All posts tagged: Northern

Movers and shakers: ODST, Pearson, Northern, ISC

Movers and shakers: ODST, Pearson, Northern, ISC

Published by skeptic

This week’s movers and shakers include a keen cyclist, former special constable and a school chef who once played the bugle for the Queen This week’s movers and shakers include a keen cyclist, former special constable and a school chef who once played the bugle for the Queen This week’s movers and shakers include a keen cyclist, former special constable and a school chef who once played the bugle for the Queen. This column is our fortnightly guide to who is moving where in the schools community. We are keen to hear about appointments at a senior level. Please send submissions for this section to [email protected] with ‘Movers and shakers’ in the subject line. Sharon Mullins Chief executive, Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust Start date: September 2025 Current job: CEO, Embrace Multi-Academy Trust Interesting fact: Sharon is originally from Derby and is a huge Derby County supporter – which shows she is an eternal optimist. Freya Thomas Monk Managing director, Pearson Qualifications Start date: March 2025 Previous job: Managing director, vocational qualifications and training, Pearson Interesting fact: Freya cycles around …

Northern Ireland poll reveals most parents want less church influence and a more inclusive approach to religion in schools

Northern Ireland poll reveals most parents want less church influence and a more inclusive approach to religion in schools

Published by skeptic

A new poll commissioned by Northern Ireland Humanists has revealed that most adults aged 18-54 – those most likely to have children currently in school – strongly support changing how religion is taught and practised in Northern Ireland’s classrooms. The poll was carried out by LucidTalk and explored three key issues: compulsory collective worship, Religious Education, and church involvement in school governance. The findings suggest that people across the board are unhappy with the dominant role Christianity still plays in schools. 72% didn’t know of the legal requirement for schools to hold daily Christian worship. 53% think ‘the requirement to provide a daily act of collective worship in schools should not be compulsory’,  while just 34% think it should remain compulsory. Northern Ireland Humanists believes these findings show legislation is out of step with modern families, many of whom hold diverse religious or non-religious beliefs. Northern Ireland Humanists want inclusive assemblies for all instead, allowing pupils to gather without a requirement to participate in religious practices. The poll also asked what the focus of Religious …

Northern Ireland Humanists call for inclusive curriculum

Northern Ireland Humanists call for inclusive curriculum

Published by skeptic

Northern Ireland Humanists has responded to the Department of Education’s consultation on the Northern Ireland Curriculum, calling for comprehensive reforms to make Religious Education (RE) fully inclusive and objective, and to make Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) unbiased, evidence-based, and mandatory for all pupils. The Department of Education held the consultation as the start of a review of the curriculum. Northern Ireland Humanists stressed in its response that RE must be inclusive, giving pupils an objective understanding of different religions and humanism. It highlighted the particular need for equal treatment of non-religious perspectives, given that nearly 40% of young people in Northern Ireland are non-religious. Northern Ireland Humanists also called for an independent inspection of RE so that it meets the standards of other subjects and is free from confessional teaching. Northern Ireland Humanists further urged that RSE be standardised and made mandatory for every pupil, delivering age-appropriate information about consent, contraception, abortion, and LGBT relationships. This teaching must be free from religious bias and teachers need to receive high-quality training and guidance to make …

The case for inclusive assemblies in Northern Ireland

The case for inclusive assemblies in Northern Ireland

Published by skeptic

It’s time for Northern Ireland’s schools to reflect our diverse society In Northern Ireland, school assemblies are still shaped by a law that belongs in the past. Under outdated legislation, all Northern Ireland state schools are required to hold daily acts of collective worship. This is always Christian worship, and it applies to all maintained schools, including children who don’t follow any religion. Northern Ireland is more diverse than ever before. The latest national statistics show that in 2023 there were similar numbers of non-religious people in Northern Ireland (26%) when compared to Catholics (34%) or Protestants (35%). And five times as many people said they are non-religious than said they belonged to any of the non-Christian religions (5%). Despite this, school assemblies remain a compulsory act of Christian worship, sidelining pupils from non-religious and minority faith backgrounds. At Northern Ireland Humanists, we believe it’s time for change. What’s wrong with compulsory religious worship? Mandating Christian worship in schools is unfair, exclusionary, and out of step with modern human rights principles. Here’s why: It assumes …

How the Troubles Started in Northern Ireland

How the Troubles Started in Northern Ireland

Published by skeptic

  The Troubles did not break out on a specific date, but it is generally agreed that they began in 1969. The seeds of the sectarian conflict that turned Northern Ireland into a war-torn region for almost three decades had been sown long before. The Burntollet Bridge ambush of January 1969, the Loyalist bombings that followed, and the August riots in Derry/Londonderry and Belfast, all have a common origin in the Partition of Ireland and “the orgy of anti-Catholic violence that accompanied the birth of Northern Ireland in 1921,” as Ed Moloney puts it. The bulk of the seeds that led to the Troubles had been sown long before that, at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 and even earlier, in the years following the Plantation of 1609, when Ulster, the most Gaelic province of Ireland, began to be colonized by settlers (“planters”) from northern England and southern Scotland.   January, the Burntollet Bridge County Antrim, Northern Ireland, photograph by K. Mitch Hodge. Source: Unsplash   One of the key events of the Troubles …

