A Message from the Rt Revd Dr Alastair Redfern
The Lord Bishop of Derby.
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13
Human life is about formation. From the miracle of being formed in the womb (Psalm 139 v13) the gift of life proceeds through formation of body, mind and spirit. The two key sites for such formation are the family and the school. In each environment the individual learns how to relate most fruitfully to others, and to accept the necessary “give and take” amidst the variety of God’s world. Each of us has to learn a path of formation that allows our particular gifts to flourish, in relation to those of others, and within the context of the miraculous and often challenging world in which we are set.
As families are increasingly under pressure from all kinds of forces, schools have become more and more important as places within which spiritual, moral and physical formation can proceed. Church schools have a well earned and especially important reputation for holding together these three elements, to enable each person to best discover who they are, where they are going and for what they have been made.
It is in the person and example of Jesus Christ that every human story finds a template against which to be tested, transformed and invited into an ever richer sense of the gift of this life and the possibilities of the life to come. A Christian school enables this key formational story of Jesus the Christ to be part of the many rich resources that modern education offers to children and their families. A church school is a partnership between this gospel, its local representation through priest and congregation, the professionalism of head teacher, staff and governors, and the endeavours of parents to secure the richest and most satisfying development of their children. These resources mean that many parents who do not have a formal connection with the church still wish for their children to receive the gifts that formation in a church school can offer.
It is the policy of our diocese to offer the fullest possible formation to every pupil, their family, and the local community.
+Alastair Derby
