Oppose Religious Discrimination by schools

The Government is planning to allow all state schools to  select all their pupils on the basis of parental religion, and allow religious groups to run state special schools for the first time. Please write to your MP to oppose this.

Both Humanists UK and the National Secular Society provide links making it very easy to send an email (that you can personalise) to your MP. Links to these appear below.

Humanists UK Letter

National Secular Society Letter

Alternatively you can copy and paste the text below into a letter and amend it as you see fit.

Please ensure that you include your full name and address when writing to your MP. They will ignore your letter if they cannot establish that you are a constituent.

Dear ********,

I am writing as your constituent to ask you to oppose new Government proposals to scrap the cap on new faith school admissions, which has been in place since 2010.

Faith school admissions cap

• The cap works: the 50% cap has proven to increase ethnic integration. Analysis of the cap in 2016 found that ethnic integration improved significantly in schools with a cap on admissions compared to those that had no cap.

• Faith school admissions exclude poor children: recent studies have shown that faith schools are less inclusive than schools without a religious character, in terms of disadvantaged children, children in care, and those with additional learning needs.

• They also drive segregation along religious lines which is terrible for community cohesion and integration.
  Research suggests that insufficient opportunity to mix with those from differing backgrounds robs individuals of the meaningful interactions necessary to build sustainable inter-communal relationships. Nothing can replace living and learning alongside those holding other beliefs and worldviews all day, every day.

• The religious rationale for scrapping the cap is weak: The Catholic Church has long said that to open free schools subject to the cap would break canon law. The Government has said this is why it is scrapping it. But this is incorrect, Catholic schools in Scotland and Ireland operate perfectly well without any admissions discrimination – as do most Catholic private schools in England!

Religious groups running special schools

Up to now, there haven’t been any special schools designated with a religious character. Indeed for maintained schools it would be illegal to open one. But the Government is now proposing to allow this for special Academies and Free Schools. This would be a historic first. While such schools won’t be able to discriminate in their admissions they will in their RE, collective worship, and employment policies, and what they teach in relationships and sex education.

The proposal to increase the number of religiously selective schools and the proportion of pupils they select not only threatens the rights of parents and children, but the wider interests of society. For this reason, it must be challenged at both a local and national level.