I note that King Alfred Christian School has closed its doors. This was the school that I wrote about earlier this summer. I came under some pressure for raising questions but surely we should be able to do this as Christians and indeed have a responsibility to challenge robustly.
The Telegraph reports that this was the closure of a flagship Christian School and lays the blame at the door of the Government and its VAT policy.
Whilst the school was the first to specifically promote one particular type of education, I’m not sure that it was a “flagship” whatever that over-used image means.
The Telegraph reports that fees rose by about £3000, nearly doubling. It is worth observing that factually, this cannot have been solely down to VAT. Rather,the harsh truth is that costs have risen substantially in recent years due to rising inflation. Additionally, the school had about 30 or so students at peak and this may have always raised questions about viability. There are high overheads in education.
The school founders have said that they will reopen hopefully when a less hostile government is elected. I’m not sure whether they mean less hostile to private education or to Christian faith. There is a risk here that they politicised things, not in the sense that all things are political but that it becomes party political.
Unfortunately, it is worth noting that it is also highly unlikely that future governments will be inclined for political or economic reasons to prioritising removing VAT.
I want to be clear here that I respect the right and freedom of people to set up schools and indeed to engage in any venture as they wish. However, we also need to be ready to be challenged on our ventures. Neither this, nor facing difficulties are themselves persecution. We also need to be clear that just because Christians wish to do something doesn’t mean that this is specifically mission.
Faithroots 