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Schools catering for multiple faiths are creating a positive and dynamic ethos, says PETER STANFORD
74 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM/SCHOOLS | Autumn / Winter 2024
Among those exploring this opportunity more fully is Christ’s Hospital school at Horsham in West Sussex, which in the Autumn of 2022 appointed Mutisunge Edwards as its first, full-time Equity, Diversity and Inclusion lead. ‘The school’s name makes for an added challenge,’ Edwards explains. Christ’s Hospital was founded in 1552 at the time of the Reformation with a Church of England ethos. ‘A lot of parents choose not to say what faith they are when they apply for their children’ – in case not being Anglican might jeopardise their chances of getting a bursary. Aside from its distinctive uniform, unchanged in more than 470 years, of long blue coat, belted at the waist, worn with matching knee-breeches or skirt, yellow socks and a white neck-band, Christ’s Hospital is best known for offering free and reduced-cost places to as many as 630 of its 900 pupils aged 11 to 18. Such a very high-level of bursaries, says Edwards, attracts youngsters from diverse backgrounds. Included in that mix is its substantial cohort of overseas students. Part of her role, working alongside the school’s Anglican chaplain, is to show those
Embracing cultural diversity helps us understand different perspectives of the world we live in
PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES; PEXELS
B
y law, religion should be at the heart of every school thanks to 1944 legislation that requires them to hold a daily act of worship that is ‘wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character’. It remains in force, even if now in some cases exemptions can be sought and granted. Yet since 2004 Ofsted has stopped including this legal requirement in its inspections of state schools, with as many as two thirds estimated now to be ignoring the law, while a recent High Court judgement upheld the Michaela Community School in North London in its ban on prayer during the school day. For those in the independent sector, there is more leeway. The most recent framework for inspections around how religion is handled deliberately reflects the diversity in their intakes and chooses to use the word ‘spiritual’. The leadership of independent schools must ensure that their curriculum ‘develops pupils’ spiritual and moral knowledge’. It is a directive that gives considerable freedom that many are using not as a way to avoid the obligation but rather to shape both the life of the school and its curriculum so as to bring a positive and dynamic multi-faith vibe.
Autumn / Winter 2024 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM/SCHOOLS | 75