education
Praise for leavening school life
Margaret Holness reports
on a research project
that identifies ten
schools as leaders in the
way that they approach
spirituality
LATER this year, every Church of
England secondary school in England
and Wales will receive a free book, Ten
Leading Schools, that tells the stories of
ten church secondary schools that lead
the country in their approach to
spirituality.
The book’s publication is the
culmination of a two-year, £250,000
research project based at the National
Institute for Christian Education
Research, at Canterbury Christ Church
University. The Professor of Christian
Education at Canterbury Christ Church,
Trevor Cooling, says that the
programme began in conversations
with fellow researchers at Warwick
University. “We wanted to see how
spirituality might become more overtly
embedded in the life of church schools.”
Details of the planned research were
sent to a range of secondary schools
with a Christian ethos. Ten schools were
chosen to take part in the project, out
of the 20 that applied. Eight were C of E,
one was an Anglican/RC school, and one
was an OASIS academy. A dedicated
research officer, Dr Ann Casson, was
appointed. Her brief was to make weeklong visits to each of the ten schools,
three times over one year.
Her visits included talking to
principals, teachers, students, and
ancillary staff, and teasing out their
attitude to spiritual development, and
their response to the developing
policies of their schools. With 30 years
of experience as an RE teacher, she was
able quickly to embed herself in the life
of the schools that she visited.
Dr Casson says that she was surprised
by the interest in the project among
both teachers and students. “In all but a
couple of interviews, teachers and
students were keen to give me their
views — young people would even stop
me on the corridor to talk, well, about
spirituality. In 30 years, I’d never had
corridor conversations like that. The
students were interested, and wanted
to talk.”
Dr Casson says that these encounters
underlined the way in which the
children took spirituality for granted.
The responses, however, varied in style
significantly between schools. At some,
students tended to be more reflective,
while, at others, comments were more
direct: some kinds of behaviour were
approved of as “Christian”, and other
behaviour was dismissed as “not
Christian”.
PROFESSOR COOLING hopes that Ten
Leading Schools will inspire other
schools to reflect on their own
spirituality, and try out the various
approaches recounted in the book.
Because the circumstances in which
schools operate vary widely, so do
those chosen for the project. Bishop
Luffa Academy, Chichester, and John
Wallis Academy, Ashford, for example,
serve very different communities, but
both had outstanding SIAMS reports.
Bishop Luffa Academy, Chichester,
began life as a voluntary aided
secondary modern school. Based on
GCSE and A-level results, it is now one of
the 60 top comprehensives in the
country. More than half of its 1450
pupils stay on in the academic sixth
form. Many leavers go to Oxbridge or
Russell Group universities. It leads the
Blue Flag Teaching Schools Alliance.
Most of its children come from
church backgrounds, although 15 per
cent have no church background. More
mixed socially than stereotypes of
academically successful schools might
suggest, its pupils now include several
from low-income families who have
moved from London, or who are from
Eastern European backgrounds The
head, Nick Taunt, is a National Leader
for Education.
IN CONTRAST, John Wallis Academy,
Ashford, Kent, replaced a church school
for 11-to-16-year-olds which had been
judged “failing”. One of the last Labour
sponsored academies, it opened with a
new leadership team in 2010; the new
principal, John McParland, was headhunted from his position as head
teacher of St Simon Stock, Roman
Catholic School, Maidstone. The
following year, a sixth form was added,
and in September 2012 it took in a
former primary school that was in
special measures, and it became an
academy for those aged three to 19.
The academy serves a large 1960s
“overspill” estate that was built to
house families from London; its intake
of children eligible for the pupil
premium is much higher than average;
so is the proportion of children with
special needs. Nearly 80 per cent of
pupils are of White British heritage,
most from poor backgrounds.
In
spite
of
its
challenging
circumstances, however, the academy
has been judged out- standing by
SIAMS inspectors since 2013, and, in
2014, OFSTED rated it as “Good” in
terms of overall effectiveness. In the
House of Lords last year, the Lead
Bishop for Educa- tion, the Rt Revd
Stephen Conway, described John Wallis
Academy as “inspirational”. “It is
having a really transformative impact
on the whole of the community,” he
said.
Margaret Holness is the Church Times
Education Correspondent.
Culture and relationships
John McParland, principal
of one of the Ten
Leading Schools, writes of
the time and patience
required for
transformation
IN SEPTEMBER 2010, when we were
faced with many challenging students,
it took time and resilience to change a
culture where lack of respect for
authority and unacceptable behaviour
had been the norm. Every day, for six
months, between ten and 15 students
were excluded. Reintegration meetings
took place every morning from 8.30 to
11.30 to send clear messages to
students and parents that respect for
self, for each other, and for the
environment, together with high
aspirations and standards, were
expected of all students.
On the first day, I led assemblies with
each year group, beginning with a
prayer. Several rude and disruptive
students had to be removed, and it was
clear that basic good manners had to be
taught before we could move forward.
Seven years on, students arrive at
assemblies quietly, properly dressed,
and in an orderly fashion. The
atmosphere is now conducive to
reflection and stillness before the
assembly begins.
John Wallis Church of England
Academy is now the non-selective
school of choice in Ashford, Kent. We
are an inclusive school with children of
faith and no faith. There have been no
permanent exclusions since we opened.
The culture has changed. Students
appreciate education, and staff are
making a real difference to the lives of
our young people. Forgiveness and
reconciliation are at the heart of our
academy: every child is seen as a child of
God.
HIGH standards have had tangible
results. Since our sixth form opened four
years ago, many students who would
never have dreamed of higher education
have earned university places. And our
academy’s spiritual life has been
transformed. Throughout the school,
every day begins with prayer: in our
senior leader- ship team meeting; in
classrooms at the start of the first
lesson; and at daily assemblies at half
past ten. Prayer accompanies everything
we do, and is now the norm.
Few of our pupils attend a local church,
but I believe that the school has become
the church for our community, pupils,
staff, and families. Pupils visit our chapel
regularly, and, in Year 7, there are
regular sessions on Christian teachings
with our lay chaplain.
Pupils and staff regularly ask us to
pray for their loved ones who are sick
or in trouble, or when there is a
bereavement, and it is accepted that,
at these times, we accompany pupils,
students, and staff in prayer. Recently,
for example, together with the
chaplain and two teachers, I attended
the funeral of the young mother of one
of our families, who had died of
cancer.
One of the highlights of our calendar
is the Christmas carol service, when
the story of the birth of Jesus is retold
in word, song, and dance. Six times a
year, we celebrate the Eucharist at the
end of the school day; it is a voluntary
celebration led by local ministers. On
Ash Wednesday, ashes are distributed
as Lent begins.
Our
pupils
and
students
acknowledge that our staff go the extra
mile in their care and love for them.
We work with families who live in
challenging circumstances, and have
great
needs.
Whatever
their
circumstances, they are loved, valued,
and respected, because they are not
only our neighbours, but also brothers
and sisters in Christ. Thus, our pastoral
care is central to all we do in our
academy.
One of our sixth-form students told
me that she had met a Year 7 girl who
was excited because she was going to
the chapel to have a lesson with the
chaplain. Few of our students or staff
have had a grounding in the Bible or in
theology, but many now live their lives
in faithfulness and courage in the face
of adversity.
John McParland is the principal of John
Wallis Academy.
‘Prayer
accompanies
everything and is
now the norm
CHURCH TIMES 10 February 2017
Renewed community: John McParland with students of John Wallis Academy