Here is an email I recently sent to Francis Maude regarding faith schools and the upcoming vote.

February 2006

Dear Francis Maude

Please vote against the introduction of school academies (in their current form).

Apparently, a good proportion of them will be run by religious organisations.

I want to see church and state separate. Superstitious beliefs should have no part in the running of our country and the education of our children.

It is nothing short of indoctrination and an offense to the intelligence. On the one hand, children are taught to use reason and experience; on the other, they are indoctrinated into blind faith. How confusing. Schools should be in the business of increasing the intellect.

Discipline and morality are not the preserve of religion (just look at the hideous history of religion). They are the result of good parenting and good teaching. It is simply wrong to suggest that religious schools have high standards of morality and discipline because they are religious; it is because they are well run and the parents are well motivated.

Religion is divisive and always has been. It should be kept out of our schools. The government should be doing its utmost to promote integration.

Currently, the so-called RE lesson is used to teach a mixture of religion, morality, relationships etc. Religion should be taught as part of history and cultural studies, and not used as a vehicle for teaching children how to live.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Edmondson

And here is his reply.

Dear Mr Edmondson

Thank you for your email of 10th February raising your objection to the running of schools by religious organisations.

I expect you may not be surprised to learn that I do not entirely share your point of view. I believe that faith based schools offer strong guiding prinicples for their pupils and staff alike.

Yes, these institutions are well run and good parenting also has an influence on the high academic standards that religious schools achieve. However, I believe excellence in results is because the schools are run by religious organisations.

Christ's Hospital in our own area is a shining example of a faith based school. It takes children of families in social, financial or other need and delivers the highest results, often without strong parental motivation.

Here is an email to Mr Maude sent from the BHA wesbite

April 2006

Dear Mr Maude

Faith schools are not required by law to teach the same broad and balanced range of Religious Education as other state-funded schools. They are permitted to discriminate in their admissions and their employment policies, disadvantaging children, parents and prospective teachers who are not of that school's religion.

If these schools proliferate, more and more children will be educated in isolation from each other, and the risk that they will receive an unbalanced education will increase. More and more teaching posts will be put beyond the reach of qualified applicants. With some academies and faith schools, there is also the risk that children will receive unbalanced tuition in science and in sex and relationships education.

From 64% to 94% of the UK in polls and surveys are against faith schools and the often quoted eagerness of parents to send their children to them has more to do with perceived academic attainment than the 'faith' element of the establishment. In fact, repeated academic studies have found that the added value of faith schools is negligible when the advantaged nature of their intakes has been taken into account. You can read more research and articles on faith schools at http://tinyurl.com/avqy6

Once again, I urge you to take action to support any amendments to the Education and Inspections Bill which will oblige faith schools and academies to teach the same balanced religious education as other state-funded schools, to not discriminate in their admissions or employment policies on religious grounds, and to teach their pupils a proper science syllabus, and a useful syllabus of sex and relationship education.

I look forward to your reply.

Reply from Mr Maude (standard Conservative party reply)

12 April 2006

Thank you for your e-mail concerning the role religious institutions can play in trust schools.
I understand that you may have concerns about the number of new trust schools which may be established by religious organisations. I, too, am very keen to find out what the impact will be of this new form of school, especially when the Government appears to have backed down from many of its original proposals.
The issue of religion and religious schools is of course a very sensitive one, but what I must first and foremost confirm is that underlying any structure in any school is the issue of providing an excellent education to those children who attend it. Consistently, when the league tables are published, it is Church of England schools or other faith schools that achieve top results.
There are many characteristics which these schools have which are commendable. Often they have a strong ethos, something which the parents endorse and share, they usually have a good discipline and uniform policy and importantly, as with all faith schools in the state system, they must adhere to the National Curriculum. Faith schools also offer diversity and choice in the range of schools that are available for
pupils. I am not advocating that every school should be a faith school by any means, but it is very important that every school delivers a first class education.

Reply to Mr Maude

3rd May 2006

Dear Mr Maude

Academic studies have demonstrated again and again that there is little to no 'added value' provided by church schools. Those church schools that achieve high grades in examinations are frequently shown to have a more privileged intake from the very beginning. In this year's league tables, the proportion of faith schools in the top 20 
of schools was in any case no greater than the proportion of faith schools in the state sector as a whole. Furthermore, faith schools fail and close just as often as community schools when their intakes are from deprived areas, and good leadership and ethos in community schools produces the same good results as good leadership and ethos in religious schools; faith is not the magic ingredient! Moreover, I must point out that my letter was not only about church schools, but about the expansion of religious schools to include provision by various untested denominations. In any case, I'm sure we both agree that exam results are not the only indicator of a good education.

In defence of religious schools you say that they must follow the National Curriculum, but this is far from satisfactory and is in fact the most hollow of defences for state-funded religious schools offered by the Government. The subjects in which religious schools are most likely to deny their pupils a broad and balanced education, Religious Education and Sex and Relationships Education, are not in fact on the National Curriculum. Good RE in community schools does not consist of religious instruction or confessional education; instead an objective and broad curriculum of religious and secular philosophies is viewed as best practice. But in religious schools RE is not such a subject and there is nothing preventing religious schools from teaching the ultimate truth of any particular religion, and denying children knowledge of alternative worldviews.

Your party had a better policy when in government. Under Kenneth Baker as Education Secretary, the number of church schools decreased overall and applications from evangelical Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups to run state-funded schools were denied. As you are no doubt aware, Lord Baker recently spoke out firmly against the current Government's policy on faith schools in a Lords debate on the subject. It is not the business of the state to fund religious schooling, and I again urge you to join in voting for any amendments to the Education and Inspections Bill that will decrease their number, now and in the future, and which will regulate more firmly those which exist.