News releases from The Accord
Coalition
Peterborough Council has given a green light for a new Catholic
primary school in the City which, if opened, would become the
first fully religiously selective faith school to be established
with Government funded support in almost a decade. The
decision was officially taken yesterday (Thursday 16th) by
the Council’s lead member for education, but it may be subject to
further scrutiny from Councillors.
Peterborough Council has been involved in this case due to a
change in policy by the Government. Back in 2018 the Department
for Education decided not scrap its
50% religious selection cap at faith free schools, but to instead
meet 90% of the costs of a new wave of voluntary aided faith
schools. In June 2019 the Department further revealed that the
proposed Peterborough primary school was the first plan for a new
voluntary aided faith school that it had approved funding for ‘in
principle’.
Voluntary aided schools are local authority maintained schools
and, under existing rules, new ones require the approval of their
local authority. Those that are faith based are not limited in
the extent to which they can religiously prioritise pupils,
although in the case of the proposed primary school in
Peterborough the local Catholic Diocese has made a tokenistic
gesture towards inclusivity and stated that if the school opens
it will not be more than 80% religiously selective in its
first year.
The 2011 Education Act introduced a legal
presumption that new state funded schools in England
should be free schools (a type of academy). Historically, and in
contrast to almost all academy schools, the costs of founding
voluntary aided schools was not met by the taxpayer. By
facilitating the opening of voluntary aided faith schools, the
Government is exploiting a loophole to both its 50% religious
selection cap and procedures for opening new schools.
Chair of the Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education, the
Reverend Stephen Terry, said ‘The 50% religious selection cap at
faith free schools has been popular and worked well, signalling
that the schools should bring people of different religious and
ethnic backgrounds together. By facilitating the opening of faith
schools that can be fully religiously selective, the Government
is sullying its own record and undermining pledges to improve
integration.‘
‘The Government should not be bending over backwards to please
various narrow and divisive religious lobbies, but expanding the
50% cap to all other state funded faith schools, as a route to
making the school system more religiously inclusive. Opening
instead fully selective faith schools is an historic error and
completely at odds with the needs of our increasingly diverse
society.’
Notes
In May 2017 a Populus opinion poll commissioned by
Accord found that four out of
every five voters preferred that new faith schools should
continue to operate under the 50% religious selection cap than
not.
The 50% cap is shown to make free
schools more ethnically mixed, especially Christian free schools.
Accord has set out some of the wealth of research highlighting
the positive impact from religious mixing in schools here.
About Accord
The Accord Coalition was launched in 2008 and brings
together religious and non-religious organisations who want state
funded schools to be made open and suitable to all, regardless of
people or their family's religious or non-religious beliefs. It
campaigns to end religious discrimination in school staffing and
admissions, and for all state funded schools to provide PSHE,
along with assemblies and Religious Education, that boost mutual
understanding between those of different beliefs and
backgrounds. http://accordcoalition.org.uk/
