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Religious Observance in schools        14/2/12

By Bill Lucas

A draft revised policy on religious observation in Western Isles Schools will come before the full meeting of the council on Wednesday. It has already been approved by their Education Committee.

When the consultation document was issued concern was expressed by the Western Isles Presbytery of the Free Church and the Kirk Session of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Stornoway at a proposal that chaplains could only work in schools at the invitation of the Head Teacher.

They felt that the Authority must retain control of policy. There were 26 responses to the document, which included 14 from individuals and 5 from church presbyteries.

In response to the concern that faith leaders could only come into the school at the invitation of the head teacher the Council state that the policy will contain a statement that 'each school in the Western Isles will have a named chaplain or, if appropriate, a chaplaincy team.'

The revised draft concludes: 'As a result of issues arising out of the consultation process it is clear that there is a need for training for both Chaplains and Head Teachers. A day's training has been arranged for March 15 in Stornoway to which all chaplains will be invited. The Rev Ewan Aitken will lead this nationally recognised training programme.

'A short-life working group has been set up to provide schools with (a) guidance with regard to arrangements for children whose parents wish to withdraw from participation in religious observance: (b) resource materials for religious observance: and (c) exemplars of documentation that could be used in the implementation of this Policy.'

The Rev Ewan Aitken is Secretary of the Church of Scotland's Church and Society Council. He is a former Labour Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council and was heavily involved in education. He is an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Glasgow and an Honorary Fellow of Edinburgh University.