In this article the author suggests that a vision of the "ideal" underpins all educational work. The complex web of interactions and activities that make up school culture must be studied in order to find "ways in" to effecting change and approaching the ideal. Religious school culture may be especially complex, built as it is on both religious and academic ideals and often operating within a secular common culture. The author proposes a model for studying religious school culture, based on a vision of what the "ideal" school culture might look like.