What a divine irony. At the same time that remnants of the country’s first mission school were being excavated in Kerikeri, St Heliers School decided to remove religious education classes from its school day – part of a slow but seemingly inexorable trend to purge Christianity from the remaining crevices where it is found in Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Bible in Schools’
St Heliers School finds solution to religious education stand-off
Friday, February 14th, 2014Parents are “very happy” over the decision by an Auckland school to remove religious education classes from its school day. Religion will now be taught outside school hours for St Heliers School pupils who choose to attend. Continue reading
Religious instruction in schools in spotlight again
Tuesday, February 4th, 2014
Christian education in state schools is in the spotlight again after to parents laid a complaint with the Human Rights Commission about bible lessons at St Heliers primary school in Auckland New Zealand. A third parent is considering laying a complaint as well. The Education Act allows a school to close for up to 60 Read more
Divided beliefs over Bible in the classroom
Friday, August 9th, 2013
One in three state primary and intermediate schools teaches religious instruction, according to a survey which has triggered debate over what children are being taught. Here, the chief of the Churches Education Commission, Simon Greening, and the survey’s author, David Hines, present their views: For Why should New Zealand primary schools continue to offer a Read more
Passions high over Bible in Schools
Friday, August 2nd, 2013Schools are going through the “hurtful” process of choosing to drop the Bible in Schools programme, with boards of trustees working through passionate arguments from parents on both sides of the debate. The Herald was flooded with correspondence after a front-page story that reported on a survey of state primary and intermediate schools and found Read more
50 schools cancel Bible based education since 2011
Friday, May 31st, 2013
More than 50 state schools have cancelled bible based education in school hours since 2011, with a lack of teaching volunteers and decline in parental support cited as the main reasons. Rationalist David Hines has questioned state schools about their religious instruction programmes under the Official Information Act, and plans to create a public database Read more
Bible teachers dropped for preaching at kids
Tuesday, December 11th, 2012The country’s largest provider of religious instruction in schools has stood down three volunteers for teaching pupils their own beliefs. Churches Education Commission (CEC) chief executive Simon Greening said he removed the three volunteer teachers for deviating from the organisation’s strict code of expectations, and that there may have been others around the country. In Read more
7 year old left alone to read as alternative to school’s Bible based programme
Friday, December 7th, 2012
A couple who took their daughter out of a school’s Bible based programme, called Values in Action, were told by the school that an alternative programme would be provided for children who opted out. However the child’s father says that when he visited the school he found his 7 year old daughter left alone in a Read more
Auckland schools look to cancel Bible study
Tuesday, September 11th, 2012An Auckland school is planning to cancel Bible Study education in the classroom, while others are planning to review the controversial programme. Torbay School, on Auckland’s North Shore, will cancel the optional Churches Education Commission Bible in Schools programme, after 40% of parents surveyed voted to discontinue the programme in the school. In other schools Read more
Bible in schools – Christians disagree about it
Friday, July 20th, 2012
An Anglican priest’s support of the Secular Education Network’s campaign to stop the Bible in Schools programme has prompted New Zealand’s two Anglican Archbishops to reaffirm their Church’s support of the Churches Education Commission’s Bible in Schools programme. In an interview on Television One, the Reverend Clay Nelson, an associate priest at St Matthews in the City in Auckland, said Read more