Faith Schoolers Anonymous

Trying to teach sex and relationships education in a faith school

“The Bishop actually made it his mission to eradicate anything within the curriculum about homophobia, sexuality, basically anything which challenges Catholicism”

The Government's SRE guidance hasn't been updated since the year 2000 — The Government’s SRE guidance hasn’t been updated since the year 2000, and largely excludes LGBT issues

Whenever the issue of faith school is in the news, I always want to express my concerns and share my experiences, but I can’t publicly because I work in a faith school and will probably end up jobless. Anonymously, though, I can give you some examples of the hypocrisy going on in my school and others like it. It makes me so sad that our children are losing out on so many opportunities because of the one-track, narrow-minded way of a faith-based education.

I am the co-ordinator for PSHE (personal, social, health, and economic education) at our school and am all about promoting equality and self-acceptance, but working in my faith school just does not allow it and I feel I am fighting a losing battle.

It’s so sad. I teach Year 6, the eldest children. A lot of our kids are ‘streetwise’ and are older than their years, but it scares me how uneducated and prejudiced some of them are so I am working really hard to get them to see things differently (Classic examples: issues with black and Asian people and using racist language, using the word ‘gay’ as a derogatory phrase on the yard etc).

I went on a course about teaching LGBT and raising awareness, and it was such a good course with so many ideas for all children of all ages. Some of the resources for children as young as four are fantastic and deliver in an age-appropriate, non-sensationalised way.

But before I could even roll anything out the diocese had been on the phone asking what the school was playing at sending me on that course and the Bishop actually made it his mission to eradicate anything within the curriculum about homophobia, sexuality, basically anything which challenges Catholicism.

He sent out a memo to hold off on teaching about any of these areas, despite Ofsted saying they are of importance. So that’s all the children in all the schools in the diocese missing out on learning about these values.

I rebelled slightly and went ahead and taught some elements anyway, and I am so glad I did because my children were amazing and felt so strongly about inequality once we got into it and seemed to deal with scenarios and hypothetical questions in a mature manner.

But I couldn’t let the children write or record anything in their books, nor display anything like photos etc, because ‘the diocese wouldn’t like it’. We’re not allowed to teach RSE (Relationships and Sex Education), which again is a national requirement and so necessary for our kids, many of whom, I will be honest, really need to be taught about relationships and responsible choices.

Religious Education (RE), which is a Catholic syllabus only, is taught three times a week and is assessed with the same rigour as English and Maths. Again, for the past two years I have promoted other festivals like Diwali, Hanukkah and Eid, among others, and the children love it. They are naturally curious and have an inquisitive nature. But we have to evidence any work about other religions in other books, not RE books, to appease the diocese once again.

I think faith schools can be a good thing but the more I see this happening the more dangerous I think they can be too. Sometimes I feel like we fail the children by not addressing ‘real life’ situations and instead gloss over it all with scripture, or sweep it under the carpet completely.

That is all. Thank you for the opportunity to get this out! It just really gets to me and I can’t express myself openly without fear of repercussions in school!

Anonymous

Inside Britain’s only Scientologist school

“Scratch away at the surface, and this quiet haven in rural East Sussex is not as it seems. Scratch away at the surface, and what you find is Britain’s only Scientologist school”

lronhub — L. Ron Hubbard – founder of Scientology

A watch of their promotional video and a flick through their literature, your average aspirational parent would jump at the chance to send their child to Greenfields School. A quaint Victorian mansion, perched on the edge of the rural Ashdown forest, it has eleven acres of woodland, boasts academic and extracurricular excellence, and defines itself as a ‘happy, friendly and family-orientated school’. Continuous education is offered from nursery through to sixth form at a reasonable price, and well below the cost of a place at your average private school. The place is almost too good to be true. The sad truth? It is.

You wouldn’t necessarily know it from the literature but the school is linked closely with the Church of Scientology and far from broadening the horizons of its students, there are allegations that many of them are groomed by the Church for the secretive and cultish ‘Sea Org’ programme abroad.

In spite of the school’s insistence that it is ‘non-denominational’, testimonies of former pupils, parents, and ex-staff members, reveal the opposite is the case. One ex-staffer, who did not wish to be identified, said:

‘To promote it as an ordinary school with no particular influence from Scientology, I think is a false representation.’

