The Fair Admissions Campaign is today publishing new top-level data showing the degree to which faith-based admissions criteria cause schools to be socio-economically unrepresentative of their local areas. The Campaign has compared the number of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) at every state funded school to their neighbourhoods, and seen how much these two figures diverge. The findings show that religious selection has a huge impact in causing schools to have fewer pupils requiring free school meals, with secondaries that select being much more segregated than those that don’t.

The very worst schools are massively unrepresentative of their local areas, with religiously selective secondary schools comprising 58 of the top 100 most offending schools, and 70 of the top 100 comprehensives. By comparison, only 15% of all secondaries religiously select. To give some examples, the London Oratory School in Hammersmith & Fulham takes 6.6% of pupils requiring Free School Meals, compared to 38.7% in its local area. Sacred Heart High School, also in Hammersmith & Fulham, takes 6.3% of pupils requiring FSM, compared to 45.8% in its area. Even more extreme is The Blue Coat CofE School in Oldham, taking 6.8% of pupils requiring FSM compared to 47.4% locally.

Nationally about 15% of secondary pupils and 18% of primary pupils are considered eligible for free school meals. However, an average Roman Catholic secondary school would have 4.7% fewer pupils than its local area – for example, if 15% of pupils in its area required FSM, it would likely have 11.3% of pupils requiring FSM. A Catholic primary would typically have 7.1% fewer pupils than its area.

It is also possible to observe the direct impact of religious selection on free school meals. Virtually all Catholic schools have fully religiously selective admissions criteria, but there is huge diversity within the Church of England sector, and the Fair Admissions Campaign has now researched the oversubscription criteria of all religious secondary schools and established the degree to which they allow selection. Looking at Church of England secondary schools that do not select at all, they typically have 0.2% more FSM pupils than their area. But looking at CofE secondaries that select 100% of their pupils, they typically have 3.9% fewer.

The local areas examined are known as Middle Super Output Areas (MSOAs), which comprise about 2,000-6,000 households – about the typical catchment area of a secondary school. Previous, similar research has instead focused on first half of post codes, but MSOAs are better because they are smaller and because post code data involves comparing the number of children at the different schools in a given area, as opposed to the number of children living in the area. From here, the difference between each school and its MSOA is calculated.

Comments

Members of the Fair Admissions Campaign’s steering group have responded to the latest findings. Pavan Dhaliwal, Head of Public Affairs at the British Humanist Association, commented ‘This new evidence makes it abundantly clear that religiously selective admissions criteria are directly responsible for a high degree of socio-economic selection by state funded schools. The most segregated schools invariably have overly complex selection criteria that require some serious thought, time and commitment to understand and comply with, and so by their very nature exclude people like the single parent working several jobs who simply doesn’t have the time to comply.

‘It is fundamentally wrong that a school we all pay for can turn away a child because their parents are of a different religion or of no religion, and it is even more outrageous that so many are doing so in a manner that excludes those from the poorest of families at the same time.’

Professor Ted Cantle CBE, author of the Cantle Report into the 2001 race riots and founder of the Institute of Community Cohesion, commented, ‘It is profoundly disappointing that so many faith schools seem to have lost sight of supporting the most needy in their local areas. In addition we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that socio-economic segregation in schools will reinforce ethnic segregation as minorities tend to be more disadvantaged, all of which means an even more divided society. There needs to be more monitoring of selection and enforcement of socially responsible policies.’

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE, Chair of the Accord Coalition, commented, ‘The findings show that many faith schools seem to have lost their way religiously, and instead of caring especially for the more under-privileged parts of society are concentrating on children from higher socio-economic backgrounds in order to boost their league table standing. It is time to re-examine whether schools that use faith to segregate children have any place in today’s educational system.’

Notes

For further comment please contact BHA Head of Public Affairs Pavan Dhaliwal on 07738 435 059, Accord Coalition coordinator Jonathan Romain on 07770 722 893 or email info@fairadmissions.org.uk.

The table below shows how different types of religious school compare to their local areas, both in an absolute sense (e.g. if a local area is 15% FSM, then a typical Catholic secondary would be 11.3%) and a proportional sense (e.g. a typical Catholic secondary would have 85% as many pupils requiring FSM as its area. Note that 85% of 15% is not 11.3%, but this just reflects the fact that Catholic schools are more likely than other schools to be in deprived areas). The underlying data derives from Government-published analyses of the national pupil database.

