Opinions differ in local schools on Archbishop's assembly views

LOCAL headteachers are not all backing to the Archbishop of York's call to have another look at daily assemblies.

Dr John Habgood said the 1944 Education Act, which demands that schools hold daily acts of collective worship, is unworkable.

Children could benefit from less worship, but of better quality, he declared.

Sandwich secondary school was recently complimented by the Government watchdog, Ofsted, for its daily assemblies. Roy Elliot, headteacher, said: "I don't welcome Dr Habgood's statement, I think it's a diminution of what Schools should be doing."

Elizabeth Lewis, headteacher at Dover Grammar school For Girls, believes a dally act of collective worship sets the tone for the day. She said: "We always have assembly and we always will."

St Edmund's, Dover, is a Catholic school run on the basis that religious worship is essential. Tom Connolly, headteacher, said: "We keep to a daily assembly rigorously. In non-church schools there may be teachers who have no empathy with religion."

Neil Slater, head of Dover Grammar School for Boys, admitted his daily assembly was not always an act of worship, He said: "We are very lucky to be able to hold a full assembly every day but I do feel the words of the law ought to bear a closer resemblance to what we are actually doing. What we do is talk about values not hold an act of worship as the law implies."

Paul Christian, rector of St Peter and St Paul Temple Ewell, Dover, said: "While I understand his concern for quality for acts of worship and the pressures on teachers I doubt whether the quality would Improve."