Now that parents have some choice of school, there may be opportunity to opt for one that has a Religious foundation, or one where it is known that the Headteacher and Staff have good reputations for discipline and standards. One can certainly shop around.
There are some places in Britain where there are private schools run by the Free Churches (Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic). Such schools have a definite spiritual input. Some have adopted the American ACE curriculum, while others have worked out their own particularly British method. At one time some of these schools came under criticism from the Schools' Inspectorate, but others have been highly commended and have even been set up as examples.
The debate about the value of Christian schools still goes on. Are they in the best and ultimate interests of the child? Do they create a kind of hot-house and unreal environment which could cause a psychological shock when the pupils leave for further education or go to work in the secular world?
I was given an example of a child who attended a fairly radical Christian school, and then through family circumstances had to change to a Council school. He came home crying one day because he had fallen down in the play-ground and grazed his knee. He seemed to be unduly distressed and on being asked why, he said that if he had been at the previous school his friends would have prayed for him, but here they just laughed at him.
That incident does give a glimpse of the difference in environment. The change for that child was quite traumatic.
In another Christian school I know, they do not organise any competitive sports because they feel it is against the Christian ethic. Games are chosen in which the children can co-operate and enjoy them together.
On the plus side, these schools are usually good on discipline and hold to moral standards. They teach good manners, dress and deportment. The whole ethos is geared to create opportunity for teachers and pupils to get down to the real work of teaching and learning without undue distractions.
If the parents' choice lies between a mammoth 1,000-place Comprehensive school, where the children run riot and educational standards are mediocre, who can blame them for choosing a Christian school, even it does have some facility limitations?
Some of these schools have only been in existence for a comparatively short time and they are still experimenting with their procedures, but where the staff have well-balanced personalities and a good level of teaching ability, they can provide an adequate all-round education, which, far from hindering the child's future, can, in the best way possible, prepare them for it.
We should not overlook the fact that many of our State schools are efficiently run, and have teachers that are Christians with the children's welfare at heart. They should stay there as salt and light, because they can contact youngsters who may never darken the door of a Church. Their approach should be wise and understanding, and where possible it is good for a Christian teacher to take another subject besides RE particularly a popular one such as PE and Sports. This gives the children the opportunity to see the teacher in a broader perspective, and so the Christian witness is enhanced. Life-style and behaviour are as important as the teaching.
Eventually the child must leave the school atmosphere for work and to take up the illustration given concerning Moses, they can no longer be hidden, but in the case of his parents they did not abrogate their responsibilities. They built an ark, and this can represent the influence of prayer that should follow our children when they must leave the parental home. Despite the ebb and flow of the waters of life, they can come through. "Train up a child in the way it should go, and when it is old it will not depart from it” (Prov.22:6).