From Dr Rachel Jepson and Mr Robin Hall
Sir, - We welcomed the Archbishop of Canterbury's profound
commitment to tackling homophobic bullying in schools, announced at
General Synod.
Nevertheless, it seems, the Board of Education has some catching
up to do. In answer to questions that we tabled at Synod, we were
told that the Board has no data on the number of homophobic
bullying incidents in Church of England schools - although the
Archbishop revealed to the Synod the appalling statistic that 97
per cent of gay teenagers report such bullying.
Moreover, the Board has yet to investigate new materials and
resources to counteract such incidents. Archbishop Welby committed
the Church to using the "best advice we can find anywhere". We
recommend that the Board consider the excellent anti-bullying
material produced by Stonewall.
We firmly believe that the Church of England could be an example
of best practice in tackling homophobic bullying in schools, and we
hope that the Board will explore all the data, material, and
resources available to it.
RACHEL JEPSON
Synod member for Birmingham
ROBIN HALL
Synod member for Southwark
c/o 24 Kitto Road
London SE14 5TW