Faith Schools And Racial Segregation?

This might be of interest to some people. The Equality and Human Rights commission have issued a call for people's views on how their religion or belief affects their access to public services, or their employment experiences. See www.equalityhumanrights.com/about-us/our-work/key-projects/religion-or-belief-tell-us-about-your-experiences.

When this thread started back in April, there was a lot of discussion about the London Oratory's admissions code. The School's Adjudicator has published its ruling today and found it breaches the Admissions Code in a total of 105 different ways! That has got to be some sort of record. See here.

They aren't all academies yet. But it's possible for maintained schools to get taken over by people with vested interests if the local authority is weakened and/or fearful of interfering.

I read the Birmingham schools were mostly academies run by the Park View trust

Read the article to which you link. Only 3 of the 21 schools involved in the "Trojan horse" allegations are run by the Park View Trust. Another 5 are academies. The remaining 13 are all community schools. It is true that 4 of the 5 that received full inspections were academies and of these 3 are run by the Park View Trust. Of the 5 that were rated inadequate 3 were academies, 2 run by the Park View Trust. And many of the schools rated requires improvement or better also received criticisms around safeguarding, leadership and management. As TalkinPeace said on another thread, Birmingham has long been regarded as a basket case.

Phr no, I read the Birmingham schools were mostly academies run by the Park View trust. But I agree that in some cases councils have ignored infiltration by governors with a specific agenda. And pressing for a 'determination' so that assemblies don't have to be Christian in a largely Muslim community might seem reasonable until it ends up being the imposition of a Muslim assembly on the school which rules out any other religion. It's two wrongs/restrictions not making a right.

The council in Blackburn is not without criticism of course, along with the national Labour government. There were four community schools in Blackburn. Under BSF they turned one into an academy, rebuilt two at great expense, but the third had to close. Now despite that sacrifice, one of the two remaining community schools has opted out of council control to be governed by a Muslim trust, and the other is in special measures - what a disaster that policy was.

Parents and governors of the school told to close to make way for Tauheedul Girls were unhappy, and it tried to convert to academy status, but Jack Straw wrote to the DfE supporting closure. He tries to tread a very fine line in Blackburn because there was a furore over remarks he made over constituents wearing face veils in his MP surgeries. Since then he has ducked and dived, supporting the expansions of the CofE and Muslim schools with extraordinarily restrictive admissions criteria (stipulating number of church attendances per week) despite Blackburn being the subject of the Cantle report on community segregation.

Oasis Academy schools are not "faith" schools in their admission criteria
BUT
Oasis are overtly evangelical in their outlook and approach to education.
Might be why several of their schools have hundreds of empty places.

The problems in Birmingham related predominantly to community schools, not academies or free schools.

The school in Lancashire being taken over by a religious trust will remain a non-faith school. A school converting to academy status is not allowed to become a faith school (or stop being a faith school) as part of the conversion process.

The allegations concerning the Blackburn schools are worrying but I note that the article says there is no suggestion the programme is highlighting actual teaching practises. I agree with Jack Straw that it is sensible to reserve judgement until the Dispatches programme is broadcast.

Roversreturn there is pressure from the National Governors Association over collective worship. See here: accordcoalition.org.uk/2014/06/29/national-governors-association-calls-for-abolition-of-collective-worship/.

I just don't think new faith schools should be allowed - although I also agree there should be a cap on faith admissions at 100 year-old CE primary schools, because there's no community school alternative.

The problem is that schools aren't secular enough, with this requirement for to have a daily act of collective worship that is 'broadly Christian'.

Bizarrely the head-in-sand answer of many politicians us to open up new Muslim, Sikh, Hindu schools which then sets off a whole raft of new problems - the control by conservative religious governors in Birmingham, Tower Hamlets, Bradford and probably Blackburn too. Schools converting to academies have been taken over by some of these religious trusts - like the one in this article which actually used to be a community secondary. That's the second community secondary (out of three in that area) to close down or change religious ethos in two years (another closed down two years ago so that the girls' Muslim voluntary aided school could expand). To say it has accelerated white flight is an understatement, but there are some problems too for the Muslim community because not all of them want to be herded into faith schools run by other mosques either.

