Number of schools by type

Our mapping exercise has established for the first time exactly how widespread religious selection by state schools is. It found that:

  • 19% of secondary schools are faith-based. 16% religiously select to some degree, with 72% of all places at faith secondaries – equivalent to 13% of places at all secondaries – being subject to religious admissions criteria. We estimate that 17% of places at primaries are similarly religiously selected, or 1.2 million primary and secondary places across England.
  • This means that 16% of children at state schools are subject to religious selection criteria. This compares with 5% of secondary-age children in grammar schools, 5% in single-sex schools and 7% in independent schools.
  • 99.8% of places at Catholic secondaries are subject to religious selection in admissions criteria. For Church of England schools the figure is 49.7% but for those CofE schools fully in control of their own admissions policies with no legal or regulatory limitations it is 68%.
  • Anglican dioceses vary widely in how religiously selective their secondaries are. The most selective is Liverpool (84%) and the least is Leicester (3%). The Diocese of London, despite its recent commitments to inclusivity, has 68% of places subject to religious selection – well above average and therefore still with some way to go.

Our map enables users to look up any mainstream state-funded English secondary school to see whether it is religiously designated, whether its admissions policy allows religious selection when the school is oversubscribed (and if so, to what degree), and whether it requires baptism or religious practice.

More generally, you can see below how many of each type of school there are as of January 2013.

England

 

State-funded primary schools

 

 

Community

Voluntary Aided

Voluntary Controlled

Foundation

Academies

Total

Percentage

No Religious Character

9,271

13

35

515

756

10,590

63.10%

Church of England

0

1,887

2,319

34

155

4,385

26.13%

Roman Catholic

0

1,583

0

0

79

1,662

9.90%

Methodist

0

2

24

0

0

26

0.15%

Other Christian Faith

0

36

31

1

7

75

0.45%

Jewish

0

27

0

0

6

33

0.20%

Muslim

0

6

0

0

0

6

0.04%

Sikh

0

2

0

0

1

3

0.02%

Other

0

1

0

0

2

3

0.02%

               
Total

9,271

3,547

2,409

550

1,006

16,785

100.00%

Percentage

55.24%

21.13%

14.35%

3.28%

5.99%

100.00%

 
Total religious character

0

3,534

2,374

35

250

6,193

 
Percentage of type faith

0.00%

99.63%

98.55%

6.36%

24.85%

36.90%

 
Percentage of total faith

0.00%

57.06%

38.33%

0.57%

4.04%

100.00%

 

 

 

State-funded secondary schools

 

 

Community

Voluntary Aided

Voluntary Controlled

Foundation

CTCs

Academies

Total

Percentage

No Religious Character

871

19

25

353

3

1,381

2,652

80.83%

Church of England

0

64

29

6

0

109

208

6.34%

Roman Catholic

0

248

0

0

0

75

323

9.84%

Methodist

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.00%

Other Christian Faith

0

11

1

1

0

64

77

2.35%

Jewish

0

6

0

0

0

4

10

0.30%

Muslim

0

6

0

0

0

2

8

0.24%

Sikh

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

0.03%

Other

0

0

0

0

0

2

2

0.06%

                 
Total

871

354

55

360

3

1,638

3,281

100.00%

Percentage

26.55%

10.79%

1.68%

10.97%

0.09%

49.92%

100.00%

 
Total religious character

0

335

30

7

0

257

629

 
Percentage of type faith

0.00%

94.63%

54.55%

1.94%

0.00%

15.69%

19.17%

 
Percentage of total faith

0.00%

53.26%

4.77%

1.11%

0.00%

40.86%

100.00%

 

 

 

State-funded primary + secondary schools

 

 

Community

Voluntary Aided

Voluntary Controlled

Foundation

CTCs

Academies

Total

Percentage

No Religious Character

10,142

32

60

868

3

2,137

13,242

66.00%

Church of England

0

1,941

2,348

40

0

264

4,593

22.89%

Roman Catholic

0

1,831

0

0

0

154

1,985

9.89%

Methodist

0

2

24

0

0

0

26

0.13%

Other Christian Faith

0

47

32

2

0

71

152

0.76%

Jewish

0

33

0

0

0

10

43

0.21%

Muslim

0

12

0

0

0

2

14

0.07%

Sikh

0

2

0

0

0

2

4

0.02%

Other

0

1

0

0

0

4

5

0.02%

                 
Total

10,142

3,091

2,464

910

3

2,644

20,064

100.00%

Percentage

50.55%

19.44%

12.28%

4.54%

0.01%

13.18%

100.00%

 
Total religious character

0

3,969

2,404

42

0

507

6,822

 
Percentage of type faith

0.00%

99.18%

97.56%

4.62%

0.00%

19.18%

34.00%

 
Percentage of total faith

0.00%

56.71%

35.24%

0.62%

0.00%

7.43%

100.00%

 

 Wales

State-funded primary schools

 

Community

Voluntary Aided

Voluntary Controlled

Foundation

Total

Percentage

No Religious Character

1,145

1

0

3

1,149

83.50%

Church in Wales

0

65

89

1

155

11.26%

Roman Catholic

0

72

0

0

72

5.23%

Roman Catholic & Anglican

0

0

0

0

0

0.00%

Total

1,145

138

89

4

1,376

100.00%

Percentage

83.21%

10.03%

6.47%

0.29%

100.00%

Total religious character

0

137

89

1

227

Percentage of type faith

0.00%

99.28%

100.00%

25.00%

16.50%

Percentage of total faith

0.00%

60.35%

39.21%

0.44%

100.00%

 

 

State-funded secondary schools

 

 

Community

Voluntary Aided

Voluntary Controlled

Foundation

Total

Percentage

No Religious Character

191

0

2

8

201

91.36%

Church in Wales

0

3

0

0

3

1.36%

Roman Catholic

0

15

0

0

15

6.82%

Roman Catholic & Anglican

0

1

0

0

1

0.45%

Total

191

19

2

8

220

100.00%

Percentage

86.82%

8.64%

0.91%

3.64%

100.00%

Total religious character

0

16

0

0

19

Percentage of type faith

0.00%

84.21%

0.00%

0.00%

8.64%

Percentage of total faith

0.00%

84.21%

0.00%

0.00%

100.00%

 

State-funded primary + secondary schools

 

Community

Voluntary Aided

Voluntary Controlled

Foundation

Total

Percentage

No Religious Character

1,336

1

2

11

1,350

84.59%

Church in Wales

0

68

89

1

158

9.90%

Roman Catholic

0

87

0

0

87

5.45%

Roman Catholic & Anglican

0

1

0

0

1

0.06%

Total

1,336

157

91

12

1,596

100.00%

Percentage

83.71%

9.84%

5.70%

0.75%

100.00%

Total religious character

0

156

89

1

246

Percentage of type faith

0.00%

99.36%

97.80%

8.33%

15.41%

Percentage of total faith

0.00%

63.41%

36.18%

0.41%

100.00%