A YORK school will be centre-stage on the nation’s TV screens tomorrow when it features on the BBC’s Songs Of Praise programme.

Bootham School was chosen by the programme’s directors when they were looking to “explore the use of silence in religious worship”, and a BBC team has spent half a day at the school filming its morning meeting for worship and interviewing students.

The footage will be broadcast on BBC2 at 4.55pm. Jonathan Taylor, the independent school’s head teacher, said: “As a Quaker school, meetings for worship – as our religious services are described – always include a period of silence.

“Although only a tiny fraction of the school community are from Quaker families, everybody can gain a great deal from time spent together in silent reflection. When our students leave us, they often say this silence is the one thing they miss most in our busy, fast-paced world.”