The UK Government has revealed that it has
received 14 applications for a new capital funding scheme designed
to allow a wave of new, 100% religiously selective, voluntary aided
(VA) schools to open in England. Humanists UK has now identified a
number of those proposals, and can reveal they include Catholic,
Church of England, Muslim, and Jewish
bids.
In response to a parliamentary
question tabled by All Party Parliamentary
Humanist Group (APPHG) Vice Chair , Government education
spokesperson , admitted that, in
addition to the 14 applications, there had been just 22
expressions of interest in the scheme.
The VA funding scheme was launched following a decision
to keep the 50%
cap on religious admissions in free schools last year.
The Government has so far refused to reveal any additional
details about the applications and has rejected two Freedom of
Information (FoI) requests submitted by Humanists UK to find out
which religious groups have proposed these schools and where they
are located.
Since the only opposition to the cap came from the Catholic Education Service
(CES) and the Board of Deputies of
British Jews, it seemed likely that the vast majority of the
proposals will be for Catholic or Jewish schools. Indeed, the CES
has previously said it wants between 35 and 40 extra
schools but would only be prepared to provide them
without restrictions on religious selection.
However, Humanists UK has been able to establish that, in
addition to four Catholic schools proposed by the Diocese of East
Anglia (one in Cambridgeshire, two in
Peterborough and another in Norfolk), and a Jewish
school proposed for Wembley, other
religious providers do appear to have applied. These include the
backers of the Al-Noor VA Secondary
School - a Muslim school for boys in Romford - and
the Kingston Church of England
Secondary School in Kingston-upon-Thames. This is in
spite of the fact that the Church of England maintains it does
not endorse 100% faith-based selection and is committed only to
schools that are ‘wide open to the
communities they serve’. The identities of the other seven
bids is unknown.
Education Campaigns Manager Ruth Wareham
commented: ‘The threat to school choice and social
cohesion these proposals pose to the areas where they do open is
extremely worrying.
‘At Humanists UK we are contacted by an increasing number of
families who have been shut out of their local schools because
they do not share its faith, and all the evidence shows that
faith-based selection separates children not only by religion but
also by ethnicity and socio-economic background.
‘Even if the Government allows just a handful of these selective
schools to open, this sends a deeply problematic message that the
education of children with some backgrounds is more important
than that of others. It also risks encouraging more applications
for future rounds of funding.
‘We will continue to oppose the establishment of these schools
and urge the Government to abandon this discriminatory scheme and
only fund schools that are inclusive, open, and welcoming to
all.’