Click here to show the table

The Fair Admissions Campaign wants all state-funded schools in England and Wales to be open equally to all children, without regard to religion or belief. The Campaign is supported by a wide coalition of individuals and national and local organisations. We hold diverse views on whether or not the state should fund faith schools. But we all believe that faith-based discrimination in access to schools that are funded by the taxpayer is wrong in principle and a cause of religious, ethnic, and socio-economic segregation, all of which are harmful to community cohesion. It is time it stopped.

Supporters of the campaign include the Accord Coalition, the British Humanist Association, Professor Ted Cantle and the iCoCo Foundation, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, British Muslims for Secular Democracy, the Campaign for State Education, the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education, the Christian think tank Ekklesia, the Hindu Academy, the Green Party, the Liberal Democrat Education Association, Liberal Youth, the Local Schools Network, Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign, the Runnymede Trust, the Socialist Educational Association, and the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.

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The Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) has rejected a complaint made by a local campaign group about Tudor Grange Academy in Solihull’s new admissions arrangements. The complaint was made by the Fair Admissions Campaign-affiliated Tudor Grange Admissions Policy campaign after the school, which is not a faith school, decided to give priority to children attending a Church of England primary school with religiously selective admissions policies situated some distance away. The local group and national Campaign have both expressed regret at the decision.

Tudor Primary Academy, St James is the Church primary which is to become a feeder school, and is also sponsored by the secondary. It currently has admissions policies which allow up to 100% of pupils to be selected on the basis of religion. However, since the complaint was made, the primary has determined to drop that criteria and have fully open admissions.

While the Schools Adjudicator found that the consultation on the new admissions criteria had a number of flaws, ultimately she also found that having the primary as a feeder school would not constitute unlawful indirect religious discrimination (which is illegal under the Equality Act 2010). This was because it was considered to be ‘a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim’, the aim being that ‘Tudor Grange Academy is the sponsor of the feeder school with the aim to ensure that the feeder school will improve so that the quality of education provided and the standards achieved by the pupils will improve.’

Speaking on behalf of the Tudor Grange campaign group, Jenny Woodruff commented, ‘We’re disappointed at the determination. We see this as a missed opportunity to clarify the professional standards needed for consultations to be fair and worthwhile. In terms of the Equality Act, we disagree with the Adjudicator’s assessment that Tudor Grange has a legitimate aim argument in using the admissions system to improve standards at St James. Our view remains that nominating St James as a feeder school would not improve standards at St James, but rather standards can be improved by sharing resources and skills which are in no way dependent on the admissions policy.’

The British Humanist Association (BHA), another supporter of the Fair Admissions Campaign, wrote to the school in February to express concern at the plans. BHA Head of Public Affairs Pavan Dhaliwal commented, ‘It’s disappointing that this ruling has been lost, and worrying to consider that schools without a religious character might also attempt to religiously discriminate in admissions. However the campaign around this proposal has scored a number of successes already: the school initially proposed to use two religiously selective feeder primaries, but has dropped one while the other has opened up its admissions. So the situation is much improved thanks to the hard work of local parents.

‘Local groups like this are a fantastic force for good in challenging religious selection in school admissions and ensuring a more inclusive system where no child is turned away because their parents are deemed to be of the wrong religion or of no religion. We are confident that this and other groups will keep the pressure up on schools in their neighbourhoods, as will the Fair Admissions Campaign.’

Notes

For further comment please contact BHA Education Campaigner Richy Thompson on 020 7324 3072 or email info@fairadmissions.org.uk.

Visit the Fair Admissions Campaign website at https://fairadmissions.org.uk/

The Fair Admissions Campaign wants all state-funded schools in England and Wales to be open equally to all children, without regard to religion or belief. The Campaign is supported by a wide coalition of individuals and national and local organisations. We hold diverse views on whether or not the state should fund faith schools. But we all believe that faith-based discrimination in access to schools that are funded by the taxpayer is wrong in principle and a cause of religious, ethnic, and socio-economic segregation, all of which are harmful to community cohesion. It is time it stopped.

Supporters of the campaign include the Accord Coalition, the British Humanist Association, Professor Ted Cantle and the iCoCo Foundation, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, British Muslims for Secular Democracy, the Campaign for State Education, the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education, the Christian think tank Ekklesia, the Hindu Academy, the Green Party, the Liberal Democrat Education Association, Liberal Youth, the Local Schools Network, Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign, the Runnymede Trust, the Socialist Educational Association, and the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.

