The full name of the National Society is the National Society
for Promoting Religious Education
Who we are
The National Society promotes and resources 4,677 Church of
England and 172 Church in Wales schools, through
- Negotiating with Government and other national agencies to
maintain and develop the contribution of church schools to public
education in England and Wales
- Supporting and advising diocesan education teams on legal and
technical, curriculum and ethos issues
- Working closely with the Church of England Board of Education
to contribute a Christian perspective to educational debate
The NS and the Board of Education collaborate with the Catholic
Education Service and the Methodist Church, along with other
Christian and faith education representatives to ensure that the
role and needs of faith communities are represented in national
debate. Read a brief history of the National Society, and
a Heritage Project from Chichester
Diocese looking at the impact of the National Society on children,
teaching practices and communities over 200 years.
What we do
The National Society, together with the Church of England Board
of Education works in 4 main areas
Engaging with
National Institutions
- Working with Government, the Department for Education, Ofsted
and other national educational agencies to promote distinctive
church school education
- Seeking to influence educational policy from a Christian
perspective and as it affects church schools
- Advising the General Synod of the Church of England and the
Governing Body of the Church in Wales on educational matters and
promoting the churches' policies
- Producing, with the Catholic Education Service, model
documentation for church schools converting to academy status
- Response to the White Paper The importance of
Teaching
- Briefing speaker in the House of Lords debates on the Academy
Act
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Growing the Mission of
the Church
- Increasing the number of church schools and academies to give
more opportunity for families to choose a church school for their
children
- 50 Church of England sponsored academies since 2003
- 208 converted academies since 2010
- New Church of England primary schools in areas of new
populations
- Additional facilities in church schools e.g. Children's
centres
- Supporting church schools through the inspection of their Christian
foundation
- Investing in RE with policy statements and curriculum
material
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Professional
support and challenge
- Training for SIAS inspectors
- Developing school leadership, including validated courses in
Anglican Universities and university colleges
- Professional development for diocesan staff
- Conferences for Church of England schools and academies
- Policy documents and position statements
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Research and development
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History
The Christian churches were the first to provide mass education
in England and Wales.
The National Society was founded in 1811 to provide schools for
poor children.
The original name was 'The National Society for the Promotion of
the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established
Church'. The founders were deeply concerned about the fate of the
population, including children, working in the factories, mills and
mines of the newly industrialised Britain. They set up the Society
to raise money to build schools and pay teachers.
These schools were to teach basic skills and also to provide for
the moral and spiritual welfare of the children, by teaching them
the 'National Religion' - Christianity as represented in the Church
of England and Wales.
Their aim was to found a church school in every parish and by
1851 (still 20 years before the state took any responsibility for
education) there were 12,000 schools across England and Wales.
Read more about Joshua
Watson, one of the founders
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Teacher Training
As a consequence of building schools the National Society
became the first organisation to train teachers, first in the
Central School in London, then through its own colleges and through
supporting colleges founded by dioceses.
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Publishing
Later the National Society took on the Sunday School Institute
and entered the world of publishing educational resources: text
books, exam syllabuses and prizes in Religious Education.
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Information
link