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This is a text-only version of an article first published on Wednesday, 1 July 2015. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
Year Five Pupils from Woodstock CE Primary School
The Rt Revd Stephen Conway Headteachers were given a welcome day away from their busy school schedules at their annual diocesan conference in June. Feeding the 55,000: Mission Impossible was the theme of the day, which aimed to empower and inspire headteachers in their work.
There are 55,000 pupils in the 284 church schools in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. Year Five children from Woodstock CE Primary School told the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand before talks were given by Dr Peter Shaw, who has worked in several Government departments and written many books on leadership.
Peter spoke on leadership, humility, handling power and decision making. The Rt Revd Stephen Conway, the Bishop of Ely, who has taken over from Bishop John as the Church of England's lead bishop for education in the House of Lords, and the Chair of the National Society Council which supports the CofE's work in education, also spoke, on church schools for all and for the whole person. Bishop Stephen encouraged headteachers, talking of the way church schools are not places where children are brainwashed, but encouraged to flourish and where it is perfectly normal to embrace and investigate the spiritual as well as the cognitive and emotional in their development.
"We are proactively open communities in which all children are welcome from all faith backgrounds and no faith background.
I have found myself talking to Imams who rather than have state Muslim community schools, say they want Church schools they can send their children to.
We do not run faith schools in the Church of England but church schools for everybody."Bishop Stephen said the National Society is working on a new vision statement that encapsulates what the CofE stands for in terms of its work in education. The event ended with a Eucharist, at which the Rt Revd Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham and the Chair of the Oxford Diocesan Board of Education, presided.
Retiring schools advisor, Jo Fageant, who has worked in the Diocese for more than 17 years, was presented with a book on knitting, flowers and a handbag as retirement gifts. Jo Duckles ;