Cornwall Council confirmed this week that teaching about Paganism has been a religious-education option in the Duchy\u2019s schools since a revision of the locally agreed RE syllabus last year. After claims of \u201cwitchcraft lessons\u201d\u009d made in a Sunday newspaper last weekend, a spokeswoman said that Paganism was just one option avail\u00c2\u00adable to schools that were within sight of standing stones, or where some pupils had Pagan parents.<\/p>\n
But the RE adviser for Cornwall, David Hampshire, said that the intention was wider. The option was developed after the Agreed Syllabus Conference decided to produce a specifically local element, \u201cCur\u00c2\u00adriculum Kernewek\u201d\u009d (Cornish cur\u00c2\u00adricu\u00c2\u00adlum), for the county, which has more Neolithic sites than anywhere else in Britain. \u201cThis includes in\u00c2\u00adformation about Cornwall\u2019s many local saints and historic Christian associations, as well as Paganism,\u201d\u009d Mr Hampshire said.<\/p>\n