Faith schools undermine equality, choice and social cohesion.
Let's build an inclusive education system today, to ensure an inclusive society tomorrow.
Our education system should be open and welcoming to all. That's why we want publicly funded faith schools phased out and an end to religiously selective school admissions.
Around a third of publicly funded schools in England and Wales are faith schools – schools with a religious character. Scottish and Northern Irish schools are still divided along sectarian lines.
Separating children according to religion is divisive and leads to religious, ethnic and socio-economic segregation.
To make matters worse, many faith schools can discriminate against pupils and teachers who do not share the religion of the school.
Parents are entitled to raise their children within a faith tradition, but they are not entitled to enlist the help of the state to do so. The state should not allow the schools it funds to inculcate children into a particular religion.
Faith schools seriously limit choice for parents who do not want a religious education for their children, or do not share the faith of the local school. Our research has found that 18,000 families were assigned faith schools against their wishes in England in 2017 alone.
Despite a consistent and dramatic decline in church attendance, and a growing majority of non-religious citizens, successive governments have paved the way for ever greater religious involvement in education, often to the detriment of inclusive community schools.
A secular approach to education would ensure publicly funded schools are equally welcoming to all children, regardless of their backgrounds.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Please call on your MP to support a secular, inclusive education system for all.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join us
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Government commits funding to new 100% selective faith schools
Posted: Thu, 15 Nov 2018 16:08
The government has announced funding for a wave of new voluntary aided faith schools, which can select all of their children on the basis of their families' faith, in England.
The Department for Education published details of a funding scheme for the schools on Thursday. The National Secular Society has pledged to oppose the opening of new voluntary aided (VA) schools.
The list of approved proposals is likely to be announced in the spring.
VA schools are a type of publicly funded school where a (usually) religious body contributes 10% of the capital costs with 100% of the running costs met by local authorities. Such schools are permitted to teach confessional religious education and may religiously select up to 100% of pupils, 100% of staff and a majority of governors.
Since 2010 the government's academisation policies have made it extremely difficult for new VA schools to open. Local authorities cannot propose them.
New faith based academies are required to allocate at least half of places without reference to faith. In May, under pressure from the National Secular Society and facing public opposition, the government abandoned plans to scrap the 50% cap on faith based selection. Catholic and Jewish education groups had refused to open new faith schools unless they were permitted to select 100% pupils on religious grounds.
As a consolation the government announced the plans to allow new VA schools to be proposed.
It is not clear how many VA schools will be proposed in the first wave of schools to open under the scheme. Expressions of interest will be published in December and January, with formal bids by 1 February. Money for the scheme will come from the £270m free schools budget.
The education secretary will have the absolute right to decide on successful VA bids for capital funding. However proposals must have the backing of local authorities, who will fund the schools, or the Office of the Schools Adjudicator.
Proposed VA faith schools will need to show they meet "demand for greater choice and diversity" and that they can "attract applications from all parts of the wider community".
The National Secular Society's head of education Alastair Lichten said: "Faith schools by their very nature do not 'address the needs of pupils from all faiths and none'. What's needed – what parents want – are good local schools, free from religious discrimination or privilege, serving their communities rather than religious interests.
"It's absurdly comedic for the government to ask schools how they 'will attract applications from children from all parts of the local community' when the expressed, explicit purpose of these schools is to allow 100% faith based selection.
"Proposed segregated schools are being asked how they will 'create meaningful relationships 'between pupils at your proposed school and young people of different faiths (or no faith) in other schools'. Avoiding the segregation in the first place might be a better idea.
"Local authorities are likely to have very little enthusiasm for new VA schools and our No More Faith Schools campaign will be working to ensure any such regressive proposals face democratic opposition."
Update 20 November:
The NSS have written to the DfE seeking clarification over the basis on which the Office of Schools Adjudicator might approve new voluntary aided faith schools - possible overruling local authority opposition.
Mr Lichten said: "A cynic might view this as simply a mechanism to avoid democracy where local education authorities have no interest in or are opposed to funding new discriminatory faith schools."
No More Faith Schools is a national campaign, coordinated by the National Secular Society and dedicated to bringing about an end to state funded faith schools.
See also: A guide to challenging new faith schools is on its website.
C of E services for schools expand by 56% in four years
Posted: Wed, 14 Nov 2018 11:15
The National Secular Society has said a rapid rise in the number of children being taken to Church of England school services should prompt "a separation of church and school".
The C of E's Statistics for Mission figures, published on Wednesday, showed that the average weekly attendance at C of E school services grew by 56% between 2013 and 2017.
In October 2017 197,000 people attended the services, compared to 126,000 in October 2013. Over 2,600 churches reported attendance at services for schools in church in October 2017.
The figures also reveal that the church has a substantial role in leading worship in schools. Almost half (46%) of churches surveyed reported that a member of their ministry team led an act of worship in schools once a month or more during 2017.
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "It's clear that churches and faith schools are working in cahoots to coerce pupils into participation in worship. These publicly funded schools are not homogenous worshipping communities. Forcing Anglican services into the school day is completely inappropriate.
"These figures not only demonstrate the need to separate church and state, they also highlight the need to separate church and school."
The statistics also show that C of E attendance has fallen significantly since 2007. Adult average Sunday attendance has fallen by 15%, child average Sunday attendance by 24% and adult average weekly attendance by 12%. All-age average Sunday attendance has fallen by three per cent since 2016.
Little more than one per cent of the British population attended Church of England services on an average Sunday in 2017. The usual Sunday attendance at C of E churches was 722,000. Each week 895,000 people attended Church of England services and acts of worship in October 2017. These figures do not include attendance at services for schools.
Attendance at C of E baptisms, thanksgivings, marriages, funerals and Easter services has also fallen.
Mr Evans said the figures were "another reminder of the need to re-evaluate the Church of England's public role". He added that the expansion of C of E school services was "particularly unjustifiable in this context".
The NSS campaigns for the disestablishment of the Church of England, the removal of bishops' automatic right to sit in the House of Lords, an end to state-funded faith schools and an end to compulsory worship in schools.
In 2016 179,300 children attended weekly school services in the C of E, as the NSS reported when the relevant figures were released last year.
More information
Protect relationships and sex education
Age-appropriate relationships and sex education should be every child’s right.
Remove religious appointees from Scottish councils
Religion shouldn’t grant people privileged places in local democracy.
Research and reports
The faith schools research bank
The choice delusion: how faith schools restrict school choice
Three in ten families across England live in areas where most or all of the closest primary schools are faith schools and thousands are being assigned faith schools against their wishes.
Power grab: Academisation and the threat to secular education
Academisation has enabled faith groups to increase their influence over all schools, including those with no religious character. With little public debate, religious governance has increased, while secular oversight has diminished.
Religiosity inspections: the case against faith-based reviews of state schools
Faith based inspections of state schools are an unnecessary drain on public finds, frame widely held values as exclusive, and promote biased religious education.
Faith-shaped holes: How religious privilege is undermining equality law (PDF, 1.3 Mb)
