Rhiannon said:
"Pagan schooling would be a blast! 
"
I bet! From what I've read, there used to be Hedge schools in Ireland at one time....I'll get me coat.
I think faith schools are quite narrow in some respects; I went to three. My son went to a school for a couple of years which was a Christian foundation but they didn't make a thing out of it because anyone, of any faith or none, could go there if they had the ability. There were plenty of Hindus, Muslims and Jews, one or two Sikhs from what I remember and, undoubtedly, a lot of nominal Christians. However, some time after he had left that behind he told me that he had disliked the fact that, when being taught RE (which then was mainly Judeo-Christian though they did learn a bit about other faiths), they were told, ''This is how it is'', whereas at his next school, they were taught, ''This is what some Christians believe''.
I understood how he felt and have always thought that people should say, ''I believe...'', and not present any religious belief as fact. I may believe in something but I cannot impose my belief on anyone else. My faith schools were, without a doubt, far more hard-line when it came to religion.
Off the top of my head I can think of three faith schools near to me (secondary), one Catholic comp, one private convent 'grammar-type' school for girls and an Islamic boarding school for boys. Oh there is also a Catholic sixth form college. The Catholic comp and Vlth form have a fairly liberal and realistic approach towards faith which one would expect from state schools nowadays but what control would there be over the private sector?
The Lubavitcher schools, primary and secondary single sex schools in Stamford Hill, north London, have an extremely narrow curriculum and everything centres on the Torah and Talmud, especially for the boys who seem to learn little else. I mean no disrespect to the Chassidic Jewish people, many of whom I have known through my working life, but quite honestly if they were not Jewish, the schools would fail OFSTED, be considered failing or failed schools and radical change would be implemented. The people themselves, who live as a community, believe the teaching is quite sufficient for the adult lives the children will eventually embrace but it's very odd when grown men and women (the men are worse), fill in forms and write notes in a sort of pigeon-English.
