Head of Education Steve Beegoo comments on the spiritual battle facing Christian education in the UK
What a season we are in. Five signs are clearly visible of the spiritual battle to hinder children from receiving Christ and his ways for their lives, under the oversight of their parents. Visible for those who have eyes to see and are ‘watchmen on the wall’ regarding our sons and daughters.
Egregious bill
Firstly, at the start of 2026 the government itself has brought 104 amendments to their own Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. The amendments include powers for local authority officers to have right of access to the home of your sons and daughters, with powers to legally enforce, simply because you decide to take them out of school and to teach them at home for any reason. This and many other major amendments will be discussed this week at the Committee Stage of the House of Lords. Many disturbed parents will be rallying outside parliament on Saturday to protest about the bill. They are furious at how ‘safeguarding’ is being used to curtail parental freedoms which has never been conscionable before.
Raids
Secondly, this winter has seen Ofsted inspector police-style raids on home educators who gather to learn together. With body cams, brandishing police cautions as they enter church buildings these officers intimidate home educating families who gather regularly for sessions together with other parents. Our legal centre and education department has been recently inundated with reports where, under suspicion of running illegal schools, which they are not, parents and church leaders have been warned, threatened, cautioned and even physically pushed out of the way by aggressive state actors. We are providing legal advice and pastoral support to these groups. We have warned how the increasing powers of the government will be misused, and we see this happening this winter. Any ‘Out of School Settings’, which Christians provide could be in line for such action, including Sunday Schools.
VAT
Thirdly, the imposition of VAT onto school fees, something which no other European country does, is being fought over again by our lawyers in the appeal court this coming week. Parents should not be charged by the government for paying for teachers to teach their sons and daughters in line with their Christian values. In countries such as Australia, the USA, The Netherlands and Germany, parents are financially helped. Over 100 private schools have closed due to this measure, including The King Alfred School in Dudley which we have supported, where low and middle income families simply could not afford to pay the VAT.
Gender questioning
Fourthly, the government continues to prevaricate over publishing its guidance on Gender Questioning Children. They had said this would be made clear by the end of 2025. Schools are still supporting and even encouraging the social transition of children within their schools, outside the knowledge of their parents. We are still fighting legal cases regarding terrible practices even in primary schools. LGBT groups, through activist and trans teachers, Pride clubs and other celebratory events promote the idea that children can have a gender identity different from that of their biological sex, causing untold psychological harm.
Property tax
Fifthly, in addition to the VAT, the new property tax on schools is now also causing the closing of small, low-cost Christian schools. The continued removal of business rates relief for private schools is in stark contrast to the U-turn provided to pubs. The Phoenix academy in London, based in a home setting with around 30 pupils, from being charged less that £150 per month, was hit with new charges of £9000 per year as the authorities re-evaluated what to charge them. Other small schools are facing closure, even when their parents rose to the sacrificial faith to find the money to cover their VAT on school fees. One of these reported to us that they had rates raised from £500 per month to £3500 per month, and this for a school of around 40 children.
Rights
The Labour party, with its socialist and statist leanings, was always going to put pressure on independent actions of parents, who do not buy in to all the provisions of the ‘benevolent’ welfare state. Governments across the world increasingly see children, not as sons and daughters of their parents, and certainly not as children created and formed by God in their mother’s womb, but instead as units of the state. Autonomous beings for whom the government must help assert ‘the rights of the child’ as determined by that state or the international consensus. This justification can be seen throughout the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, equality impact assessment document.
Wisdom
There are times in history where social ‘police’ begin to enforce the agenda of the state on its population and their sons and daughters. We need to have the wisdom of the men of Issachar, who knew the times and what Israel should do (1 Chronicles 12:32). These five signs add to the concerns that we are currently on a trajectory of a less free society, where suspicion and taxing of Christian parents becomes seen as normal. A state where the empowerment of ‘neutral’ local authority actors, on unjustified grounds of safety and children’s rights, hinders the Christian message, and the passing on of the beautiful ways Jesus Christ has called us to live.
Please stand with us in prayer and where possible with financial support as we seek to work together with parents, teachers, church leaders and schools as we seek an Education Revolution to turn the tide. And please consider joining us at our Education Revolution conference in April as those with an involvement and interest in education issues gather at Westminster Chapel in London to be equipped, networked, inspired and envisioned for the sake of our sons and daughters.
