As students across the country received their A-level results this week, new figures reveal a drop of 5.1 percent in 2019 and 22.8 percent in 2018, a combined decline of 28.9 percent in two years of students choosing to study RE at A-level.

Reports claim that a number of schools are failing to meet legal requirements on religious education to pupils until the age of 16, which is impacting students choosing the subject to study at a higher level.

The figures are an indication that religious education remains vulnerable and teachers are calling the Government to engage further with the recent recommendations for change from the Commission on Religious Education.

It is a legal requirement for children up until 16 to be taught RE. Former RE teacher and education officer for the Diocese of Exeter, Ed Pawson told Premier how some schools are getting away with not teaching the subject: “Data shows a third of schools are not teaching RE properly, it’s a key stage for that GCSE level.

Pawson thinks it’s “partly about academisation of schools”, but says “we are hopeful that a new Ofsted framework in September will start to show the schools up more, we really want to put more pressure on Ofsted to take more notice when they inspect schools as to whether schools are teaching good RE or not and whether all people are getting their entitlements, to religious…

The Grace 1 supertanker, which is carrying 2.1m barrels of oil, was detained on 4^th  July on suspicion of illegally transporting oil to Syria.

A last-minute legal attempt by the US to keep the tanker detained was rejected by Gibraltar on Thursday.

Iran previously called the detention of Grace 1 an “illegal interception”.

Christian seafarers’ charity, Stella Maris hopes the decision by a judge in Gibraltar yesterday to release the supertanker Grace 1 may lead to the release of the Stena Impero crew, detained in Iran for 27 days.

Whilst Iran has claimed the detention of the Grace 1 was not connected to the seizure of the Stena Impero, this has been widely questioned. 

A spokesperson for Stella Maris said: “We have been concerned that the crew of the Stena Impero, who had been going about their professional duties, have been detained against their will with little evidence against them.”

“Shipping and seafaring is a tight knit community and the worry of these events are an added anxiety for seafarers and something that Stella Maris port chaplains have been hearing.”

Two weeks after Grace 1 was detained, on 19^th July, Iran seized the British flagged tanker Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz.

Although Iran claimed the ship had violated “international maritime rules”, the seizure of Stena Impero was widely believed to be an act of retaliation.

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Rochester Cathedral has had 13,000 visitors in the fortnight to 11^th August, up from 6,5000 during the same time last year.

The Dean of Rochester, the Very Reverend Philip Hesketh, said the increase in numbers was “extraordinary”.

“We’ve got between 250 and 300 young people every day coming into the cathedral, loving it and then spending time wandering around the rest of the cathedral.

“One of the things we do at 12pm and 3pm is to pause, for the whole of the cathedral, wherever people are and just have a prayer, and it’s been fantastic the way people playing golf have engaged with that as well.”

Rochester Cathedral is one of a number of cathedrals across the UK (Norwich Cathedral currently has a 55ft helter skelter in it’s nave) who are putting on activities over the summer to find new and creative ways to engage and encourage people in to the building and hope it opens up conversations about faith to newcomers. 

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So far, Soul Survivor Scotland, Week A and NSN (an event for all the family) have all had record attendance and figures for the whole summer are expected to be around 30,000.

There have already been 726 people making commitments to Jesus, according to Soul Survivor.

Mike Pilavachi said: “It’s been an amazing summer already seeing God move in astonishing, powerful and kind ways and we know there is more he wants to do among the young people at B and C. We didn’t want our last year to be full of nostalgia but simply to make room for people to meet with God and that’s exactly what’s happened.

“We have been happily surprised by the number of people coming to one of our events for the first time – as many as 40 percent at Week A – and we’re delighted at how many have made the decision to follow Jesus already. We’re praying for more salvations over the next two weeks as well as many more life changing encounters.’

Guest speakers at Soul Survivor and NSN 2019 alongside hosts Mike, Ali Martin and Andy Croft include Rachel Gardner, Zeke Rink, Laura Hancock, Tim Alford and Janet & Neil Young.

Teaching has covered intimacy with God, being family as church, friendship with one another, being filled with the Holy Spirit, getting rid of distractions.

Worship has been led by Tom Smith, Beth Croft, Rend Collective, and Guvna B, as well as additional…

The 15-year-old’s body was discovered on Tuesday 1.6 miles from a holiday resort where the family had been staying.

Early on Saturday the teenager’s family issued a statement asking the media to only rely on comments issued on their behalf by the Lucie Blackman Trust (LBT) charity.

The statement said: “The family of Nora Quoirin would like to clarify several comments that have been attributed to the family or to people claiming to act on behalf of the family.

“They wish it to be made absolutely clear that the only comments and statements relating to the disappearance, death, investigation and any other matters that are actually from the family are those released via Matthew Searle of the Lucie Blackman Trust.”

It added: “Any other comments and views are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of the immediate family or an accurate portrayal of the facts.”

The statement was issued following reports suggesting Nora’s parents were considering asking for a -second postmortem on Nora’s body to be sure pathologists had not missed any evidence.

Malaysian police said following the first postmortem that Nora starved after her disappearance and there was no evidence of abduction or kidnapping “for the time being”.

After meeting Malaysia’s deputy prime minister on Friday, her family said they are “struggling to understand the events of the last 10…