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Private school head criticises 'Godless culture'

Posted on 30th September 2008

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The head of a private school has attacked the culture of state schools, arguing that they have replaced discussion and exploration of spiritual topics and big questions with a superficial obsession with celebrity and a Godless "X-Factor culture".

Mr Tim Hastie, a Church of England minister and the head of Cheltenham's Dean School, told the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference that a refusal to discuss God and major questions had led to state schools creating a "moral and spiritual vacuum".

In addition to this, he said, the state sector is mired in red tape and regulation, denying them the scope to make their own decisions about the curriculum or other matters.

The private school sector has the freedom to do this and has a responsibility to utilise it, he added.

Meanwhile, private schools need to work to ensure they do not become "as broad as possible" and not too socially exclusive, the head of Rugby School Patrick Derham has said.

He warned that rising fees were excluding an increasing number of groups from the independent schools sector, The Daily Telegraph reported this week. ADNFCR-921-ID-18803043-ADNFCR