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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The last edition of The Sunday Telegraph ran a piece (below) highlighting new Church of England Schools in London that are opting not to select pupils on religious grounds when oversubscribed. They join the large number of Voluntary Controlled faith schools (which have their admissions policy set by their local authority for education) that already do not select children according to faith, thereby further showing  schools do not need to discriminate to be faith schools. We applaud these institutions for deciding to be community minded.

No places for churchgoers in newly-opened faith schools

A new generation of Anglican schools is being opened with no reserved places for churchgoers to prevent desks being filled by children from pushy middle-class families.
By Graeme Paton, Education Editor 28 Jul 2013

The Church of England is backing the creation of “inclusive” schools that control their own admissions but give equal priority to non-believers, Anglicans and children from other faiths.

Two new schools will be opened in September with a 100 per cent “open entry” policy to create a more socially-balanced intake. At least nine others run along similar lines are in the pipeline.

Church leaders also hope that existing schools will amend their admissions rules to limit the number of reserved places for Christians.

The reforms – centred on new schools in London – were seized upon by groups who oppose selection by faith, saying it proved that “religious discrimination” was increasingly seen as an outmoded policy.

But it is likely to anger religious groups who have opposed previous attempts to limit the number of believers admitted to faith schools.

Two years ago, the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Reverend John Pritchard, was heavily criticised after calling on head teachers to reserve no more than one-in-10 places at CofE schools to practising Anglicans.

However, the latest move goes even further by declaring that no Anglicans should be given priority in the admissions process.

It comes amid concerns over “pew-jumping” middle-class parents who get their children christened or volunteer at church just to secure places at sought-after faith schools.

Liz Wolverson, director of school support services for the London Diocesan Board for Schools, which is behind the policy, said: “We’re not big fans of people filling churches on Sunday just so they can get their children into school. We want people to come to church, but for the right reasons.

“We feel that it is really important to go back to our roots. We think we should be there to serve the community, so we’re really encouraging schools to move towards [open admissions].

“Some have embraced it fully and don’t have any admissions criteria other than making the nearest children the priority.”

Miss Wolverson, who is also chief executive of the LDBS Academies Trust, a newly-established company set up to maintain and develop new Anglican schools, denied that open entry would dilute schools’ religious ethos.

“Their Christian values are written through them like a stick of rock,” she said.

“But when you have pockets of London where 99 per cent are, say, Bangladeshi, then it’s right that our schools reflect that community.”

The Government is encouraging the opening of new schools through its “free schools” policy – creating state-funded institutions that are run by parents, teachers, charities and faith groups independent of local authority control.

It has welcomed bids from religious organisations but ruled that they can only set aside 50 per cent of places for believers.

The London Diocesan Board for Schools is backing the creation of new Anglican free schools in the capital but making it clear that it favours no reserved places for Christian families.

One free school – St Luke’s primary in Camden – was opened in 2011, admitting pupils who lived closest to the school, irrespective of faith.

In September, William Perkin CofE high, Ealing, will also open with priority given to pupils who live nearest the gates. A second school, St Mary’s Hampton CofE primary, Hampton, will use a lottery-style system to effectively pick applicants at random whatever their faith.

Almost all other faith-based free schools select along religious lines.

In a further disclosure, it emerged that the London Diocesan Board for Schools has written to other existing Anglican schools in the capital urging them to limit CofE admissions to no more than 50 per cent.

Existing faith schools are either voluntary-aided – with freedom to run their own entry policies – or voluntary-controlled – meaning they follow local council admissions rules and do no select along faith lines.

A CofE spokesman said: “Admissions policies vary in different types of church schools.”

A spokesman for the Accord Coalition, a campaign group set up to oppose selection by faith, said: “Selecting pupils on religious grounds is discriminatory and increases ethnic and religious segregation. We commend those faith schools that are choosing to turn away from selecting any children by faith.

“Schools should assume responsibility for the wider well-being of their neighbourhood, not look to serve their own.”

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