The relationship between church schools and local church life: distinguishing between aided and controlled status

This study compares the impact of Anglican voluntary aided and voluntary co ntrolled schools on a range of indices of local church life throughout the diocese of Chelmsford. After controlling for the influence of population si ze, the church electoral roll, the age of the priest in charge of the benef ice, the number of churches in the benefice, and the number of stipendiary clergy employed in the benefice, the data lead to two conclusions. Voluntar y controlled primary schools have no significant impact on any of the indic es of local church life included in the study. Voluntary aided primary scho ols are associated with a significantly higher level of pre-teenage confirm ands, but they have no influence on the number of older confirmands, the nu mber of baptisms, the usual Sunday church attendance, or the number of fest ival communicants.