In 1984 a mother pulled her daughter out of Greenfields. Even though she was a scientologist, she spelled out her reasons in a letter to the principal:

‘Although I was aware that the school used certain study methods devised by L. Ron Hubbard, I was not aware that the school was dominated by the Church of Scientology. Had this been made clear by the school authorities in their prospectus and from the outset I would have reconsidered my decision to send my child to such a place.’

In the same year, a member of the board of trustees also resigned. In a letter to the board, Dr Stephen Davies, who was a Scientologist himself, wrote:

‘It is now evident to me that the change in the political climate within the church had direct repercussions on the day to day management of Greenfields School. It also became evident that Greenfields was not acting as a school truly independent of the organising body of the Church of Scientology.’

Greenfields may claim to welcome students ‘of all faiths, cultures andnationalities’ but what exactly that means is open to debate.

L Ron Hubbard, science fiction writer, convicted fraudster, and the founder of Scientology, is mentioned only a few times on the school’s website and in their literature, and never in relation to the Church of Scientology itself. Instead, he is referred to respectfully, and rather misleadingly, as simply an ‘author’ and a ‘humanitarian’. And whilst there is no evidence that the school teaches children about all of the beliefs and doctrines of Scientology (that alien spirits called thetans command our bodies, for instance), the school’s ethics and morals are based on Hubbard’s 21 moral precepts outlined in The Way to Happiness. Although it is promoted as secular in nature, its critics have described it as a recruitment tool for the church.

Hubbard is also revered by the school as a great innovator in education. The methods of ‘study technology’ are praised as being the USP of the school, which claims: ‘applied standardly, Study Technology produces remarkable improvements in a student’s ability’. In actual fact, the latest available results show that only 63% of students at Greenfields attained five good GCSES (A*-C), well below the results for the average private school and below the results achieved by the local comprehensive in the area too. Where ‘study technology’ has been employed elsewhere at schools around the world, it has been the subject of complaints from both parents and teachers.

The more the story is dissected, the more intruiging it becomes. A report from the Independent Schools Inspectorate found that just eight of its 101 students were in sixth form. The reason for this is explained by Fred, a former student who left Greenfields in 2008, who said that ‘Most of them left once they had done their GCSEs’, adding that some leave even before their GCSEs are completed. By ‘left’ he doesn’t simply mean they went to different schools or moved on to sixth form colleges – he was referring to students being transferred to America, not to study but to enrol on Sea Org (the secretive arm of Scientology which is described as ‘the church’s equivalent of a religious order’ and has been the subject of some of the more controversial allegations made about the church).

Much has been reported about what exactly goes on within this ‘order’, but Fred recalled meeting some of the students who had come back:

‘A few of them visited for a few days, and as they were my friends I hung out with them quite a lot, and they were really different, unpleasantly so. They were much quieter, they talked in a different way, in a slightly unpleasant way. They were less “there”. It was a very unpleasant experience meeting them again.’

Scratch away at the surface, and this quiet haven in rural East Sussex is not as it seems. Scratch away at the surface, and what you find is Britain’s only Scientologist school.

FSA team

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My experience of injustice and discrimination at a state-funded Catholic school

“The school’s SRE policy states that it ‘cannot approve of homosexual genital acts’ and that ‘a homosexual partnership and a heterosexual marriage can never be equated’. This is the policy you will find on its website today, the policy of a state-funded school in England in 2016.”

i_newspaper_20_8_2013 — Front page from 2013 on the news that schools were still operating Section 28-type policies

It may have been outlawed some time ago, thrust officially into the history books by a skin-of-its-teeth vote in Parliament, but the spirit of Section 28 of the Local Government Act of 1988 – the prohibition on promoting the ‘acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’ in schools – is still very much alive in the education system of our country. Many schools are still though to maintain such policies, often at the behest of Diocesan authorities.

The British Humanist Association exposed some such schools in a report from 2013. Reassuringly, many schools took this call to action seriously, and decided to act upon the misinformation given in these policies.

