Transport to faith schools
Discrimination on grounds of religion and belief is prominent in the provision of both discretionary and statutory home to school transport. We seek equitable school transport policies, free from religious privilege, fair to all families and fair to taxpayers.
Faith Schools Transport Briefing Paper (PDF, 222 Kb)
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We must find the political will to end discriminatory school admissions
Posted: Mon, 12 Apr 2021 17:07
As families in England prepare to find out which primary schools their children will attend, Alastair Lichten says ending faith-based discrimination would make the admissions system fairer and simpler.
This Friday is primary school offer day in England. It comes in the middle of a few months where families of around 600,000 pupils across the UK will find out where they'll be attending school next academic year. There will be joy, relief and frustration for many.
And for large numbers the day will confirm they are the victim of the most pervasive form of legal faith-based discrimination in the UK. These families will miss out on places at their local schools thanks to faith schools' religious selection criteria.
The extent of religious discrimination in primary school admissions varies widely between different school types and individual schools. Estimates suggest 17% of primary school places in England are subject to religious selection, affecting well over 100,000 families a year. This includes people like Zoe from Wolverhampton, who told us via a petition: "I live right by a school (2 min walk) I would like my daughter to go to. But as we are not a religious family, I'm told she can't go there, and will now have to drive my child to school as the others are 5-10 minutes' drive."
These 17% of school places are not evenly distributed. Many faith schools operate a mix of open and selective admissions, while others can select up to 100% of their pupils based on religion. This discrimination affects people like Jonathan from Warrington who said: "My child is at the bottom of the list for our local primary school just because we are not part of any religious group."
Faith based admissions can lead to absurd demands being placed on parents, and it is well established that they lead to ethnic and socioeconomic selection. The complexity of admissions also confuses families and makes it harder to assess the impact of faith-based discrimination.
It's time politicians faced up to the damaging message that permitting religious discrimination sends to our children. For example, Charandeep from North London told us: "As a British born Sikh, the first time I felt excluded by society was when applying for primary schools. Despite having faith and regularly attending our local temple, my children were excluded."
Even among those with a range of views on faith schools, there is a lot of consensus over discriminatory admissions. Few people are willing to support religious selection. Even the faith school groups that do feel the need to obfuscate and dress this up in euphemism, such as claiming that pupils of all faiths are 'welcome to apply'. Various surveys in recent years have put support at only 15% or 17% among the public, and 18% among teachers.
The government promised a national review into school admissions in 2017 – but we've been waiting for it for almost four years. But rather than stand with the majority who support inclusive admissions, politicians continue to pander to the faith school lobby. Most recently, schools minister Nick Gibb signalled that the government is potentially open to removing the cap on religious discrimination in admissions to new academies. This would make it far easier to open faith schools with potentially total religious selection.
Politicians should go in the opposite direction. Ending faith schools, or at least the Equality Act exemptions which permit discriminatory admissions, would make the admissions system fairer and simpler. In the meantime, we need to call out discrimination for what it is and shame the politicians who give this practice their support or acquiescence.
Image: Andrew Heffernan/Shutterstock.com.
Beware religious impositions on women’s health, says NSS
Posted: Thu, 8 Apr 2021 16:12
The National Secular Society has urged the government to ensure women's health is prioritised over religious concerns in response to a consultation.
The NSS has responded to a call for evidence from the Department of Health and Social Care on a proposed strategy for women's health in England.
The society warned that women in religious communities, particularly conservative and insular communities, often face significant barriers to information and education that may be relevant to their health.
The society added that the government should seek to protect women's individual rights, and shouldn't necessarily accept that community and religious leaders speak on behalf of women within their communities on relevant issues.
Reproductive rights and violence against women
Among the points it raised, the NSS said:
- Abortion should be decriminalised and free access to abortion clinics without intimidation or harassment should be protected.
- There should be stronger action against charities which condone or promote misogyny, violence against women and girls, or FGM. Ministers should also be aware that religious 'courts' may play a part in prolonging domestic abuse.
- Pharmacies should ensure women can access the morning after pill without having to go elsewhere, amid examples of women who have been refused service by staff citing religious concerns.
- The government should ban 'virginity testing'.
- LGBT+ women in religious communities in particular may be more vulnerable to mental health issues and may be targeted for 'conversion therapy'.
Religion and women's health in schools
The NSS also addressed the role of schools' approach to relationships and sexual health in part of its response, saying:
- Religious opt-outs and exceptions for relationships and sex education enable some faith schools to teach stigmatising ideas about contraception, abortion, menstruation and same-sex relationships.
- Repealing the parental right of withdrawal from RSE would enable more girls to understand these issues.
- Some state-funded faith schools have worked to limit girls' education on relevant issues.
