The Emmanuel Schools Foundation (previously the Vardy Foundation after its founder, Sir Peter Vardy) intends to set up a total of seven specialist independent schools in the UK under the Government's City Academies Initiative . Under this scheme the provision of some initial sponsorship gives the backer the right to influence the ethos of the school by hand-picking the initial board of governers. This is controversial because of Vardy's fundamentalist Christian beliefs.

Overview

A key feature of the foundation's schools is the emphasis on teaching Christian beliefs, although the foundation is keen to stress that there has never been a religious dimension to its Student Intake Policy. In particular, students are encouraged to consider the claims of the Bible, including creationism, alongside the standard National Curriculum.

As of April 2004 two schools are already in existence - The King's Academy in Middlesbrough and Emmanuel College in Gateshead, with a third, Trinity Academy set to replace Doncaster's Thorne Grammar School in summer 2005. The foundation has also put forward an 'expression of interest' in opening a second Academy in the Doncaster area, this time in the town of Conisbrough. The scheme, which is enthusiastically backed by Conisbrough council's Aidan Rave and Doncaster Mayor Martin Winter, would almost certainly mean the closure of Conisbrough's Northcliffe School.

External links

• Official site
• Emmanuel Schools Foundation on EvoWiki, including a list of news articles and editorials.
• Black Shadow, an anti-Emmanuel Schools campaign site