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
Four new C of E faith schools moving forward with little scrutiny
Posted: Tue, 9 Feb 2021 18:10
Four new state-funded Church of England faith schools have moved closer to opening, despite a lack of public scrutiny around the plans.
The Department for Education has approved funding in principle for a new voluntary aided secondary school in Kingston-upon-Thames, which will be allowed to enforce a particularly exclusive religious ethos.
The other three schools, in Derbyshire, Kent and Hartlepool, have moved forward as part of the latest wave of free schools in the government's academies programme in England.
The school in Derbyshire has moved to the pre-opening stage, while the DfE has approved the other schools in principle.
Read the story in full on our No More Faith Schools website.
Council investigates faith school over large Covid-defying wedding
Posted: Fri, 5 Feb 2021 12:54
A local authority has launched a review of governance at a state-funded faith school where a large wedding took place, in violation of coronavirus restrictions, last month.
Hackney Council has launched a "full review" of governance procedures at Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School, an Orthodox Jewish school, according to a report in The Jewish Chronicle.
Police broke up a wedding of around 150 people at the school on 21 January and have since issued two £10,000 fines over the event.
In a statement shortly afterwards, the school said it had "no knowledge that the wedding was taking place".
But according to whistleblowers cited in Jewish News last week, the school was one of five venues which have been regularly used for weddings during the Covid pandemic in Stamford Hill in north London.
This claim was part of a wider report which suggested there have been significant lockdown breaches among Orthodox Jews in the area throughout the pandemic.
School's previous record
Several incidents at the school have raised serious concerns in recent years.
In 2019 the school was accused of pressurising parents into taking their children out of sex education lessons.
The school was also caught removing references to homosexuality from textbooks in 2018 and censoring questions about evolution and human biology on exam papers in 2013.
The school was placed in special measures in 2018, after it was found 'inadequate' by Ofsted.
NSS comment
The National Secular Society asked representatives from the Department for Education whether they were investigating the school's role in the event during a meeting last week.
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans welcomed Hackney Council's investigation.
"Yesodey Hatorah has a long-standing record of deep intransigence in the face of reasonable efforts to hold it to account.
"Faith groups can't be allowed to see themselves as above the law or beyond reproach."
Other relevant reports
- Jewish News has also reported this week that up to two-thirds of London's strictly Orthodox Jews had Covid-19 last year. This is one of the highest rates in the world and more than nine times higher than the national average.
- Meanwhile the paper has also said sections of the Orthodox Jewish community have launched a boycott campaign in response to its recent reporting.
- A report in iNews this week has also said illegal Charedi Jewish schools are continuing to operate in Stamford Hill during lockdown.
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)
