England schools have scrapped a '50 per cent rule' on admissions. Faith schools in England will no longer have to offer up to half of their places to children who don’t belong to their religion, under changes to state school admissions rules.
Currently, new faith schools can only fill a maximum of 50 per cent of their places using faith-based admissions criteria. Andrew Copson, the chief executive of Humanists UK, said: “The proposal to allow 100 per cent religious discrimination in new state faith schools will increase religious and racial segregation in our schools at a time when integration and cohesion has never been more important.
“It will further disadvantage poorer families, non-religious families, and families of the ‘wrong’ religion. Rather than expanding religious selection, a government that cared about cohesion would be seeking to create a single admissions system where all state schools are open to children from any background or belief.”
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Ruth Kelly, the former Labour education secretary under Tony Blair, a vice-president of the Catholic Union, said: “I’m delighted that the education secretary has taken this decision. The Catholic church is one of the oldest providers of education in this country, and Catholic schools consistently produce higher than average results. The fact that Catholic free schools were prevented from opening never made sense.
“This decision is well earned recognition of the success of our schools and a vote of confidence in Catholic education in general.” Stephen Evans, the chief executive of the National Secular Society, said: “The creation of ‘special faith-based academies’ raises ethical issues concerning the imposition of religion on children with special educational needs and disabilities [Send].
"We will be keen to ensure that Send provision is not used to expose vulnerable children to religious proselytising." Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the decision could lead to selection “by the backdoor” and make it harder for pupils to get places at their local school.
“Such a change in policy feels inappropriate so close to an election and is something that should be incorporated into a manifesto,” Whiteman said.
