Along with unity and peace, the Bahá’í teachings place strong emphasis on the advancement and prosperity of all human beings. A critical element in achieving this goal is education for every individual. 

The Bahá’í education of children began shortly after the Bahá’í faith was established in the UK in the early years of last century. Initially, classes were taught by untrained volunteers, and consisted of small numbers of children of varying ages and interests.

In October 1984, responding to the increasingly urgent need for a more organised form of Bahá’í education for children, the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Lambeth in south London, called a meeting for all interested Bahá’ís in Greater London. 

From that meeting the first formal Bahá’í Sunday School was formed.  It was held in a suite of classrooms in the basement of what is now part of the King’s College Waterloo campus, and was named the Thomas Breakwell School, after the first Englishman to become a Bahá’í.

The Thomas Breakwell School ran for two hours on Sunday mornings for three 10-week terms a year, and marked a turning point in the Bahá’í education of children in the UK.  It is now in its eighteenth year. 

Unlike any previous Bahá’í children’s classes, the Waterloo school had a director and a management committee to run it.  Every class had a teacher and an assistant teacher, so that illness or absence would not disrupt the delivery of education to the children. Teacher training was provided by a trained teacher and educationalist on the school staff, who also developed handbooks for guidance on the better organisation of formal Bahá’í education. 

From the beginning, the school had a policy of openness, welcoming students and visitors from non- Bahá’í backgrounds.

The content of the syllabus of the school was based closely upon the Bahá’í writings, and included the development of a positive spiritual and moral character, studying the administration, history, laws and teachings of all the major world religions, and learning skills related to the arts and public speaking. Study of Bahá’í and other religious scriptures formed a central part of each lesson, and parents were involved in every aspect of the school including representation on its management committee. 

The vision and overriding aim of the school is to help children to become strongly motivated by spiritual and moral considerations, who were more confident in their faith as well as in their relationships with members of other faiths, and who were prepared for lives of service to the Bahá’í community and to humanity in general. 

Within the space of a year of the school’s establishment, a second Thomas Breakwell School was set up in South Oxfordshire.  The organisation of the schools soon outstripped the capacity of local Bahá’ís and so a new and enhanced national Bahá’í Education Committee was appointed by the Bahá’í National Spiritual Assembly to help oversee the organisation, support and development of these schools. 

There are now Thomas Breakwell Schools established all over the UK, based in the Midlands, the South East, the North East, Northern Ireland and Scotland.  Requests have also been received for assistance in establishing Bahá’í schools in Europe, and members of the original London Thomas Breakwell School have travelled to Holland, Denmark, Iceland and Norway to share their experiences. 

Within a few months of establishing the London Thomas Breakwell School, the benefits of such a systematic approach to Bahá’í education of children began to become clear. Children who attended regularly, and whose parents were fully supportive and involved, began to show improved behaviour, more sensitive attitudes to others, an enhanced sense of their religious identity and a steady growth in their knowledge of the Bahá’í and other faiths. 

They generally grew more confident as individuals.  Subsequently, parents began to report improvements in their children’s attitude, diligence and attainment in their mainstream schools.

It is the hope of the UK Bahá’í community that these schools will continue to develop and eventually offer a much fuller service to both the Bahá’í and wider communities.  In keeping with the Bahá’í community’s desire for greater openness, these schools have recently been renamed “Community Schools”, though each one maintains the unique identity that its local users give to it. This itself is in keeping with the Bahá’í principle of unity in diversity.