REPLIES

DIOCESE OF LIVERPOOL

Education Department

Jon Richardson

Director of Education

11th January 2007

Dear Mr Salmon,

Blue Coat School

I write in response to your letter of 3rd January to Mr Mike Eastwood, Diocesan Secretary.

The coverage in the press of the Secretary of Education’s position over the Blue Coat School makes a number of statements which I believe to be unhelpful and inaccurate. The Diocese of Liverpool through its Board of Education is neither seeking to “steal” the school nor to “take it over”. This could not possibly be a “land grab”, as the Diocese has neither the desire nor the legal powers to effect this. Nor do we wish to change the school’s ethos or multi-cultural character, which is typical of many church schools in the Diocese and beyond. We are simply aiming, as we are legally bound to do, to establish whether or not it is in fact a Church of England School and should have been designated as such following the 1998 Education Act. This is a matter of Education Law.

If it is designated as a Church of England School then everyone should be clear on certain key points which are a matter of Charity Law and Education law:

The school will continue to be governed by the trustees of the Blue Coat Foundation.

* The Diocese will have no right to appoint any governors unless the Foundation gave us that right – it is entirely in their gift.

* The Diocese will not place the Foundation under any pressure to give us the right to appoint governors.

* The Diocese will have no control over admissions. That will remain under the control of the governors and we would absolutely

  respect their decisions on that.

* The Diocese would not take over the finances or the assets of the school. These too will remain the responsibility of the governors

  and Foundation trustees.

 

We have been unequivocal on these matters from the start and several of the statements made seem either to misunderstand or disregard this. Far from being “hostile” we have sought, unsuccessfully, on a number of occasions to meet privately and talk informally with the governors and Foundation trustees. Indeed the Diocese waited from November 2004 until June 2005 before writing to the Secretary of State, in the hope of being able to resolve any misunderstandings with the school.

We agree with all the statements about the excellence of the school. If it were designated as a Church of England school we would simply aim to support the governors and staff as they continue their work.

Much has been made in the press and in Mr Hallows’ letter to parents, dated 13th December, of the clause in the school’s founding Charter which states that religious instruction should be “in accordance with the doctrines of the Church of England”. It has been suggested that this is a 300 year old irrelevance, but you should know that this clause was restated as recently as 2000 when the Blue Coat Foundation agreed a new Scheme with the Charity Commission. This clause has always underpinned the religious character of the school, not simply through its provision of Religious Education but through its chapel, its chaplain and the use of Holy Trinity (CofE) Church and Liverpool Cathedral for worship on occasions. If the school is designated with Church of England status, these things would be guaranteed for the future and could not be abandoned by the Governors or Foundation (as they have recently expressed their willingness to do). Furthermore, these aspects of school life would be subject to separate denominational inspection, alongside Ofsted inspections. It is these things that the Diocese would “gain” if the school is re-designated, together with the right to offer advice on certain other matters.

The Law requires that this is a matter for the Secretary of State to deal with and we have stated from the start that we will abide by his decision. However, press coverage that centres on perceptions that are groundless in fact, intention and motivation helps nobody. I attach for your information a statement that deals with some of these matters in rather more detail than contained in this letter, which I hope you will find helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Richardson

Director of Education

Diocese of Liverpool

____________________________

THE LIVERPOOL BLUE COAT SCHOOL AND CHURCH OF ENGLAND STATUS

The issue of whether the Blue Coat School should have been designated a Church of England school following the 1998 Education Act has received much attention in the media recently. The law requires that this issue is resolved by the Secretary of State and the Diocese has stated from the start that it will abide by his decision.

Unfortunately, there have been many misunderstandings and incorrect assumptions made about this matter, particularly concerning the impact on the school if it were to be designated a Church of England school by the Secretary of State. The Diocese has been asked many questions about this by individual parents and in the press, but our ability to communicate with everyone concerned with the school is inevitably limited. In view of the latest developments, we have asked the school (5th January) to distribute a letter from the Bishop of Warrington, Chairman of the Diocesan Board of Education, to all parents, governors, staff and trustees. This is intended to clarify a number of factual points which are clearly important issues for many people.

The main questions we have been asked about this matter are as follows:

Question 1

How and why has this matter arisen?

Answer – In 2003 the Diocesan Education Department was given a copy of a regulatory Scheme agreed between the Blue Coat Foundation and Charity Commission in 2000. This contained a clause that Religious Education in the school must be given “in accordance with the doctrines of the Church of England”. This clause, which we had not been aware of before but have since discovered was contained in earlier legal documents for the school, including its Foundation document, was significant because it suggested the school should have been designated a Church of England school following the 1998 Education Act. We were also advised that this was a matter for the Secretary of State and should be referred to him. We tried to meet informally with the trustees in the first half of 2005 but this proved unsuccessful and the matter was formally referred to the Secretary of State in June 2005.

