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
CofE faith school to insist parents attend church for two years
Posted: Tue, 8 Nov 2016 13:17
A Church of England faith school in Heysham is considering changing its admissions policy to require parents to attend church for a much longer period to help secure a school place for their child.
St Peter's CofE Primary School currently requires proof of church attendance for six months, but proposals for new admissions arrangements will require "a minimum of monthly attendance at church at public worship for at least 24 months".
The proposed change at St Peter's school has come about after allegations that parents were having to fake faith to secure a school place.
Rather than abolishing selection on religious grounds as some Anglican schools have done, the school is instead tightening its religious requirements in response and insisting on two years of church attendance to meet the criteria for preferential treatment on the grounds of faith.
The required period of church attendance will increase under the new policy incrementally to eight months, then to one year and finally to the full two year period.
The school's headteacher, Nicola Gomersall, said that the "changes would mean that anyone joining the school in September 2020 would need to have demonstrated their faith at least once a month for the previous 24 months."
When deciding on how to allocate places, "parental worshipping" is considered more important in St Peter's admissions policy than children who have a sibling who attends the school.
NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans said: "It's utterly farcical that parents in modern Britain have to feign faith or prove their piety in order to get their children into local schools.
"Alarmingly, instead of tackling this inequality of access to publicly funded education, the Government is proposing to create yet more religiously selective faith schools, which will only increase levels of religious discrimination in state education.
"The time has come to end the discrimination and resulting segregation by moving towards an inclusive, secular and fairer education system that leaves the religious upbringing of children to their parents."
The Church of England claims its schools "are established primarily for the communities they are located in" and that they are "inclusive and serve equally those who are of the Christian faith, those of other faiths and those with no faith."
In response to recent Government proposals to allow more religious discrimination in new faith school admissions, the Church said "Our schools are not faith schools for the faithful, they are Church schools for the community."
Mr Evans added that "the admissions policies of many church schools across the country, including St Peter's, point to the falsity of that statement."
New Hindu faith schools proposed, despite warnings of worsening ethnic segregation
Posted: Mon, 7 Nov 2016 15:37
The latest wave of free school applications includes proposals for seven new Hindu schools.
Details of applicants proposing to open a free school in the 11th round of applications include several with a faith ethos, with Hindu, Christian and an Islamic school among the proposals.
The seven Hindu schools, if approved, would be built in Barnet, Birmingham, Brent, Hertsmere, Hounslow, Leicester and Redbridge.
The proposal comes from Avanti Schools Trust, which already runs five Hindu schools.
The Trust claims that "students with or without a faith background are always welcome at all Avanti Schools."
But one Avanti primary school says it puts the "development of spiritual insight" at "the heart of the curriculum" and draws "on the teachings of Krishna Chaitanya".
The school's website says that "spiritual insight will be achieved" through "singing of the names of the divine, with special but not exclusive focus on Krishna."
NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans said: "It is hard to imagine how these schools will have any broad appeal beyond the Hindu community.
"We regularly have cases of parents being assigned to faith schools against their wishes and if these schools do end up being undersubscribed then that is a risk.
"Just last week Professor Ted Cantle was warning about worsening ethnic segregation in communities across the country and the exodus of white Britons from many areas, drastically reducing contact between ethnic and religious groups.
"Schools with such a religious focus will accelerate this phenomenon. As Professor Cantle said, we need diverse schools, not schools that primarily cater to one religious and, de facto, one ethnic group."
Other schools seeking approval include over twenty Christian schools and one Islamic faith schools for girls.
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)
