The Diocese of Manchester is committed to being a worshipping, growing, and transforming Christian presence at the heart of every community. This vision shapes our mission: to grow our churches, nurture both new and existing disciples, and serve those who are vulnerable, deprived, or excluded.

The Manchester Diocesan Board of Education (MDBE) plays a vital role in realising this vision through its dedicated support for our Church schools. Across the diverse and vibrant landscape of Greater Manchester and Rossendale, MDBE works in partnership with schools to help them flourish as places of faith and learning.

Growing: we grow and cultivate healthy relationships with staff and governors across the family of church schools. We encourage good leadership through providing training and advice in areas such as mental health and wellbeing, admissions, Head Teacher recruitment and development as well as effective management of school buildings. 

Nurturing: The MDBE strives to nurture its relationships with schools, just as God nurtures His relationships with His children. We support our schools in the journeys they have with each of their children, from early years through to sixth form, walking alongside schools during transition points, academic experiences and community events. We work across churches and schools to establish reciprocally beneficial relationships. We communicate with our school leaders, staff, governors and clergy teams, uniting us as we work together to lift up the children and young people in our schools and churches.

Serving: We seek to serve our schools with love, kindness and action, enacting the commandment to ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.’ (Luke 10:27). We work in communion with people, children and families from all faiths and backgrounds, celebrating the diverse landscape of our great city and region and the communities that come together within it. We help to maintain the Christian distinctiveness of the school through the facilitation of training and resourcing in the areas of vision and values, religious education, collective worship and the requirements of SIAMS.

Collecting Information from Schools: Privacy Notice

How we use your information 

Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Data for example can be a name, photograph, email address, bank details, posts on social networking websites, medical information, or a computer IP address. Identification can be by the data alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controllers possession or likely to come into such possession. The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Manchester Diocesan Board of Education Members Triennium ending 31 December 2027

Synod received the DBE’s annual review. Terry Hart, Deputy Director of Education, highlighted the DBE’s achievements in developing the distinctive Christian character of CE schools across the diocese and in developing our school leaders. You can read the full report here.

Service level agreement

The revised Service Level Agreement that has been published by Manchester Diocesan Board of Education.  It reflects the Board’s vision that all CE schools across the diocese are part of the diocesan family of schools and the board and its’ officers are here to support all schools.

The SLA focusses on the partnership/covenant relationship MDBE has with all its schools as we all seek to serve the needs of children and families within our communities. It outlines how MDBE enacts the diocesan vision, the relationship with and between CE schools as well as various aspects of support schools can partake of as need arises.  MDBE do not withhold support from schools not in the SLA, whilst noting we are only able to offer such support because of the commitment of others to the partnership.

Currently more than 95% of the 191 schools within the diocese are part of the SLA. Our vision is for 100% of CE schools to partner with MDBE through the SLA.

Through the Service Level Agreement, Church of England schools and the Diocesan Board of Education demonstrate a working partnership based on a covenant relationship.  We are committed to each other and our actions testify to this.  The relationship is not transactional in that it is not about what one party can do for another.  It is a commitment to working together, to supporting together, to celebrating together, to flourishing together.