Peter Wilby really must be desperate to fill his column if he has to rehash his familiar diatribe about faith schools (TES, July 11). The argument has moved on, Peter: there is as much chance of faith schools disappearing off the radar as there is of Eton becoming a state comprehensive school.
A more useful starting point would be to ask searching questions of faith schools about what they are for. I am not all that happy myself about taxpayers - and secular ones at that - being asked to subsidise inculcation of particular faith stances. That is the job of the church, or the mosque, or the synagogue.
So, if we are to have faith schools - and we may as well “get real” and accept the inevitable - let’s make sure they are for education only. Religious literacy is an essential basic skill these days, and that means an empathetic understanding of all faiths; and I include atheism in that.
Mr Wilby calls himself a “practising atheist”. What does that mean? Perhaps he could use his next column to tell us.
Dennis Richards, Headteacher, St Aidan’s CofE High School, Harrogate.
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