Growing demand for non-religious pastoral care in Northern Ireland

Growing demand for non-religious pastoral care in Northern Ireland

Published by skeptic

When facing illness, bereavement, or difficult life situations, many people in hospital or prison turn to chaplaincy and pastoral care services for emotional support. But for the growing number of non-religious people in Northern Ireland, traditional chaplaincy services – typically  rooted in religious traditions and provided by religious clerics – may not reflect their beliefs or provide the support they truly need. That’s where the Non-Religious Pastoral Support Network (NRPSN) comes in. In Northern Ireland, as across the UK, NRPSN provides trained, accredited, and inclusive pastoral carers who offer non-religious emotional and moral support in hospitals, prisons, and other institutions. Whether it’s a patient navigating serious illness, a prisoner reflecting on their future, or a family coping with grief, NRPSN pastoral carers provide a listening ear, understanding, and guidance—rooted in empathy, not religion. What is pastoral care? Unlike religious chaplaincy, non-religious pastoral care is right for someone who prefers a non-religious approach to emotional and existential support. This is especially true for non-religious people, for whom religious consolations of the afterlife or spiritual beliefs may …

Palestinians celebrate their return to northern Gaza after 15 months of war

Palestinians celebrate their return to northern Gaza after 15 months of war

Published by skeptic

WADI GAZA, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians streamed into Gaza’s most heavily destroyed area on Monday after Israel opened the north for the first time since the early weeks of the war with Hamas, a dramatic reversal of their exodus 15 months ago. As a fragile ceasefire held into a second week, Israel was told by Hamas that eight of the hostages to be freed during the deal’s first phase are dead. Joyous crowds of Palestinians, some holding babies or pushing wheelchairs, walked along a seaside road all day and into the night, carrying bedrolls, bottles of water and other belongings. Armed and masked Hamas fighters flashed a victory sign. The crowd was watched over by Israeli tanks on a nearby hill. The United Nations said over 200,000 people were observed moving north on Monday morning. Palestinians who have been sheltering in squalid tent camps and former schools are eager to return to their homes — even though they are likely damaged or destroyed. Many had feared that Israel would make …

Northern Ireland’s parties are putting their interests before integration

Northern Ireland’s parties are putting their interests before integration

Published by skeptic

The decision of Paul Givan – Northern Ireland’s education minister – to block the transformation of two schools to integrated status last week rightly prompted disappointment and frustration. It also prompted questions about the Stormont executive’s commitment to fostering the mixed education of children from across the country’s Catholic and Protestant communities. Bangor Academy, the largest school in NI, and Rathmore Primary School had applied for integrated status but were denied, purportedly on the grounds that they could not enrol sufficient numbers of children from Catholic backgrounds. This directly contravened huge parental support at both schools, the recommendation of Givan’s own department, and a statutory duty to “encourage, facilitate and support” the expansion of integrated education, as set out by the Integrated Education Act. Such a justification is illogical on many fronts: not least because schools are able to attract pupils from across Catholic and Protestant backgrounds far more effectively once integrated. But most importantly, Givan’s rationale casts integration as a ‘numbers game’, the purpose of which is to immediately create well-balanced student populations. This …

Creationist teaching advocate appointed to chair Northern Ireland Education Authority

Creationist teaching advocate appointed to chair Northern Ireland Education Authority

Published by skeptic

Northern Ireland Humanists is deeply concerned by the recent appointment of Mervyn Storey, an advocate for teaching creationism in schools, as chair of the Education Authority. This places him at the head of the institution responsible for delivering Northern Ireland’s education services. Mervyn Storey, a member of the Free Presbyterian Church and former vice-chair of the Caleb Foundation, has a long history of promoting creationism and opposing evolutionary science in schools. Mervyn is a former MLA. As chair of the Assembly’s Education Committee, he pushed for intelligent design to be taught in classrooms and objected to evolutionary exhibits at the Ulster Museum. His record raises significant concerns about his ability to uphold the impartiality and inclusivity that education demands. Northern Ireland Humanists Coordinator Boyd Sleator commented: ‘Mr Storey’s track record of pushing for creationism in schools raises serious concerns about his ability to lead an education system that should teach children facts, not pseudoscience. We will be writing to the Education Minister to seek reassurance that creationism will not be taught in schools as scientifically …

Elon Musk’s X is moving its legal disputes to Northern Texas

Elon Musk’s X is moving its legal disputes to Northern Texas

Published by skeptic

Lawsuits against X (formerly Twitter) will soon be heard in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The shift was first announced last month as part of a broader set of changes to X’s terms of service and privacy policy. Now, with the changes set to take effect on November 15, The Washington Post spoke to a number of legal and tech experts about what the move might mean. X owner Elon Musk also recently moved the social media company’s headquarters from San Francisco to Bastrop, Texas — near Austin — but Bastrop lies in Texas’ Western District. The Northern District, meanwhile, has become a destination for conservative activists seeking to challenge Democratic policies, with 10 of its 11 active judges appointed by Republican presidents. While it’s normal for companies to specify in their terms of service where lawsuits against them may be filed, Cornell law professor G.S. Hans described choosing the Northern District of Texas as “weird” compared to the Northern District of California, which most tech companies choose. Hans said …