The Relationship Between Church Schools and Local Church Life: Distinguishing between aided and controlled status

Abstract

This study compares the impact of Anglican voluntary aided and voluntary controlled schools on a range of indices of local church life throughout the diocese of Chelmsford. After controlling for the influence of population size, the church electoral roll, the age of the priest in charge of the benefice, the number of churches in the benefice, and the number of stipendiary clergy employed in the benefice, the data lead to two conclusions. Voluntary controlled primary schools have no significant impact on any of the indices of local church life included in the study. Voluntary aided primary schools are associated with a significantly higher level of pre-teenage confirmands, but they have no influence on the number of older confirmands, the number of baptisms, the usual Sunday church attendance, or the number of festival communicants.