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The Office of the Schools Adjudicator has today ordered the London Oratory School to comprehensively rewrite its admissions criteria after identifying ten separate breaches of the School Admissions Code. The determination follows on from a complaint made by the Fair Admissions Campaign founding and supporter group, the British Humanist Association (BHA), alleging that the school was prioritising parents who would practically support the Catholic Church (for example by doing flower arranging) in a manner not permitted by the school’s Diocese, and did not appear to allow for the admittance of pupils from families with no religion (if the school was not sufficiently oversubscribed).

As well as agreeing with all the main points of the BHA’s complaint, the adjudicator determined that the school’s admissions criteria were also unfair and not easily understood, and breach the Code in a number of other ways, including asking to see predicted GCSE results, asking to see birth certificates and giving priority to pupils attending Catholic primary schools without naming specific feeder schools.

Professor Ted Cantle CBE, who is Chair of the Fair Admissions Campaign supporting group the Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo) Foundation, said ‘I hope this is the first of many challenges which seek to remind church schools of their responsibilities to the wider community and especially the need to break down faith barriers and to promote social justice and integration.

‘Given the pre-eminence of the school we should have expected their compliance to be exemplary and that they would show leadership to the sector. Rather, they have obfuscated and tried to find ways around the code to protect a privileged minority. This is no way for a responsible school to behave and certainly not a church school which we would expect to uphold principles of fair play.’

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE, Chair of the Fair Admissions Campaign supporting group the Accord Coalition, said ‘It is profoundly sad that the school has been found guilty of undermining the religious values to which it is supposed to subscribe. It is time for all faiths schools to abolish selection procedures based on religious discrimination and to have a much fairer and more inclusive system.’

BHA Education Campaigner Richy Thompson commented, ‘This state-funded school is one of the most socio-economically selective in the country, taking in under 20% as many pupils requiring free school meals as live in the area in which it is based. The degree to which the school’s admissions criteria enabled social engineering to take place was grotesque and we are very pleased that these parts must now all be removed. We hope that the school will think carefully about how it can redraft its criteria in a way which does not select children from wealthy families but is inclusive of all, regardless of social standing.’

Full details of the ruling

Read the school’s admissions arrangements: https://humanism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/admissions_arrangements_2014.pdf
and supplementary information form: https://humanism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/religious_inquiry_-form_-2014_speciman.pdf

Read the School Admissions Code, which all schools must follow: http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/s/school%20admissions%20code%201%20february%202012.pdf

Read the ruling: https://humanism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/AD2410The-London-Oratory-Hammersmith-Fulham-28August13.docx
and the BHA’s submissions to the case:

• https://humanism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Comments-from-the-British-Humanist-Association-on-the-London-Oratory-School%E2%80%99s-response-to-the-BHA%E2%80%99s-objection-to-its-admissions-arrangements.pdf
• https://humanism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Further-comments-from-the-British-Humanist-Association-on-the-London-Oratory-School%E2%80%99s-admissions-arrangements.pdf

In total there were ten identified breaches of the school admissions code. The main areas of the ruling are:

1. The school’s ‘Service in any Catholic Parish or in the wider Catholic Church’ criterion (criterion (4)/footnote [4]) requires parents for at least three years to have carried out activities including ‘Assisting in the Liturgy: for example by reading, singing in the choir or playing an instrument, altar serving, flower arranging.’ This was determined to constitute practical support to the Church (disallowed by paragraph 1.9e of the Admissions Code – paragraph 31 of the ruling), as well as being unfair (disallowed by paragraphs 14 and 1.8 of the Code – paragraph 36 of the ruling), and therefore has to be removed in its entirety.
2. The school’s criteria (in particular footnote [1]) are not sufficiently clear that children whose families have no religion could be admitted if the school was not sufficiently oversubscribed (paragraph 2.8 of the Code, and 38 of the ruling). They seem to only allow for Catholics, then ‘members of the Church of England; members of other Christian denominations; members of non-Christian faiths’.

A more minor area was that the school had not properly updated its website with its latest admissions criteria (paragraph 39). In addition, the fourth and final area of the BHA’s complaint, namely that the school had had insufficient regard to the Diocese’s guidance, was not upheld (paragraph 39), but this is of no practical consequence as it would not have affected the areas of the oversubscription criteria that the school has to change for next year.

