From Amanda Graham, Market Development Unit [sic] DCSF
Thank you for your further email dated 17 October about faith schools/
At the launch of Faith In The System, as well as celebrating and welcoming the work of faith schools, the Secretary of State set out both a challenge and an invitation to faith leaders on how we can work more effectively together to promote cohesion, fiar access and equality of opportunity for all children. Ministers acknowledge that some people may have concerns about the contribution of faith schools to community cohesion and about whether faith schools’ admission policies may sometimes contribute to selection or covert selection, but the Government knows that the faith organisations are fully committed to the school system and take the various requirements of maintained status very seriously.
Ministers believe that all schools – whether they have a religious character or not – play a key role in providing a safe and harmonious environment for all in our society, thereby fostering understanding, integration and cohesion. The Secretary of State was pleased to see that in its report “Our Shared Future”, the Commission on Integration and Cohesion recognised that there are faith schools which have pupils from many different backgrounds and faiths and that there are largely single background schools which are not faith schools. That is why section 38 of the Educations and Inspections Act 2006 places the governing bodies of all maintained schools under a duty to promote community cohesion, with this element of what they do to be inspected by Ofsted. Ministers have been impressed by the commitment to community cohesion which the faith organisations have shown both through Faith In The System and by the work going on in their schools and their willingness to collaborate with other schools.
Ministers know that faith groups and the state share the historic mission of making sure that the most disadvantaged children get to access the best education possible. For faith schools that can mean giving priority to those of the faith. But it can never mean favouring the rich of the faith over the poor of the faith. Admissions policy is one particular area where the Secretary of State is keen to continue the excellent partnership working with the faith organisations to make sure that together we tackle any examples of covert selection. Ministers are confident that the working relationships and trust that have contributed to Faith In The System, along with the new statutory School Admissions Code which rules out practices such as taking account of marital status or asking for personal information about parents or children (eg marriage or birth certificates), the new powers on faith bodies in respect of admissions arrangements at schools of their faith and the new duty on all maintained schools to promote community cohesion form a strong basis for tackling problems of cohesion and integration –which are issues for all schools, not just for faith schools.
Admission arrangements are scrutinised locally. All admissions authorities have to consult their local authority (LA), the local admission forum, neighbouring Las and local schools before setting their admission arrangements. All these bodies, and parents have a right of objection to the Schools Adjudicator. We are therefore satisfied that, if admission arrangements are considered locally to be unfair or unlawful that adequate procedures are in place to rectify any problems.
If you look at the Adjudicator’s website [reference omitted] you will see that there have been a number of adjudications against schools (including faith schools) operating unfair admissions arrangements.
From Richard Heller
Dear Ms Graham
Thank you for your email. May I ask you a point-blank question arising from the sentence I have marked in red?
Is it presently lawful for faith schools (if over-subscribed) to discriminate in favour of children from families who observe their faith? If so, are ministers satisfied with this state of affairs? If they do so discriminate, how can their intake be representative of the communities around them?
Now let's try her reply again, using the word "unreason" as a synonym for "faith"
From Amanda Graham, Market Development Unit [sic] DCSF
Thank you for your further email dated 17 October about unreason schools.
At the launch of Unreason In The System, as well as celebrating and welcoming the work of unreason schools, the Secretary of State set out both a challenge and an invitation to unreason leaders on how we can work more effectively together to promote cohesion, fair access and equality of opportunity for all children. Ministers acknowledge that some people may have concerns about the contribution of unreason schools to community cohesion and about whether unreason schools’ admission policies may sometimes contribute to selection or covert selection, but the Government knows that the unreason organisations are fully committed to the school system and take the various requirements of maintained status very seriously.
Ministers believe that all schools – whether they have a religious character or not – play a key role in providing a safe and harmonious environment for all in our society, thereby fostering understanding, integration and cohesion. The Secretary of State was pleased to see that in its report “Our Shared Future”, the Commission on Integration and Cohesion recognised that there are unreason schools which have pupils from many different backgrounds and unreasoning beliefs and that there are largely single background schools which are not unreason schools. That is why section 38 of the Educations and Inspections Act 2006 places the governing bodies of all maintained schools under a duty to promote community cohesion, with this element of what they do to be inspected by Ofsted. Ministers have been impressed by the commitment to community cohesion which the unreason organisations have shown both through Unreason In The System and by the work going on in their schools and their willingness to collaborate with other schools.
Ministers know that unreason groups and the state share the historic mission of making sure that the most disadvantaged children get to access the best education possible. For unreason schools that can mean giving priority to those of the unreason. But it can never mean favouring the rich of the unreason over the poor of the unreason. Admissions policy is one particular area where the Secretary of State is keen to continue the excellent partnership working with the unreason organisations to make sure that together we tackle any examples of covert selection. Ministers are confident that the working relationships and trust that have contributed to Unreason In The System, along with the new statutory School Admissions Code which rules out practices such as taking account of marital status or asking for personal information about parents or children (eg marriage or birth certificates), the new powers on unreason bodies in respect of admissions arrangements at schools of their unreason and the new duty on all maintained schools to promote community cohesion form a strong basis for tackling problems of cohesion and integration –which are issues for all schools, not just for unreason schools.
Admission arrangements are scrutinised locally. All admissions authorities have to consult their local authority (LA), the local admission forum, neighbouring Las and local schools before setting their admission arrangements. All these bodies, and parents have a right of objection to the Schools Adjudicator. We are therefore satisfied that, if admission arrangements are considered locally to be unfair or unlawful that adequate procedures are in place to rectify any problems.
If you look at the Adjudicator’s website [reference omitted] you will see that there have been a number of adjudications against schools (including unreason schools) operating unfair admissions arrangements.