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
Latest religious takeover will see two community schools run by the Church
Posted: Tue, 17 Jan 2017 14:00
Two community schools in Kent are to be folded into an academy trust under Church control, in the latest Church takeover of community schools, a trend warned of by the National Secular Society last year.
Under the plans an existing partnership between four schools, including two community schools and two Church schools, will become the Unitas multi-academy trust (MAT).
Despite the two Church schools in the partnership having only 105 and 125 pupils each, compared with the community schools which have 270 and 400 pupils each, the trust which governs Unitas will have three of its five members appointed by the Church of England.
Unitas promises a "shared moral purpose" for its schools and describes the Diocese of Canterbury as a "core partner".
It pledges that no school's "individual identity and ethos will be changed in any way", but this assurance does nothing to stop the school from converting to become a faith school at a later date once it is part of the Unitas MAT. This has happened with other schools entering mixed multi-academy trusts.
One parent concerned about the plans wrote to the NSS after seeing the Society's work on this issue.
He said he had "grave concerns regarding the proposed Unitas Multi-Academy Trust."
He described it as a "clear attempt by the Church of England to recruit new church-goers and enforce their religious views via the school curriculum. It is against the wishes of the parents of Swale, like myself, who wish to send their children to a secular, non-religious school."
Another former parent at the school told the NSS "I don't like this at all - it's a step in the wrong direction. Appointing a majority church controlled board means more christian influence - and I sent my son to a non-faith school for a reason."
In July 2016 the NSS warned that informal partnership arrangements were being used by some dioceses to gain influence in non-religious schools.
NSS campaigns officer Alastair Lichten said, "We have little confidence that a community school's ethos will be protected in these circumstances.
"The loss of secular school provision is particularly acute in rural areas, where a faith school may already be the only option for parents.
"The growing religiosity of our education system sets up a conflict between our increasingly non-religious population, with parents and pupils among the most secular cohorts of our society, and a Church which is intent on using schools to stop its seemingly terminal decline.
"In recent months headteachers, church-appointed faith school governors and parents have all spoken out against growing religious influence over our education system. The process of converting a school into an academy provides many opportunities for religious groups to exert more influence and control over the education system."
An online consultation on the proposals runs till Tuesday 10 February 2017.
Local community rallies against religious ethos for new school
Posted: Tue, 17 Jan 2017 12:43
Hundreds of people have protested against a new school in Bala having a Church in Wales ethos, and a local councillor has called on the Church to back away from the project.
The Diocese of St Asaph said they were "concerned" that changing the designation of the new Bala school could "jeopardise the whole project."
Councillor Dilwyn Morgan accused the Church of sending a "threatening legal letter to the council".
He said that a religious designation for the school "won't improve the education itself, it'll only to improve the Church's standing".
Councillor Morgan added, "I can't see any reason why the Church will need to be involved." He said the Church should "step back gracefully".
The £10 million project replaces a high school, which is not a faith school, and two primary schools, of which only one is a Church in Wales school.
The local newspaper reports that the faith ethos is "strongly opposed by locals" who want a community school, not a religious one.
In December the Daily Post reported that "Hundreds of local people had been strongly opposed to the new school being given any kind of religious status".
Over 300 people have signed a petition calling for the school to be a community school rather than a Church one, and urging the council to "end its partnership with the Church and to re-launch the project, granting 'community', non-denominational status to the new school."
Petitioners have raised fears of being forced to send their children to a religious school without any other alternative.
The Church says it wants to "share governance of the new school with other denominations," ignoring non-religious and non-Christian families.
It says it recognises "all the various Christian traditions associated with Bala."
The National Secular Society has written to Gwynedd Council, urging it to protect community school provision and respect the wishes of non-religious parents.
Stephen Evans, the campaigns director of the National Secular Society, said: "Like many people across Britain the local community in Bala is opposed to the idea of the Church using local schools to impose religion on pupils and families.
"Education policy in 21st Century Britain should be about educating children together in secular and inclusive schools – not about imposing Christianity on people –whether they want it or not.
"There has been a real push in recent years for more religious control over the education system, and it's good to see people standing up for secular and inclusive schools."
The National Secular Society has recently called for a statutory right to a secular education, meaning that all parents would have guaranteed access to a local non-religiously designated school.
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)