In addition, the schools adjudicator identified seven further breaches of the Code, some of which are quite major:

1. The school’s admissions criteria are not easily understood, and need a major redrafting on this front (paragraph 14 of the Code and 42 of the ruling).
2. The school gives priority to pupils attending Catholic primary schools, but does not name which Catholic primary schools specifically it means. Feeder schools have to be individually named (paragraph 1.9b of the Code and 43 of the ruling).
3. The school asks for expected GCSE results of applicants to the sixth form, which is not allowed (paragraph 1.9g of the Code and 45 of the ruling).
4. The school asks both parents to sign the supplementary information form, and to see birth certificates (disallowed by paragraphs 2.4 and 2.5 of the Code, paragraph 46 of the ruling).
5. In two separate places, the school refers to boys/sons when it should also refer to girls/daughters (as girls can be admitted to the school in the sixth form) (paragraphs 44-45 of the ruling).

The London Oratory School was also found to be in breach of the Code in a ruling in December last year: http://www.education.gov.uk/schoolsadjudicator/decisions/database/a00218628/ada2387and2389los

In its submissions to the OSA, the School argued that the BHA’s complaint was vexatious, saying that ‘it cannot have expected that, for example, a fundamentalist Christian in Texas could invoke the Code to object to an Islamic faith school in Birmingham or that a militant jihadist in Iran could object to a Jewish school in North London. Accordingly, some limitation must be inferred.’ However, the adjudicator ruled that it was clear that the BHA had standing to take the case.

Every single applicant who received a place at the school last year had sustained mass attendance by both parents and child every Sunday and on holy days; was baptised within six months of birth; had had their first Holy Communion; fulfilled the ‘Service in any Catholic Parish or in the wider Catholic Church’ criterion for at least three years; and had attended a Catholic primary. After that, random allocation is used (paragraph 22 of the ruling).

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The Green Party has today joined the Fair Admissions Campaign, which aims to open up all state-funded schools to all children, without regard to religion. The move has been welcomed by the Campaign as demonstrating the growing consensus for the need for reform around this area.

Announcing the party’s support for the Campaign, Stuart Jeffery, Policy Coordinator for the Green Party, commented, ‘In line with our commitment to an inclusive society and to local schools that serve communities, we are proud to be able to formally back the Fair Admissions Campaign.

‘State schools should not be able to block entry on any grounds, they are there to serve local communities, so we welcome the Fair Admissions Campaign as it drives to end state funded schools being able to select pupils on religious grounds.

‘Discrimination on religious grounds is simply wrong and divides communities. Allowing state funded schools to continue with this practice is morally wrong and is not supported by the public. Just last year a survey by the Accord Coalition and Com Res found that three quarters of the public opposed religious selection for schools.

‘It is time to end this divisive and outdated practice and to make local schools the heart of communities for all children.’

Caroline Lucas MP has also agreed to become an individual supporter of the Campaign. Other supporters include the Socialist Educational Association, which is affiliated to the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrat Education Association, Liberal Youth, and 13 other educational, religious, non-religious, equality, human rights and community cohesion groups.

The Accord Coalition co-founded the Fair Admissions Campaign. Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, Chair of Accord, commented on behalf of the Campaign, ‘We are witnessing a groundswell of opinion in favour of fairness in our education system; perhaps this is not surprising in that most people are committed to the values of inclusivity and equality, but what is extraordinary is that so many of those responsible for school admissions – be it politicians or governors – are still wedded to policies of discrimination and segregation. They need to start listening to the call for Fair Admissions.’

Notes

For further comment please contact Accord Coalition Coordinator Paul Pettinger on 020 7324 3071 or email info@fairadmissions.org.uk.

Visit the Fair Admissions Campaign website at https://fairadmissions.org.uk/

The Fair Admissions Campaign wants all state-funded schools in England and Wales to be open equally to all children, without regard to religion or belief. The Campaign is supported by a wide coalition of individuals and national and local organisations. We hold diverse views on whether or not the state should fund faith schools. But we all believe that faith-based discrimination in access to schools that are funded by the taxpayer is wrong in principle and a cause of religious, ethnic, and socio-economic segregation, all of which are harmful to community cohesion. It is time it stopped.

Supporters of the campaign include the Accord Coalition, the British Humanist Association, Professor Ted Cantle and the iCoCo Foundation, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, British Muslims for Secular Democracy, the Campaign for State Education, the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education, the Christian think tank Ekklesia, the Hindu Academy, the Green Party, the Liberal Democrat Education Association, Liberal Youth, the Local Schools Network, Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign, the Runnymede Trust, the Socialist Educational Association, and the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.

