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
NSS urges Government to resist regressive demands to lift admissions cap on faith schools
Posted: Wed, 20 May 2015 12:57
The NSS has urged the Government to resist regressive demands to allow more discrimination in faith schools after it emerged the Catholic Education Service is lobbying "hard" to remove the cap on faith-based admissions to academies – and is hopeful that the Government will revisit the issue.
Currently, new academies run by the Catholic Church are not permitted to admit any more than half of their pupils on the basis of religion. The Catholic Church in England and Wales is now said to be "hopeful" that the new Conservative-majority Government will allow academies to admit many more children on faith grounds by lifting the cap.
Under the Coalition, the Liberal Democrats had insisted on the 50% limit. The cap on faith-based admissions was the cause of infighting in the previous government, and on one occasion Vince Cable, then Business Secretary, accused the Department for Education under Michael Gove of a 'betrayal' after the DfE "ensured schools could be more than 90% Catholic."
In 2011, the then Education Secretary Michael Gove urged Catholic schools to avoid "unsympathetic meddling" by secularists by taking up the Government's offer of academy status.
The Tablet reports that Greg Pope, head of Parliamentary Relations for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said: "We hope that with a Conservative Government [the cap] will be revisited, and it is something that my colleagues in the CES [Catholic Education Service] have raised with ministers."
A recent report by the Social Integration Commission warned of "social segregation" and called on the DfE to only approve new faith schools "when the petitioners have a clear plan for pupils to meet and mix with children from different faith backgrounds and communities." The report said that "highly diverse areas are not necessarily integrated" and noted that "increased numbers of children [are] being educated in peer groups dominated by a single faith group or community".
National Secular Society spokesperson, Stephen Evans, commented: "Any admissions arrangements to publicly funded schools that discriminate on grounds of religion or belief are clearly unfair and undesirable. Separating children on the basis of their parents' faith is no way of building a cohesive society or preparing young people for life in modern Britain.
"While the cap on faith-based admissions may in some cases ensure that pupils in faith schools are not totally isolated from children of other backgrounds, a new problem is created whereby non-religious parents, or parents who don't share the faith of the local school, find their children assigned by local authorities to a school with a faith ethos that runs counter to their own.
"In the long-term the only real solution is to have a secular and inclusive education system which isn't organised around the religious beliefs of parents. In the meantime, we will be urging the Government to resist regressive demands to allow faith schools to select even more pupils on the basis of their parents' religious beliefs and activities."
Mr Evans added: "If the 50% free school cap is removed, it is highly likely that the 'social segregation' fuelled by faith schools will be made worse."
In 2013 Professor Ted Cantle warned that pupil segregation is "getting worse". He said: "Segregation by faith and social class has been added to that of ethnicity. And the worst culprits seem to be the very institutions that claim to bring us together – religious schools."
Professor Cantle has also argued that religious selection in school admissions will "reinforce prejudices and stereotypes."
Meanwhile, the only free school in Cornwall, St Michael's Catholic secondary school, is to be "swallowed up" by an academy, after the school was found to not be "a viable proposition." The school cost taxpayers £4.5 million, and opened with just 60 pupils in 2012.
Faith school closes so staff can go on religious pilgrimage
Posted: Thu, 7 May 2015 14:38
A Catholic primary school in Birmingham closed for a day during term-time so that its staff could attend a pilgrimage to the Vatican.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School in Birmingham closed its doors to pupils so that staff could go on a four day trip. Parents said the decision was a "disgrace." One father commented: "Parents are fined if they take their children out of school for trips or holidays … what I do find abhorrent is that a school will then fail to lead by example by closing to pupils so the teachers can swan off to Rome."
The headteacher said the most recent trip came after a "successful staff pilgrimage" two years prior. She added, "our faith is very important to us, as is the spirituality of both the children and the staff."
The trip was authorised by school governors, who are chaired by a local priest, the Very Rev. Canon Sean Grady, who has previously put his name to a letter urging the Government to reject equal marriage legislation, insisting marriage "is only possible between a man and a woman".
The Archdiocese of Birmingham said that "Catholic schools have a duty to support the spiritual development of staff, so that in turn, they are able to nurture the spiritual development of the pupils in their care."
He added that it is "an expectation that Catholic schools devote one of their five annual staff training days for this purpose. Such opportunities may include pilgrimage or retreat experiences.
"In making a pilgrimage to Rome, staff of this outstanding school have willingly given of their own time so that they can work to strengthen the Catholic mission of the school on their return."
The pilgrimage included time for staff to have "periods of reflection" and prayers.
The school, which prioritises 'baptised Catholic children' over non-Catholic in its admissions, is judged "outstanding" by Ofsted. The last Ofsted report in September 2014 said the school's "spiritual ethos" informs "every aspect of the school's work" and that "pupils show great respect for all faiths." The school's motto is "Christ is the centre of our school community, where we live, love and learn together."
Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns manager, commented: "It's very revealing that teacher training days are now being held at the Vatican. Rather than truly nurturing the development of the pupils in their care, it's clear that this publicly funded school operates more like a religious community, seeking to influence young children to adopt religious beliefs before they're mature enough to make up their own minds."
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)
