International Church schools Consultation

London and Cambridge 7-13th July 2011

“Consultation 2011”, the first ever consultation for educationalists and head teachers from around the Anglican communion will be held next month in London and Cambridge. The theme is ‘The Church School of the Future’ and the event will help shape educational thinking and networks across the Anglican communion. 

The event will involve participants from Africa, Australasia, the Far East, the Indian sub-continent and the West Indies as well as the UK. Participants will spend four days at the Royal Foundation of St Katherine, Limehouse and three at Westcott House theological college, Cambridge.

Guests will consider essential elements and common character in worldwide Anglican schooling and experiences of partnership with governments around the world in providing public education, especially for those most in need.

The programme will also include visits to Church schools, Parliament, Lambeth Palace, Westminster Abbey and Hackney, where the Church school movement began in 1811.

Ely Cathedral is holding a special celebration service for Church schools at 5.45pm on Sunday July 10th which will be attended by the overseas guests.

Organiser Canon Tim Elbourne, Director of Education in the Diocese of Ely, said today: “This year we are celebrating 200 years of mass schooling in this country, started by the Church and rooted in Christian principles. Today it is the largest partnership the Church and State maintain together. There is a vibrant international dimension; Anglican schooling has taken root across the world and we have much to learn from each other. It is vital that this 200 year anniversary is not just a domestic celebration. We are a single Christian family rooted in Christ. We face our various futures, in such different contexts, as brothers and sisters and this will be a timely and landmark gathering.”

21st June 2011