The Fair Admissions Campaign (FAC) has today welcomed the stand taken by Cambridgeshire County Council against proposals for a raft of new religiously-selective schools in the area.

Meeting to discuss an approach by the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia requesting support for the establishment of new Catholic primary schools in Cambridgeshire, the council’s Children and Young People Committee expressed almost unanimous opposition to allowing new schools to prioritise children on the basis of faith.

At the meeting, the council’s Executive Director for Children, Families and Adults Services, Adrian Loades, presented a draft policy to the committee, stating that the council ‘would not support the establishment of a denominational school as the first school in a new community unless its admissions policy was to give priority to children living in the catchment and not to reserve a certain number of places for those of a particular faith’.

Happily, this position was endorsed by members of the committee. Liberal Democrat councillor Peter Downes warned the council against ‘assisting segregation’ through its schools policy and Labour councillor Joan Whitehead, who chairs the committee, added ‘I think schools need to be inclusive. Children need to learn to get on with all faiths and I think a lot of the troubles we see today around the world are when people of different faiths are not able to get along together’.

Welcoming the committee’s stance, Chair of the Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain said ‘This news is simply the latest illustration of just how little support there now is for religious discrimination in school admissions. The council’s decision is of course the right one – if a church or faith group really want to serve their community, then they should do just that, rather than uncharitably limit their school places to a small and exclusive group.’

Richy Thompson, Campaigns Manager at the British Humanist Association, added ‘Cambridgeshire County Council’s stand against discrimination and segregation sends an extremely powerful message and we hope it will act as an example not only for other local authorities but also for Government.’

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For further information, please contact Jay Harman on 020 7324 3078 or email info@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 called for the cap on new Academy faith schools not selecting more than half their pupils by faith to be maintained following public urging by Catholic Bishops to have the limit scrapped. Speaking to The Tablet last week, Head of Parliamentary Relations for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and Deputy Director of the Catholic Education Service, Greg Pope, said:

‘The 50 per cent admissions cap on faith academies was in the coalition agreement and but isn’t really a Conservative policy … We hope that with a Conservative Government it will be revisited, and it is something that my colleagues in the CES have raised with ministers.’

The 50% faith selection limit was introduced for new Academy schools that did not replace a pre-existing state funded school under Labour. The policy was continued after the May 2010 Election.

Chair of the Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, said ‘Removing the cap  would not only cause further segregation in an education system that is supposed to broaden the horizons of children and prepare them for the wider world, but it would also send out a very unfortunate message about religious groups consciously discriminating against pupils of a different faith or none. Jesus said “Suffer the little children”, not “Bar them from the school gate”.’

Professor Ted Cantle of the iCoCo Foundation commented, ‘It is very disappointing to see Bishops playing party politics, rather than trying to ensure that schools are creating mixed intakes and giving children the chance to interact with others who are different from themselves – this is the way to tackle prejudice and to build the cohesion our society needs’

Jeremy Rodell, Chair of the Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign, said ‘It would be a huge step backwards for the 50% rule to be weakened. Faith can flourish in diversity, and children will benefit from being in schools with a varied intake, not in closed, defensive and sheltered faith communities.’

Richy Thompson, Campaigns Manager at the British Humanist Association, added ‘Polls have consistently shown that religious selection in schools is hugely unpopular among the wider public, and over the last few years we’ve seen an increasing number of voices from within faith communities themselves calling for an end to the practice. If anything the Government should seek to restrict religious selection further, not remove the limit altogether.’

The Bishop’s position does not appear related to demonstrable needs or educational outcomes. Many Catholic schools maintain their ethos without the need to discriminate in admissions. Most fee paying Catholic schools in England and Wales do not admit pupils according to religious tests, while most Catholic schools in other developed countries do not operate a religiously selective admissions policy, including countries with strong Catholic traditions like Italy, Spain and Poland.

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A new poll commissioned for ITV’s ‘Tonight’ programme has revealed the shocking extent to which parents are lying about their religion in order to get their children into the local ‘faith’ school. The findings, drawn from interviews with 1,000 primary school parents, indicate that manipulation of faith-based admissions policies is far more widespread than was previously thought. The Fair Admissions Campaign is again calling on schools to scrap their discriminatory admissions arrangements so parents no longer have to lie about their beliefs.

