Church 'moving away' from selecting school pupils based on religion

Church of England faith schools are no longer as focused on selecting pupils based on their religion, the Archbishop of Canterbury has revealed.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said it was possible to create a very good school without selection and that opening the doors of a school to every part of a community could help the Church achieve its aim to alleviate poverty.

It comes just a month after a study revealed middle-class parents are increasingly monopolising places at the most sought-after faith schools.

Figures from the Fair Admissions Campaign, a coalition of organisations which are pushing for an end to religious selection in state schools, found faith schools are far less likely to reflect the economic status of families living in the local area than traditional community comprehensives.

“What you are seeing in the Church schools is a deeper and deeper commitment to the common good,” the Archbishop told The Times. “There’s a steady move away from faith-based entry tests."

He added: "It is not necessary to select to get a really good school.

“There are unbelievably brilliant schools that are entirely open to all applicants without selection criteria apart from residence, where you live, and which produce staggeringly good results. It’s a question of — and you can point to them all over the place — it’s a question of outstanding leadership.”

More than two-thirds of the most socially exclusive comprehensives in the country are faith schools, including 17 of the top 20.

Most faith schools are oversubscribed and allocate places first to parents who regularly attend church, but campaigners say the set up of the schools allows middle-class parents to play-the-system to secure places.

The Archbishop later attempted to play down the significance of his comments. “I fully support the current policy for schools to set their own admissions criteria, " he said. "Including the criterion of faith. Nothing in my wider comments on this subject should be seen as dissenting from this policy.”

In September the London Oratory – a leading Roman Catholic boys’ comprehensive attended by the Nick Clegg's son – was criticised by the official admissions watchdog for prioritising children whose parents give at least three years’ service to their local church, including flower arranging, reading a lesson, serving at the altar or singing in the choir.

But faith school admissions policies have been repeatedly defended by religious leaders who claim they are needed to ensure schools prioritise true believers.

The Archbishop yesterday defended the right of Christians to speak out on political issues after he revealed he had been criticised for his outspoken stance on issues such as payday lenders and energy costs.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said he had been told to “stick to God” by people who believed the Church had no right to intervene in politics.

The head of the Church of England warned against “polarising and demonising” where there is disagreement but said Christians had a responsibility to act and to speak up for justice.

“When Christians speak in public about community flourishing or about justice, there’s always someone who pops up and asks why we’re sticking our noses in, as if these things were miles away from the proper concerns of Christianity – I get the letters,” he said.

“Recently there have been the issues of money and credit unions and power costs of which the Church has spoken – so have I, for that matter.

“Stick to God, I have been told – so I do.”