The school I left earlier this year, Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary School in Basingstoke, has not followed the good example set by such schools. The Education for Personal Relationships Policy states that it ‘cannot approve of homosexual genital acts’, a derogatory, and frankly disgraceful term to use in describing people’s ‘personal relationships’, which does nothing to instil any confidence in pupils and parents that the Church does in fact ‘recognise the dignity of all people’ or ‘affirm the homosexual as a person’, as the same policy claims. The school then goes on to dictate its opinion on same-sex marriage, asserting incorrectly that ‘English law’ reflects the Church’s opinion that ‘a homosexual partnership and a heterosexual marriage can never be equated’. This is the policy you will find on its website today, the policy of a state-funded school in England in 2016.

“Education, at its best, brings freedom, rights, and informed discourse, but our children are being let down by an education system which provides undue privileges to religious groups.”

It is important, I believe, to make sure that schools like Bishop Challoner are exposed to the public for encouraging a view of the law that is neither accurate nor tolerant.

I wrote to the school in my penultimate year regarding this policy, and it was pointed out that the document was immutable and had to reflect Diocesan guidance, save for the assertions on English law, which were to be duly amended, I was told. To date, no action has taken place with regard to this policy.

Of course, it is one thing to write about something, and another entirely to do it. When the Education for Personal Relationships day did come, it fell short of the condemnation that the policy would imply, but still failed to give even a fleeting mention to LGBT relationships. A separate day was also organised in which pupils could ask questions to married couples and receive answers about any aspect of married life, a well-meaning endeavour which, if properly co-ordinated, could have been an excellent day for learning. This disappointed severely. The couples were homogenous in that they were all Christians. This clearly does not represent the majority of British people and their feelings towards marriage.

“Why should any religion enjoy the privilege of using taxpayers’ money to propagate their faith?”

Further examples of discriminatory positions taken by the school included some of my peers being berated by a former head teacher for not wishing to lead a class in prayer. It is perhaps reasonable, if prayer really must take place, to ensure that it is done with no disruptions. However, the suggestion that by not wishing to partake in the religious activities of the school a pupil is disrespecting the Catholic faith, contradicts the notion of religious freedom completely.

I too found myself on the receiving end of this failure to respect freedom of thought and freedom of belief. My parents’ request to opt me out of Mass was denied, despite the fact the schools are legally obliged to grant such requests without question.

In addition to the schools’ administrative actions, I felt ostracised by the school’s religious selectivity. In fact, the 2015 diocesan report says that ‘The majority of students are Catholic, with approximately 17% of students from other Christian denominations’. It does not even mention non-Christians, meaning that I fell into the ‘other Christian’ category, as was attested to by my school file. It lists my religion as ‘Christian’. Who asked me? I certainly didn’t tell them this. It’s as if they are treating religion like it’s some heritable or genetic trait. It isn’t, of course.

Consider, for a moment, the Liberal Democrat, Labour, or Conservative parties. The very implication that they would establish their own schools to propagate their own moral values or beliefs would rightly be met with contempt. Such a privilege would be ridiculous. Why should any religion enjoy the privilege of using taxpayers’ money to propagate their faith? And is it right that they’re able to do so to children who are either too young to make up their minds for themselves, or are old enough to have struck upon their own set of beliefs which may not accord with the religious ethos of the school to which their parents send them? Why is religion so different to political ideology when it comes to the passionate indifference our education system affords to the latter?

“I too found myself on the receiving end of this failure to respect freedom of thought and freedom of belief”

I am lucky that my critical approach to ideas was so firmly cemented in my mind by the time I got to Secondary School, that I did not struggle to discern the dogma of the Church from the facts. Many of my peers were not so lucky. The experience, with them from school starting age, will completely privilege the Church above reason in their minds, and to them, the special rights afforded to religious groups in this country will seem just, and reasonable.

Regrettably, my examples are anecdotal. There is no written evidence of any discriminative behaviour taking place at the school nor any record as to the response to my parents’ request to opt me out of Mass (which disappointingly was withdrawn on denial). It is therefore imperative that students who have had similar experiences to me to document the injustices that take place in these schools, and to hold those responsible for perpetrating them to account. Now that the Government has announced that a great many more Catholic schools are set to open, this is more important than it has ever been.

Anonymous