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.
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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
Islamic school that refused entry to inspector warned by DfE
Posted: Wed, 12 Jun 2019 12:26
An independent Islamic faith school has been warned by the government after it refused entry to a school inspector and was rated 'inadequate' by education watchdog Ofsted.
Rashid Raja, headteacher of Islamic Preparatory School Wolverhampton, refused to allow lead inspector Tim Hill onto the premises on the second day of the school's Ofsted inspection in February.
In its inspection report, Ofsted called the incident "unacceptable" and said it had reported it to the Department for Education (DfE).
Refusing entrance to school inspectors contravenes Section 110 of the Education and Skills Act 2008, which provides inspectors with the right of entry to any school to carry out a lawful inspection.
In a warning notice issued to the school in April and published on the DfE website last week, the DfE said obstructing an inspector is a "criminal offence".
Ofsted criticised the headteacher for his "weak" understanding of safeguarding procedures and said his checks on the quality of teaching which are "not effective enough".
Inspectors found "several hazards" in the school, including an unlocked cupboard in the girls' toilets containing "flammable and hazardous materials accessible to young children" and a fire door opening onto a "small enclosed area".
The designated safeguarding lead was not able to satisfactorily explain the number of attempted log-ins to "inappropriate website content" on school computers.
Islamic Preparatory School Wolverhampton is part of the registered charity Wolverhampton Mosque Trust and shares the same site as Wolverhampton Central Mosque. It also failed its inspection in May 2017.
National Secular Society head of education Alastair Lichten said: "This is not the first time we have seen school authorities working to prevent Ofsted inspectors carrying out lawful investigations, assessing children's welfare and educational provision.
"This must always be seen as a serious red flag. When inspectors are prevented from assessing compliance with independent school standards then such standards can be assumed to be breached. Schools cannot be allowed to isolate pupils and evade oversight."
In recent months Ofsted reports have revealed that parents have withdrawn permission for children to speak to inspectors at several Charedi Jewish schools.
In a letter to independent school heads earlier this year the government said inspectors must be able to speak to pupils.
The DfE published warning notices which it had sent to 19 independent schools last week. Islamic Preparatory School Wolverhampton was one of four Islamic schools while two were Jewish, one Catholic and one Seventh Day Adventist.
Among them were an Islamic and a Jewish school which segregate children by gender and a Jewish school which encourages girls to enter "caring professions".
Weaknesses in safeguarding were among the failings at all four of the other schools.
The other Islamic schools were Al-Mahad-Al-Islami, an all-girls school in Croydon in south London, and Paradise Primary School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
The Catholic school was St Pius X Preparatory School in Preston in Lancashire. The Seventh Day Adventist school was Stanborough Secondary School in Watford in Hertfordshire.
Schools that receive warnings must improve within a specified period or they will be removed from the independent schools register.
Government warns independent faith schools over sex segregation
Posted: Wed, 12 Jun 2019 11:18
Two independent faith schools which segregate children by sex and one which encourages girls to enter "caring professions" have been warned by the government.
Last week the Department for Education published warning notices sent to the schools in April after they failed Ofsted inspections.
Al-Khair School, an Islamic school in Croydon, was rated 'inadequate' after Ofsted inspectors found male and female pupils were segregated from age 11 without legal justification. This is unlawful because it amounts to discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.
Boys and girls at Al-Khair School must use separate entrances and are segregated for all classes and activities. Ofsted said the policy causes a "detriment" to pupils because "boys and girls cannot learn and socialise together".
Ofsted also said "school leaders come under pressure from the community" to "prevent girls from going scuba diving" and to "increase the memorisation of the Koran".
The school's leaders intend to split the school into separate boys' and girls' schools but had not started the process at the time of the inspection.
Ofsted also criticised the school for failing to vet applicant teachers and visitors to the school appropriately.
Gateshead Jewish Nursery School was also rated 'inadequate' because it unlawfully segregated pupils by sex during formal lesson periods and treated pupils differently depending on their sex.
Inspectors found that reception-age girls were "making basic shapes out of pasta" while children in a boys' class were "discussing a complex story". When boys and girls did not play together outside, staff explained that "boys dominate the bikes".
Ofsted also found children were "routinely exposed to gender stereotyping". When female children were more studious, staff commented "well, they're girls". Ofsted said boys' behaviour was sometimes not as good as that of the girls as a result.
Segregating boys and girls within the same school was ruled unlawful at the High Court in 2017. Al Hijrah School, a state-funded Islamic school in Birmingham, had segregated male and female pupils in all lessons, break and lunchtimes, school trips and school clubs.
Gender stereotyping was also evident at Beis Trana Girls' School, a single-sex Jewish school in Stamford Hill in London. Pupils told inspectors they wanted information on careers such as "accountancy and property management", but careers advice and guidance in school "focuses on caring professions".
The school allocates half the pupils' time to "religious studies" and has a "very extensive" faith curriculum in which pupil progress is tracked "with care" and pupils learn about their own culture "in great depth".
In contrast, pupils study secular subjects "at a very superficial level". Their progress in key stages 3 and 4 is not tracked effectively which "does not lead to the standards they are capable of achieving", while the quality of planning and teaching is "weak". Pupils only study three GCSE subjects which "limits pupils' opportunities".
Additionally, teachers "do not acknowledge the diversity of families and relationships in modern Britain" and pupils' understanding of other cultures "is not very deep". Pupils are not taught about the internet, and there are no laboratories to conduct experiments for science lessons.
Beis Trana was rated 'inadequate' in light of these findings.
Schools that receive warnings must improve within a specified period or they will be removed from the independent schools register.
National Secular Society education and schools officer Alastair Lichten said: "These three schools are failing because they impose conservative religious values about gender roles on their pupils.
"It is concerning that two years after sex segregation within the same school was ruled unlawful, there are schools which ignore the law and persist in keeping boys and girls separate.
"It's probably not surprising that at sex segregated and single-sex religious schools, we see gender stereotyping and different standards held for pupils. In the long run, this will harm pupils' access to equal opportunities and their ability to form healthy relationships with people of the opposite sex.
"The government must make it clear that all schools, including independent faith schools, must follow the law and treat male and female pupils equally."
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)
