HC Deb 08 April 1889 vol 334 c1787
MR. COBB (Warwick, S.E., Rugby)

asked the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he is aware that the annual examination in religious knowledge of the children in the Board School at Snitterfield, in Warwickshire, took place on the 22nd of March last, and was conducted by the Rev. F. H. Weston, an Assistant Diocesan Inspector of Schools; whether Mr. Weston examined the children in the creed of the Church of England, and reported that they acquitted themselves in a highly satisfactory manner, and that the writing out of the Creed was almost perfect, but that the meaning of some words in it was not quite known; and whether such examination in the creed of the Church and the teaching which preceded it, were illegal under the provisions of "The Elementary Education Act, 1870;" and, if so, whether the Education Department will take such steps and make such representations to the Snitterfield School Board as may be necessary to prevent such practices in future?

*THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL (Sir W. HART DYKE,) Kent, Dartford

The facts as given are correct, with this exception, that the Creed in question was rather the Creed of Christendom than one distinctive of the Church of England. I am further informed that no denominational teaching is given with the sanction or knowledge of the Board.