Christian Fundamentalists plan independent sheffield school network...

this is very worrying, are we going to go back before the enlightement towards a belief in a flat earth and the like or are these just harmless beliefs held by some as is their right. For me it is a problem, after all the Jesuits used to say: 'Give me a child by the age of seven and i will show you the man'.What would the state say if we wanted to set up (for instance) socialist schools.


Educating children in an evangelical way

RADICAL plans to set up a Sheffield-wide network of evangelical Christian schools will be unveiled at a public meeting tonight.

Parents will be urged to turn their backs on the state system, which speakers will argue has declined into materialist and secular ways.
Behind the proposals are supporters of Bethany School, founded 17 years ago and now based in Netherthorpe.
If the scheme receives sufficient backing, Bethany head Ken Walze believes ten small schools could be set up within a year.
A longer term plan could see the foundation of an affiliated Christian sixth form academy.
Bethany currently has 72 pupils enrolled aged from four to 16 but its younger year groups are full and there is a waiting list.
Parents are asked to pay what they can afford, and not all pupils are necessarily from a Christian background.
Tonight's meeting will hear that the demand for similar schools is there and the time is right for them to be set up.
"We are seeing increased interest in what we are doing," Mr Walze said.
"We believe we are doing something right and that we can offer a distinctive model of Christian family schooling."
Mr Walze argues that Christians are making little impact on modern education and that even diocesan church schools are tied to the National Curriculum.
Bethany pupils only switch to the National Curriculum when they start GCSE studies in Years 10 and 11.
Before that they are taught a Bible-based curriculum which includes creationism and the idea that history is the unfolding of God's plan.
"We are calling for a major ideological change - to not put children in a school which is counter to their beliefs and culture, which is in fact alien to them," Mr Walze said.
"The reason parents send their children here is that they are concerned about the influences they are being exposed to in schools where the Christian faith is predominantly excluded."
Speakers tonight will argue that a separate system of evangelical schools will have a transforming effect, both on education and the wider life of the city.
"We don't want to be ghettoised or separate – we want to go out and make a positive influence on society," Mr Walze added.
Tonight's meeting is at the Wilson Carlile College on Cavendish Street, off West Street near the city centre, beginning at 7.30pm.

22 January 2004