Q2

What is the current situation?

Answer – This is a legal matter between the school and the Secretary of State. The Diocese has had no further correspondence with the Secretary of State or DfES on this matter since the summer 2005, other than a copy of the letter to the school before Christmas.

Q3

Is this not simply a legal “accident” or technicality?

No. The Religious Character of Schools (Designation Procedure) Regulations 1998 which followed the 1998 Education Act are very precise and cover 9 pages. They were produced by government to deal with schools returning to Local Authorities from Grant Maintained status and give very clear criteria against which the government would judge schools’ religious character. The outcome was not a matter of choice, but was mandatory if one of the criteria was satisfied. The whole issue is a matter of government policy and law.

Q4

Would the Diocese take over the running of the school if the Secretary of State designated it as a Church of England school?

Answer – No. There would be no change to the Governing Body. The Blue Coat Foundation would remain as trustees and would continue to appoint the majority of governors (the Foundation Governors). Other governors would continue to be elected by parents and staff or appointed by the City Council. The Diocese could make no appointments of its own.

Q5

Would the school cease to be a grammar school if designated a Church of England school?

Answer – No! Education law is very clear that the Governing Body would continue to control admissions arrangements and policy, including its grammar school status. The Diocese would hardly advise any change in this policy anyway, when it supported the introduction of partial selection by ability at Church of England high schools in Liverpool several years ago.

Q6

Would any priority for admissions be given to Anglican children if the Secretary of State designated the school as a Church of England school?

Answer – No. For the reason given in the above answer, the admissions policy would remain unchanged. Many Church of England schools, of course, do give such priority, but more than half across the country do not. In this Diocese, the 4 new Church of England secondary schools opened since 2001, including the joint Anglican/Catholic Academy of St Francis of Assisi in Liverpool for its Anglican places, all give admission priority to children from their local communities regardless of their faith background. It would be quite inconsistent of the Diocese to even advise a change to this aspect of Blue Coat School policy.

Q7

Would there be any change in the ownership of the school buildings and other assets of the Blue Coat Foundation?

Answer – No. Charity Law is very clear on this matter – the Blue Coat Foundation would continue to be the trustees and would continue to own and be responsible for the buildings and other assets.

Q8

Would future headteachers have to be in “holy orders”?

Answer – No! Only one of the 118 headteachers of Church of England schools in this diocese is a priest. Diocesan advice is that practising Christians (but not necessarily Anglicans) be appointed to headteacher and deputy headteacher posts, but this is not a legal requirement and only the Governing Body has the power to appoint staff, including the headteacher. Many headteachers at Church of England schools in this diocese belong to other denominations. All staff would, as now, be expected to support the ethos of the school, which would not be changed.

Q9

Would the school cease to be as multi-cultural as it currently is, if the Secretary of State designates it as a Church of England school?

Answer – No. Church of England schools are as culturally and racially mixed as most others, sometimes more so. In Liverpool, for example, Archbishop Blanch and St Hilda’s Church of England high schools have respectively 3 times and twice as many pupils for whom English is a second language as the Blue Coat School (City Council statistics, 2004) and many pupils at these and other Anglican schools in the city are members of other faiths, particularly Islam.

Q10

Would the religious character of the school be noticeably different if the Secretary of State designated it as a Church of England school?

Answer – No. There are many different types of Church of England school, but the Blue Coat School already has key features of the best;

* Religious Education has always followed the teachings of the Church of England, as the trustees have been obliged by law (under

  the terms of their Trust) to ensure. This does not mean that other world faiths are excluded from the RE syllabus in Church of

  England Schools – on the contrary, the Diocese requires that they are also taught about, and has recently provided in service

  training for teachers on, Judaism and Islam, for example.

* The school has a chapel, dedicated by the Bishop of Liverpool in 1906, used regularly for school worship, until very recently

  including voluntary Eucharists. This would not change.

* This school has an Anglican chaplain who regularly leads worship in the school (diocesan records show this to have been the

  Rector of Holy Trinity Wavertree, at least as far back as the early 1960s). This would not change.

* The school also worships at Holy Trinity Church and annually at Liverpool Cathedral.

 

Q11

What does the Diocese stand to gain if the school is designated a Church of England school by the Secretary of State?

Answer – Very little in any tangible sense, other than clarification of the school’s legal status and the right to be consulted or to advise on certain matters. There would, however, be two important consequences, firstly that the school’s existing religious character and features could not be ended in future and secondly that these would be subject to statutory denominational inspection alongside each Ofsted inspection.