News
Academies Bill - Further Action Needed
Article Published: 16th July 2010
The Academies Bill is due for its second reading in the House of Commons on Monday the 19th of July and Committee stages on the 21st, 22nd and 26th of July. The Bill is short, as the detail of what will be taught in Academies will be contained in future contractual obligations (either a model funding agreement or a grant agreement).
We believe that provisions relating to religious education, collective worship and sex education need to be on the face of the Bill to make sure that important existing provisions on these issues will not be omitted from future contractual agreements with Academy Trusts. Important principles for sex education currently in the law for maintained schools, such as moral considerations, age appropriate teaching and the need to have regard to the religious and cultural background of the pupils concerned, are missing from the model funding agreement. There is currently no model grant agreement available. It is important that these provisions are preserved for future Academies.
Please pray that there will be Godly teaching of sex education and the protection of our Christian heritage in all our schools including Academies.
Please also e-mail a letter to the Prime Minister, to the Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove MP) and to your local MP as soon as possible.
Please click here to e-mail the Prime Minister’s Office.
Please click here to contact your MP.
Please click here to contact the RT Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education.
Please note the following in your letter:
- There is a concern that existing provisions for maintained schools on religious education, collective worship and sex education will not be on the face of the Bill and will therefore be vulnerable to being removed from future contractual obligations with Academy Trusts.
- Please suggest that they table or support any amendment that would put clauses 24 to 27 of the revised model funding agreement onto the face of the Bill. These clauses mirror the legislation in place for maintained schools which protect the teaching of Christianity in non-faith schools, collective worship of a broadly Christian nature and the religious ethos of faith schools.
- Please suggest that they table or support any amendment that would put sections 403, 404 and 405 of the Education Act 1996 onto the face of the Bill. This would protect both the parental choice to withdraw their child from sex education and the obligation to teach sex education in light of moral considerations, the age of the pupils, or the religious and cultural background of the pupils.
- Please ask them not to support any future amendments which may allow for PSHE to become compulsory. This would make the teaching of sex education compulsory, whereas currently primary schools do not have any obligation to teach sex education in maintained schools. Please resist the early sexualisation of this nation’s children.