Find out how Christian Fellowship school began and how we arrived at where we are today...
Seeding the nation
In the 1970s God began to awaken a concern in a number of Christian parents and churches throughout the country as to the effect state education was having upon the faith of their young people. It had suddenly become obvious that both primary and secondary schools were nurturing young people into cultural norms that were becoming more and more anti-Christian.
It was as if God was scattering seeds of concern all over the nation and one fell into a congregation in Liverpool.
A ring of fire for protection
In the early 1980s many of the seeds scattered in the previous decade started to spring into life. Some parents started to home school their children while some churches took the decision to form their own schools.
In 1981 in Liverpool, Christian Fellowship School started in the basement of a church property
in Toxteth with 30 children aged between 4 and 14 years and 3 full-time staff. The school quickly
grew and moved to larger premises still situated in Toxteth.
God provided the necessary finances through the sacrificial giving of Devonshire Road Christian
Fellowship who purchased the building.
While negotiations for the purchase were proceeding, the Toxteth riots took place and burning
buildings surrounded the property, but God kept it from being damaged.
The bigger picture
The later 1980s saw further growth in terms of numbers and the development of vision. A variety of sources enabled the staff to gain a clearer understanding of the concept of Christian education.
Youth with a Mission gave valuable insights into the stages of child development and how children's faith progressed through these stages. These insights led to the school being structured into Lower, Middle and Upper schools.
Relationships were formed with other Christian schools in the country which eventually led to the formation of an association of schools called The Christian Schools' Trust. This produced a forum for Head teachers and staff to work together and benefit from each other's expertise. National conferences were held that made a significant contribution to the development of each school within this growing movement.
On the local scene the school had been inspected and registered with the Department of Education and had become an examination centre.
A secure and happy learning environment resulted in above average GCSE results and knowledge of the school within the city was increasing. Numbers had reached 200 by 1987 which precipitated the need to search for a larger building. Devonshire Road Fellowship generously gave the ownership of the building to the school which meant finances could be raised for a new site.
The government was becoming more and more concerned with the falling standards in state education and introduced the National Curriculum as a means to address the situation. Unfortunately, introducing an overtly secular curriculum was only going to exacerbate the situation and state education was about to enter a period of massive upheaval which few could predict. Only God knew the outcome of this initiative and in hind sight the new Christian schools movement was a prophetic answer to it.
New challenges
The 1990s were characterised by various attempts to address a number of challenges that were hindering the outworking of the school's vision. These included, exposing the damaging effect certain aspects of culture were having upon the pupils, developing an effective partnership with parents, how to transfer vision into practice with limited resources, training the staff to think biblically about education, the role of governors and the need for a larger building.
In 1997 the school moved into its present site. The move was not without its difficulties as the building
needed to be structurally altered and then redecorated throughout. Provision for this came from quite an
unexpected quarter and together with the voluntary labour of staff, parents and friends of the school, the
move was successfully negotiated without incurring any debt.
In 1999 Parliament removed the right to administer corporal discipline in independent schools. A number of Christian schools, including CFS, challenged the government in the European and English courts on the basis that the legislation undermined both parental rights and religious freedom. A long and arduous process began that frequently attracted the attention of the media.
Foundation stones
In 2001 the school celebrated its first twenty years. Various functions and events were held which allowed the school to tell its own unique story of God's faithfulness. Aspects of the school's history were dramatised by the pupils which emphasised the foundations upon which the school was built.
In 2002 the school was inspected again, but for the first time by Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) and received a good report.
'CFS is a calm and well-organised community which values its pupils and provides them with an education that is good overall.'
Our story continues.
