Description

In this episode of The Christopher Perrin Show, Christopher Perrin welcomes Jamie Burns, founder and chief executive of the Fellowship for Classical Learning, a charity organization building a network of classical Christian independent schools in the United Kingdom. They discuss the renewal of classical Christian education in the United Kingdom. Burns recalls growing up between two educational worlds: the classical inheritance passed down by his father and the more relativistic assumptions he encountered in school. After teaching in British state schools, he discovered the American classical education renewal through Andrew Kern’s podcast, The Ask Andrew Podcast, and began building transatlantic relationships to help recover that tradition in Britain. He describes the Fellowship’s beginnings at a 2023 gathering in the House of Lords, its vision for schools, teacher formation, and a distinctly British curriculum, and the opening of The Fountain Christian School in London. Perrin and Burns explore the promise of small beginnings, the importance of pioneering families and teachers, the challenges of facilities and funding, and the possibility that established British schools might rediscover their own classical Christian roots. The conversation closes with an invitation to help cultivate a renewed educational culture, one school and one community at a time.

To explore the foundations and history of this educational tradition, listeners can visit ClassicalU for Introduction to Classical Education and A Brief History of Classical Education. 

Episode Outline

• Jamie Burns’s childhood between a classical inheritance at home and a different vision of education at school
• Teaching in the British state system and discovering the American classical education renewal
• The Rest Is History, the Integrated Humanities Program, and the power of learned conversation
• The 2023 House of Lords gathering and the founding of the Fellowship for Classical Learning
• The Fellowship’s vision for British schools, teacher training, and curriculum
• The Fountain Christian School in Westminster and plans for another school in Cardiff
• Knowledge-rich education, school culture, and the formation of virtue
• Pioneers, small beginnings, and the prospect of renewal in existing British schools
• Practical needs: suitable premises, well-formed teachers, funding, and local faithfulness

Key Topics & Takeaways

• An Inherited Tradition: Burns received a classical vision of education through his father, even while attending a school that approached texts and truth differently. His experience sharpened his desire to pass that inheritance on.
• The Power of Conversation: Podcasts and the Integrated Humanities Program show how knowledgeable, enthusiastic people can invite others into The Great Conversation through shared delight in learning.
• A Transatlantic Renewal: Relationships with American classical educators and a gathering in the House of Lords helped launch the Fellowship for Classical Learning and its distinctly British mission.
• Schools as Communities of Formation: The Fountain Christian School began with seventeen pupils, reflecting a deliberate emphasis on founding culture, parents, teachers, and a clear educational purpose.
• Remembering Britain’s Educational Heritage: Burns sees the renewal not simply as creating new schools but also as helping established institutions recover the faith, liberal learning, and character formation embedded in their history.
• Faithfulness in Small Beginnings: The work requires patience, suitable buildings, people formed by the tradition, and financial support. The aim is durable local communities rather than growth for its own sake.

Questions & Discussion

• How does an educational tradition pass from one generation to another?
  Consider Burns’s experience at home and at school. What habits, conversations, and relationships best transmit a love of truth and wisdom?
• What can the modern classical renewal learn from conversation centered learning?
  How might teachers model joyful intellectual exchange rather than simply deliver information?
• Why does the culture of a new school matter from its first day?
  What qualities should founding families, teachers, and leaders establish before a school grows?
• What would it mean for an established British school to recover its classical Christian purpose?
  Distinguish between keeping traditional subjects and recovering the deeper ends of education. What would change in a school’s ethos, teaching, and student formation?
• How can local faithfulness serve a larger educational renewal?
  Consider the needs Burns identifies: premises, people, and finances. Which forms of support are most urgent, and what role can small communities play?

Suggested Reading & Resources

• Fellowship for Classical Learning
• The Fountain Christian School, London
• St. Anselm’s School, Cardiff
• The Rest Is History podcast by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook
• The Ask Andrew Podcast by Andrew Kern
• Dominion by Tom Holland
• After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre
• Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know by E. D. Hirsch Jr.
• The Society for Classical Learning
• Classical Academic Press
• The Alcuin Fellowship
• ClassicalU Course: Introduction to Classical Education
• ClassicalU Course: A Brief History of Classical Education