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% |
|
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