Christian Car Dealers Want Their Religion Foisted On Kids In School

Religious propagandists are gearing up for a major push to take over schools in Britain. In Coventry, the evangelical car dealer Bob Edmiston is about to be given the go-ahead to turn Woodway Park School, into a city academy. Read more about Mr Edmiston here and here

In Norwich, yet another evangelical Christian car dealer – this time Graham Dacre of the Lind group – is set to take control of another academy.

Whitehall officials have been in talks with Mr Dacre – founder of the Lind Automotive Group and the charitable Lind Trust – and the Bishop of Norwich about creating a new academy on the site of Heartsease High. The proposals would see Mr Dacre and the Norwich Diocese invest £2m in creating the new academy – in return for influence over the schools admissions policy, curriculum and governing ethos – while the taxpayer would provide the other £20m required to build the school, and thereafter all running costs.

But there is unease in the local community about these plans. Members of Norfolk County Council’s Children’s services supported calls for the ruling Cabinet to seek more details from the Department of Education about exactly how the proposed school would work. The school’s governors recently voted by 13 to 3 to obtain more information.

Lib Dem councillors were less equivocal, saying the plans would create a two-tier system and should be dropped. Mervyn Scutter, the party’s children’s services spokesman said the cash should be invested throughout Norfolk schools – and help tackle a £300m buildings backlog. He pointed out that education watchdog Ofsted had flagged up serious concerns about the performance of the academies in other parts of the country.

Glynis Shepherd, a co-opted committee member, said youngsters would be used as guinea pigs in an education experiment whose benefits remained unproven. “There is no evidence they raise standards, it’s a leap in the dark and public money will be used by private sponsors,” she said.

Lisa Christensen, director of Children’s Services, admitted the academy proposals were a “very hot political topic” but failure to consider it could send a negative message back to Whitehall at a time the authority was seeking much needed education funding.

Meanwhile the committee raised concerns about plans for a new inter-faith high school in Downham Market. The 600 place school is being jointly supported by the Ely Diocese and the Methodist Church with the government pledging more than £14m of taxpayers’ money. Members of the council’s school organisation committee will consider the proposal next month.

From September, the Church of England will take over the running of Mitcham Vale and Tamworth Manor schools in Merton, South London, when they become an academy. This is in spite of the fact that parents and local politicians overwhelmingly rejected the idea. See here.

Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society said: “This is just the beginning of a major push by religious organisations and individuals to gain more and more influence over our education system. When the Government’s new idea of ‘trust schools’ is launched, we will see a rush of applications from religious organisations, some of which will be highly questionable. This doesn’t seem to matter to Mr Blair who seems quite content for right-wing religious fundamentalists to run schools, and push their regressive agendas on to children at the public’s expense but with minimal accountability. LEAs are left as powerless by-standers while the funds they so desperately need are diverted to bigots.”

Mr Wood said any promises from the Government that they would consult with the local community before establishing any new trust schools are not worth the paper they are written on. “They said this about academies, and local objections have been repeatedly over ruled or ignored.”