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“St Hild’s has become a real sign of hope in the area,” says head teacher Carolyn Roberts

Just three years after the Dearing Report recommended that the Church of England establish 100 new secondary schools, almost half have already opened or are well on the way.

In fact since the turn of the millennium, such is the jump in rolls at church schools and the arrival of new schools that the number of pupils in Church of England secondary provision has leapt by 14,000 – almost 10 per cent.

With the Church of England responsible for a quarter of all primary schools but only one in 20 schools in the secondary sector, Lord Dearing’s 2001 report The Way Ahead recommended not only boosting provision in all schools but specifically expanding secondary provision by 100 schools within eight years.

Already, 28 new secondary schools have opened, while a further 14 have set a date. According to Chief Education Officer, Canon John Hall, in addition a further 46 ‘conversations’ are under way on plans for further schools.

“There’s been nothing like this for decades,” said David Whittington, National School Development Officer. “It’s the biggest expansion in Church of England educational provision since the 19th century.”

The background to the expansion is a prevailing political climate in which diversity of choice has become a theme of the main political parties and the popularity and demand for the distinctive ethos of Church schools is widely accepted. Not only do many Church of England schools perform well in the league tables but parents, said David Whittington, “like the ethos of a church school, that it has a moral stance, that their children are brought up by educationalists who are committed not only to teaching but also to nurturing.”

Two thirds of the 42 new secondary schools are in areas of high deprivation or schools in ‘challenging circumstances’.

Carolyn Roberts, Headteacher of St Hild’s in Hartlepool, has witnessed dramatic improvement since the school reopened as a Church secondary three years ago. Previously it was the weakest community secondary in the town, with a reputation as a ‘sink school’ and falling rolls as parents gave it a wide berth. Today it is in brand new buildings, with improving results and oversubscribed. It remains very much a ‘community school’ with just 12 places a year reserved for Church admission.

“The local authority and diocese created a genuine partnership in launching the new school,” said Mrs Roberts. “It has become a real sign of hope in the area.”

St Hild’s aims to offer high quality education in a Christian context, equality of opportunity and “the expectation that we will find God at work in our school.”

“A church secondary school,” she says. “Can be explicit about issues of community building so we talk a lot about loving each other and developing cohesive school community, which the biblical narrative really helps children to understand.”