On 14 March 2006 the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre Westminster hosted an event with with twin themes:

• celebration of all that has been achieved in the schools of the Church of England and Church in Wales, and
• preparing for even greater achievement through Church schools with faith in the future.

The conference Church schools: Faith in the Future took place at a key moment:

• five years after the publication of Lord Dearing’s review of Church schools The Way ahead: Church of England schools in the new millennium (June 2001),
• five years before the bicentenary of the National Society (October 2011), and
• with further structural change to education being contemplated by Parliament.

Heads, chairs and clergy - from all over the country - heard leaders in church and state share their assessment of what the Church has achieved in education:

• The Most Revd and Rt Hon Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury (click here for transcription) (click here for video clip (137Mb File))
• Lord Dearing
• Archbishop Vincent Nichols (click here for transcription)
• Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP, Minister of State for Schools and 14-19 Learners (click here for transcription)
• Lord Puttnam, Unicef UK President

Through advanced ICT the conference addressed key themes for the work of the Church in education, in the next five years (click here to download)

• can we give more pupils access to an inclusive church school?
• should we broaden provision post-16? in Academies? Trust schools?
• how can we encourage young Christians and others to see teaching as a vocation?
• are we satisfied with the quality of religious education? spiritual development? collective worship?
• and what about extended schools? Children’s centres? the school in the community?

Click here to download presentations