking God for the gift of Jesus. > . Make and distribute presents. > . Take part in a Christmas carol service. > . Dramatise the Christmas story. > > b. demonstrate some knowledge of life in Nazareth during the childhood of Jesus. > > . Talk about the way of life in Nazareth when Jesus was growing up. > . Make a model of a house in Palestine. > . Play some of the games that Jewish children would have played > . Compare a school day in Jesus’ time with your school day. > . Talk about Jesus visiting the Temple. > . Make a frieze depicting life in and around Nazareth. > . Draw a picture of a Roman soldier, merchant, pilgrim or fisherman. > > c. give examples of the teaching of Jesus on forgiveness and begin to understand its application. > > . Dramatise the story of Zacchaeus. Draw ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures of Zacchaeus. > . Using pictures and sentences, outline the story of Zacchaeus. > . Talk about the example Jesus set. > . Improvise or role play on the theme of ‘saying sorry’. > . Make up a prayer expressing repentance. > . Role play or improvise situations involving forgiveness. > > d. demonstrate a knowledge of how Jesus healed people. > > . Retell an appropriate story: > Jairus’ daughter; > blind Bartimaeus; > Peter’s wife’s mother. > > . Make a classbook about the people Jesus healed. > > e. demonstrate their knowledge that Jesus claimed a special relationship with God his Father. > > . Relate the occasions when Jesus prayed to the Father: > early in the morning; > in the Garden of Gethsemane. > > f. illustrate how Christians can call God their Father. > > . Say the Lord’s Prayer. > . Sing the song ‘Abba, Father’. > . Make up a prayer which addresses God as Father. > > g. demonstrate an understanding that Jesus made friends and offers friendship. > > . Make a cartoon strip of Jesus’ meeting with some of his friends: Peter, Matthew, Mary, Martha. > . Decorate the names of the friends of Jesus. > . Dramatise the story of Jesus’ visit to Mary and Martha. > . Draw a picture of Jesus having a meal with some of his friends. > . Imagine that Jesus came to your house for tea. Tell a friend about the visit. > . Participate in a classroom party or celebration. > > h. demonstrate a knowledge of the main events of the passion and death of Jesus. > > . Write a diary, outlining the events of Holy Week. > . Make palm branches. > . Dramatise Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. > . Talk about special meals. > . Talk about some of the people who disliked Jesus. > > i. recognise that Jesus died because he loved people. > > . Make a cross. > . Make a frieze of Jesus’ journey from Jerusalem to Golgotha. > > j. demonstrate a knowledge of the main events of the resurrection narrative. > > . Talk about how Jesus’ friends might have felt when they heard that the tomb was empty. > . Make an Easter garden. > . Make or collect items for an Easter table: have mustard or cress seeds growing, spring fowers, models of lambs or chicks. > . Make a frieze of new life at springtime. > k. understand ways in which Christians respond to the belief that Jesus is alive today. > > . Participate in an Easter service. Write a prayer giving thanks to God for Easter. > . Make Easter cards. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/19 "2006-11-15T15:58:50Z")
Your links seem to relate to curriculum proposals for a specific kind of school (grant-maintained faith schools) in Northern Ireland, and does seem a bit Jesus-ey. I’ll just have to say that this is outside of my experience in many ways. The Church controlled school of which I have experience is of a different type. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513/20 "2006-11-15T16:05:19Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Your links seem to relate to curriculum proposals for a specific kind of school (grant-maintained faith schools) in Northern Ireland, and does seem a bit Jesus-ey. I’ll just have to say that this is outside of my experience in many ways. The Church controlled school of which I have experience is of a different type. [/QUOTE] This core syllabus applies to England and Wales, Google just happened to hit an NI sub page. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-education-how-do-you-remove-the-church-england-from-the-education-system/380513.md?page=2)