Church School Mathematics

Schools have policies on all sorts of things, including mathematics. A school in England may well use this extract from the NationalCurriculum to outline the purpose of studying mathematics:

Mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

But what about a Church of England school? Does studying mathematics in a Christian community look different? Vern Poythress with doctorates in Mathematics and New Testament would suggest so. The following is a proposed alternative, inspired by his blog post:

Mathematics involves (a) the world around us, (b) our minds, and (c) the general truths of mathematics. Mathematics works because these three realms are in harmony and they are in harmony because they all come from God. God specified the world by speaking it into existence. He specified our minds by making us in his image, so that we can imitate his own mind. He specified the truths of mathematics, because he himself is the truth. In learning mathematics we enjoy God’s glory and wisdom.

Mathematics is possible only because there is both unity and plurality. Mathematics is possible because God is God―one in three. We want our children to experience awe and wonder as they observe that mathematics makes sense and is reliable, to recognise that we depend on mathematics all the time and so to learn about the humility and joy of submission to truth. We want our children to delight in understanding the world through mathematics and get excited about how mathematics helps us find answers to problems.

The Vocation of Church of England Schools

ALL schools are now part of a "diversity and choice" system; so there is no longer any need to be defensive about the distinctiveness and proven success of Church of England schools.
A church-school expert, Professor Jeff Astley, has suggested that there are three considerations: education into Christianity; education about Christianity; and education in a Christian manner.
All state schools can aspire to the third. There will be little that is distinctively Christian about them. Roman Catholic (and Muslim) schools will unequivocally subscribe to the first, subject as they are to direction from their supervising bodies.
Church of England schools can afford to be altogether subtler, more responsive to a variety of local circumstances, and distinctive in a way which responds to Lord Runcie's words: we are "to nourish those of the faith, encourage those of other faiths, and challenge those of no faith".
There will be "no apology for theology", because RE will be of both high quality and high status as we pass on to our students a distinctive view of the Christian heritage and its contemporary challenge. We may even gently try to educate our students into Christianity in collective worship, mind-ful also of Lady Runcie's famous words: "Too much religion makes me go off pop."

From Dennis, Richards, "A golden age for Church Schools?," Church Times, posted 14 Feb 2014, emphasis added.