The key findings were as follows:

• 36.3% said they had or would be willing to feign religion if it meant getting their child into a good school

• 12.6% admitted to having practised a faith in which they did not believe

• 13.7% said they had their child baptised purely to secure a school place

• 11.1% said they had lied about their child being baptised

The figures, produced by OnePoll, were first presented on last night’s ITV ‘Tonight’ programme, called ‘How to Get into a Good School’.

The last survey to present findings of this kind, conducted by YouGov in November 2012, showed that 6% of parents had attended church to gain their child a place at a ‘faith’ school, but this latest poll suggests the practice is far more common that was previously thought.

Putting these figures into context, it is estimated that only around 4-5% of the parent age population in England currently attend church every week.

Commenting on the figures, Chair of the Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, said, ‘This poll is a game-changer, replacing the many anecdotal stories with hard evidence of widespread cheating. Rather than blame parents, we should blame the system that allows tax-payer funded schools to have admission procedures that discriminate on religious grounds. The survey will appal all those who value faith and find that it is being used to cheat one’s way into a school place.’

Director of Public Affairs and Campaigns Pavan Dhaliwal said ‘”Faith” schools have long tried to justify their discriminatory admissions policies by claiming they are essential to upholding the ethos of the school. These findings make a mockery of that. I would urge all schools to fully open themselves up so that parents are no longer forced to lie in order to get their child a place’.

Notes

For further information, please contact Jay Harman on 020 7324 3078 or email info@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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A Church of England school in Kingston upon Thames has decided that it will no longer select pupils on the grounds of faith. As of next year, St Luke’s Primary School will prioritise children based on their proximity to the school and not on the church attendance of their parents as was previously the case. The Fair Admissions Campaign has welcomed the move and hopes it will set a precedent for other ‘faith’ schools to follow.

 The change in policy was initiated by local vicar Father Martin Hislop, who described himself as being ‘very uncomfortable with aspects of the admissions criteria for the school’. He claimed that cynicism surrounding the requirement to attend church was having a negative impact on the atmosphere at the school, and bemoaned the fact that ‘some parishioners feel that there are those who attend church only to gain admission for their children’.

Attending church specifically to gain a place at a popular Church school has been the subject of much discussion in the media in recent weeks and this move comes in the midst of growing calls for an end to faith-based selection in schools. Indeed, only earlier this month 20 members of the Church of England issued an open letter urging the Church to encourage all its schools to move towards inclusive admissions arrangements. It also seems that St Luke’s is not the only school looking into such a change, as there are reports that similar proposals have been made by Gonerby Hill Foot Church of England Primary School in Lincolnshire.

St Luke’s’ decision, made in consultation with both the Diocese of Southwark and the local community, has long been called for by the Kingston Fair Admissions group who campaign in favour of more inclusive schools in the area. Guy Shirley, one of the group’s co-ordinators, described the change as ‘good for the community as a whole’ and called on the other local religiously-selective schools to ‘follow the path that St Luke’s has paved’.

Commenting on the move, Chair of the Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education, Rabbi Jonathan Romain, said, ‘The inclusive policy being adopted by St Luke’s is a welcome development that addresses the growing concern about religious discrimination in the educational system. Hopefully it will show that it is possible to have a religious ethos without religious segregation’.

BHA Campaigns Manager Richy Thompson added, ‘This is a really positive step towards ending the unfair practice of selecting children on the basis of their parent’s religion and we hope schools around the country will take note. Discrimination of this kind divides communities and has absolutely no place in our society’.

Notes

For further information, please contact Jay Harman on 020 7324 3078 or email info@fairadmissions.org.uk.

Read the proposed changes to St Luke’s Primary School’s admissions policy here: http://www.stlukes.kingston.sch.uk/news/?pid=3&nid=2&storyid=34

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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20 members of the Church of England have issued an open letter urging that the Church changes its pupil admissions guidance so that all its schools move towards operating open and non-religiously selective admission arrangements. Published in tomorrow’s Guardian, the letter highlights how religiously selective policies place the Church in a conflicted position, by inflating Church attendance figures and skewing Church School intakes towards the children of more affluent, so boosting the schools’ results. The signatories argue that is at fundamental odds with the Church’s mission to wider society, so should be reformed.

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