TAKE ACTION: No state funding for hardline Christian School in Newry and Knockloughrim

Newry and Knockloughrim residents: Voice your opposition to state-funding for local Plymouth Brethren school.

The Education Authority is currently carrying out a consultation to determine whether there is local support for OneSchool Northern Ireland, an independent school run by the Plymouth Brethren, to establish as a state-funded voluntary grammar.

Will you oppose the bid to allow this hardline religious group to receive public funding to provide pupils with a narrowly religious education which is completely unsuitable for preparing them for life in 21st century Northern Ireland?

We’d like as many people as possible to respond the Education Authority consultation. Please submit all responses by Friday 20th December. To assist you, we have provided a model response. However, we strongly suggest you try to adapt it using your own words.

Tips on adapting your response:

To assist you in writing your consultation response, we have provided a suggested text (see below). You are strongly encouraged to edit this to make it more personal – we know that original responses have more impact and your input is more likely to be fully considered if you can make reference to personal experiences.

If you are a parent... please say so, and talk about any relevant experiences you have had trying to get your children into a suitable local school. If you have personal experiences of the Plymouth Brethren, or other hardline religious groups, talk about these and the issues the beliefs such groups hold might raise for those from other backgrounds hoping to attend the school. You should also explain why you think it is important that new school places in the area are in fully inclusive, non-partisan schools for the whole community that teach a broad and balanced curriculum.

If you are a pupil… talk about the importance of being able to access a local school that teaches a broad and balanced curriculum that is inclusive and suitable for all regardless of background.

If you are a teacher or governor… talk about how your experience has shown you how important it is for schools to teach a broad and balanced curriculum as well as being diverse and inclusive.

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To Whom It May Concern, 
I am writing with reference to the proposal to allow OneSchool Northern Ireland to establish as a voluntary grammar operating on campuses in  Knockloughrim and Newry. 
I note that the current independent school is run by the Plymouth Brethren. The Brethren are a separatist Christian sect with very conservative views on homosexuality and women, and Brethren schools have often be found to teach young-Earth creationism as scientifically valid; something which is completely inappropriate as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. 
If OneSchool Northern Ireland is permitted to receive state-funding, it claims the school will ‘welcome children and young people from all backgrounds, into a neutral learning environment’. But, the proposal also says the school will ‘[uphold] Christian teachings and beliefs’ and that ‘the truth and authority of the Holy Bible will underpin the educational experience’ of pupils ‘in accordance with the Plymouth Brethren religious community’. Indeed, one of the main reasons OneSchool gives for establishing a grant-aided school is that members of the Brethren community ‘feel strongly that they are [currently] denied the right to have their children attend a grant-aided school in keeping with their religious convictions’. However, since non-denominational Christian ethos schools already exist in Northern Ireland – provision these parents deem inadequate – it seems unlikely that the school will be able to meet both of these ambitions. 
On the basis of the proposal document, I am extremely concerned that the school will retain a strong separatist religious character. This is likely to be incompatible with the beliefs of many local people and very few families from outside the Plymouth Brethren fellowship will find the ethos welcoming or accommodating. Furthermore, I strongly believe that the attitudes of the church towards creationism, as well as issues of equality and inclusion, make such a school inappropriate for state-funding. I also note that past inspection reports relating to the school point to historical issues with safeguarding.
For these reasons, I strongly urge the Education Authority to reject the proposal for OneSchool Northern Ireland to establish as a voluntary grammar and to ensure that any grant-aided school that opens in the local area provides a broad and balanced curriculum that is suitable for all pupils regardless of religion or belief.

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TAKE ACTION: No state funding for hardline Christian School in Newry and Knockloughrim

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