In fact

the more I think about your op the more puzzled I am.

You are not describing the Walthamstow that I live in, work and where my five kids have gone to school for the last 12 years.

When I say work, I mean work IN early years education. So that means working with primary schools all over the borough.

As well as having personal experience of 4 primaries and two secondaries, one nursery and one pre-school.

Odd isn't it?

Weird
I live where you live.
I spend a lot of time visiting primary schools.
Never seen one with only five white/uk kids in it.

I would be astounded if I went into a school in Walthamstow with so few white, working class kids in it.

Its a diverse area alright but one that has always had a core of non transient, multi generational families who have neither the resources or the wish to leave.

So not so much of the 'white flight' as you might see in more prosperous areas. The immigrant population tends to change though.

I think I probably know what school you are talking about. There are a few big primaries in E17 and I know all of them. I think your maths are a bit off.

agree, JJ it's not going to happen.

From what I understand atheist (not secular) schools are illegal. If we are not prepared to ban faith schools then we should at least allow equality. I wish some prominent personality would attempt to open an atheist school and challenge this.

50-75% of admissions could be reserved for children not baptized or practicing any faith and they or their parents not attending any place of worship. Weekend classes could be held where the organizer decides who is 'atheist' enough to be selected and help with the compulsory deconversion of parents. An entrance exam would help determine which children believe most in 'scientific' principles and not the supernatural. The LEA would be required to pay for the transporting of any children going to the school. A superior morality ethics and ethos would be taught.

I would put my life savings into a bet that these schools would be over subscribed and outstanding. Parents would no longer have to pretend to be religious and many religious parents would convert.

But it ain't going to happen because the powerful 'established' religions have to much to lose when children are given freedom of thought.

Interesting, icecreamsoup. I don't think it is right that the Catholic schools get a pass on this while, the CofE schools are pressured, though.

There's some good news from Camden related to this discussion ... www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2014/jul/religious-schools-urged-open-places-pupils-without-faith

Given that many C of E schools were set up to educate children who would have received no education at all, they used to welcome ALL local children. This was especially true in the rural areas. To find now that so many have become religiously selective instead of sticking to their very laudable origins, I find deeply offensive and an abuse of power and Government money. Many appear to have lost sight of why they were established and the welcoming nature of the church to ALL people. Increasingly faith schools only welcome their own. They need to be reformed.

In my area the Diocese actively encouraged Voluntary Controlled schools to become Voluntary Aided. The Aided schools set their own admissions policy and often favour Church goers leaving local children having to travel much further to school. It is not what our established church should be doing. It is elitist and morally wrong.

Jodie, yes, but the best way to do that is for people to encourage faith schools to open up their admissions. It's happening, but slowly, and with many hurdles along the way.

My suggestion was sort of tongue in cheek but it was in the name of equality. I believe everyone should have the same right of access to the state schooling in their area.

Jodie, I'd prefer community schools to maintain a moral high ground rather than stoop to that level. Two wrongs don't make a right.

I think community schools should be able to counter faith schools in their admissions. For every faith place that has baptism as its main criteria then a corresponding community place should be able to specify non-baptism. After all why should one section of the community have two choices and the other only one? I know it's not workable but it's hardly fair.

No prob Scramble.

For info, there's some more very encouraging news on faith school admissions from the Church of England here.

The Fair Admissions Campaign has called on them to extend the principle to existing schools too.

Yes Icimol, I agree the logical next step for legislation would be to bring all existing faith schools in line with the new ones that have opened since 2010 under the 50:50 rules.

I think the law really needs to be changed so that faith schools have to offer a defined minimum percentage of places to non-faith children. In some areas you get a ridiculous situation where Christian schools have no or hardly any children of Asian origin even when they are in an area with a high Asian population. It isn't fair that children of Asian families have less school choice in that situation, and that they can't get into what might well be their nearest school. It's particularly unfair if they are in effect excluded from a school which in practice many of their primary schools peers can get into without difficulty.