"The Real Magna Carta – Christians in Education in the Runnymede Deanery" - UPDATEI am pleased to be able to report that The Real Magna Carta evening (see previous post) was a great success and well appreciated by those who attended: Governors of infant through secondary schools - church, state and independent - and even a Headmaster! The evening was lead by Derek Holbird, Director of Education at Diocesan House, Guildford, who presented a Runnymede-tailored overview of what's important in School Governing. He touched on subjects such as the paradigm shift in our civilization, well-being and needs of children today, parental priorities, leadership in schools, curriculum, governance, admission criteria and inclusion, and elaborated on the issue of Christian influence and how to deal with the lack of anything spiritual, cultural or moral within the new curriculum. Hopefully, a more detailed review of his presentation will soon be available here. The presentation was followed by a Q+A session which the Governors took up eagerly, centring around the new curriculum and how this will affect governing, and on what key values church schools should instil in their pupils, respectively what influence Christian governors can have in non-church schools. Interest was also expressed in the series of courses covering all aspects of School Governance, provided by Guildford Diocese, which can be found in a comprehensive list here. Information on 4S courses can also be found here. PS: For those who attended - Derek is now happy grandfather to a healthy baby boy, Elliot. |