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The Fair Admissions Campaign has made available a list of case studies about families who have experienced religious discrimination by schools in admissions. Since the Campaign launched in June we have been contacted by many families who have told us about their negative experience due to religious selection and today we have added four of these testimonies to the list. The statements help to show how such discrimination is not hypothetical, but a real issue that negatively impacts many in the education system.

Two of the new testimonies highlight how faith selection can diminish families’ choice – one family has been unable to get their child admitted to their two nearest secondary schools, while another has been prevented from sending their child to five of their nearest eight primary schools. The other two statements highlight how religiously selective schools can divide families by favouring children of the ‘right’ faith or denomination in their admissions policy over those who already have a sibling attending. A parent from Walsall told us:

“My family are active Christians and we wanted our children to be educated at a faith school so that our children could follow Christian ethics and morals, which we hope would be to their benefit in the future.

Unfortunately however the faith school our eldest daughter was accepted at has an admissions policy that favours children of families that attend the local church over the children of families who already have siblings at the school. As a result our second daughter was not accepted … We were one of eight families whose children have been split across the borough to attend different schools.

We have found the whole process to be completely hypocritical. How can a policy that has the potential to split the family unit be promoted by a Christian faith based school? Surely they should be promoting and supporting the family unit not splitting it up!

As an already practising Christian family we feel the policy is open to abuse by those who turn up to church to ‘get a form signed’ for a short period to the detriment of families already at the school … In principle I believe in having faith schools, but the implementation, especially in our case, has been fundamentally flawed, is open to exploitation and by incentivising this behaviour goes against our Christian values.”

Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE, said ‘These latest testimonies, like those already published, make very troubling reading. Although some of the negative consequences of faith selection shown are unintended ones, they serve to highlight what an ill-fit religiously selective admission policies are within the state funded education system and emphasise the pressing need for change.’

The Campaign will soon be uploading a new and comprehensive resource looking at the academic research around religious selection in admissions by schools.

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A great impetus for any local campaign is a proposal for a new religiously selective school, or for existing schools to expand their intake.

To that end, the Fair Admissions Campaign has published lists of all proposed new schools and of schools proposing to expand (reproduced below). This includes ‘pre-approved’ Free Schools, local authorities currently seeking applications for Free Schools, Voluntary Aided schools due to open this September, and schools proposing to expand their intake through the Targeted Basic Need Programme. Together, these schools represent thousands of new religiously restricted places.

There are a range of ways you can get involved in the Campaign, such as starting a local group, or writing to your MP, AM, Councillors or newspapers.

To support individuals and groups the Campaign has produced images for websites, A5 leaflets and sign up sheets.

Is there a proposal in your area?

New religiously designated Free Schools

The following applications to open Free Schools with a religious character have been ‘pre-approved’ (i.e. backed) by the Department for Education to open. These schools can admit up to 50% of students on the grounds of religion, and all those listed as opening in 2013 intend to select (2014 schools may be yet to decide):

In addition, St Joseph’s Catholic College, a secondary school in Swindon, has acquired funding for 420 new school places by 2014 through the Targeted Basic Need Programme. In fact it is planned that this funding is used to provide a new primary school at another site in the town.

Finally, Wellington College (a Church of England private school) is to sponsor a new primary school opening in Tidworth, Wiltshire, due to open in September 2014, after the local authority invited proposals.

Religiously designated Voluntary Aided schools

We are aware of four schools that have been approved to open in September 2013 as Voluntary Aided schools. VA schools can religiously select up to 100% of pupils in admissions, if oversubscribed. The schools due to open are St Richard Reynolds Catholic Primary School and St Richard Reynolds Catholic High School in Richmond upon Thames, Pilgrims’ Cross CE Aided Primary School in Portsmouth, and Cornerstone Church of England Primary School in Hampshire.

Finally, there are proposals in Denbighshire to create a new Church in Wales/Roman Catholic VA secondary school, replacing separate Church in Wales and Catholic secondaries Blessed Edward Jones Catholic High School and St Brigid’s School.

Invitations for new school proposals

The following local authorities are currently seeking applications for Free Schools at the locations listed, any of which could result in the opening of a religiously selective school.

The following have recently closed to applications:

The following are currently open to applications. All have funding through the Targeted Basic Need Programme:

Local authorities have also been allocated funding to provide new schools in the following locations, through the Targeted Basic Need Programme:

Religiously selective schools proposing to expand their intake

The below sets out all the proposed school expansions we are aware of, namely where local authorities have been allocated funding to provide additional places in the following schools by 2015, through the Targeted Basic Need Programme.

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