The society also expressed concern that language in recent government guidance on period products in schools and colleges appears to suggest parents' religious concerns may take precedence over their daughters' needs and preferences.
For example, the guidance says: "Parents or carers may object to the use of some period products. You should consider the views of learners and parents or carers from all religious and cultural backgrounds when ordering products."
You can read the NSS's submission in full.
Image: Miriam Doerr Martin Frommherz/Shutterstock.com.
Ep 46: Forced marriage and the importance of RSE
Posted: Tue, 30 Mar 2021 08:00
A marriage can be forced even if it doesn't involve the threat of physical violence. In some faith communities in Britain, young people's freedom to choose their future spouse can be denied in subtler ways.
In this episode, Emma Park speaks to Eve Sacks about arranged and forced marriages in the Haredi community. Eve is a board member at Nahamu, an organisation which aims to counter religious extremism within Britain's Jewish population. Eve argues that the crucial problem with forced marriage is that it deprives participants of their autonomy, as well as putting them at risk of more concrete harms.
Emma is then joined by Megan Manson, the NSS's head of policy and research, to reflect on the role of Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) in reducing the risk of forced marriage. They discuss the importance of making RSE mandatory for all schoolchildren, and the difficulties of allowing religious schools to continue to teach the subject 'within the tenets of their faith'.
Watch this episode on YouTube | Direct MP3 Link | Transcripts
Follow Emma on Twitter: @DrEmmaPark
Notes
- Improve RSE in faith schools to curb forced marriage, campaigners say – NSS
- Nahamu's Position Paper on Forced Marriage: Analysis of Arranged Marriage as Practised in Jewish Communities
- We cannot turn a blind eye to these forced marriages – Jewish Chronicle
- 'Normal' for them: Controlling the narrative of forced marriage and delegitimising damage – Yehudis Fletcher
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Church intransigence creates ‘school planning nightmare’ in Somerset
Posted: Tue, 16 Mar 2021 12:51
The Church of England's ability to block academisation options is frustrating reorganisation plans and putting schools at risk, the National Secular Society has warned.
The warning comes amid Somerset County Council's Strategic School Review, which is seeking to address a significant budget deficit and changing demographics in the area.
A majority of residents oppose the Council's proposals and believe the option of three schools (Maiden Beech Academy, Swanmead Community School, and Wadham School) joining a multi-academy trust (MAT), including the Bridgwater and Taunton College Trust (BTCT), would be the best way to address budget concerns and secure future provision.
However, the Diocese of Bath and Wells has blocked any exploration of this option unless the, currently secular, BTCT changes their rules to have a majority of their board appointed by the diocese. This would traduce a degree of religious control over the community ethos schools.
The NSS previously reported how the limited options considered would lead to the loss of Swanmead Community Middle School as it would be absorbed into a Church of England (C of E) primary school, leaving many local parents with almost no option but a faith school. The changes would also put Maiden Beech Academy (a community-ethos middle school) and Wadham School (a C of E upper school) at risk.
Carl Winch, head teacher at Maiden Beech said "The vast majority of parents and members of the community across the towns of Ilminster and Crewkerne are opposed to these proposals. An academisation option would maintain the status quo and address the financial issues. The BTCT has publicly stated that it would be willing to enter into negotiations with the Diocese to explore an alternative solution; however, the Diocese has not yet responded. If these proposals are implemented, they will have a detrimental impact on two non-denominational schools. The Diocese appear to have a disproportionate amount of influence in this process, which is wrong, especially in the face of significant opposition to the planned changes."
The diocese is able to veto any academisation arrangements involving a Church of England faith school because of a special agreement with the Department for Education (DfE). The C of E often claim that they must appoint a majority of trustees in any trust containing Church schools, to protect their ethos. However, C of E trusts have absorbed hundreds of non-faith schools with significantly less protection for their ethos than would be the case in Somerset.
The National Secular Society has written to Somerset Council and the DfE urging them to curtail the unreasonable use of the Church's veto power.
A recent research report by the NSS highlighted how academisation and the special arrangements for C of E schools has enabled religious groups to increase their influence in state funded education.
NSS head of education, Alastair Lichten, said: "Once again we are seeing special arrangements for the C of E create a school planning nightmare. School reorganisations are difficult, and the best option isn't always clear. But the diocese is clearly limiting the options that can be explored.
"Allowing the Church of England to exert its influence in state schools is getting in the way of providing an efficient and uncomplicated publicly funded school system."
Major reform of teaching on religion and belief passes in Wales
Posted: Tue, 9 Mar 2021 18:37
Legislation which will substantially reform the teaching of religion and belief, including by requiring coverage of secularism as a key concept, has passed its final parliamentary vote in Wales.
The Senedd has today voted to pass a bill which provides the legal framework to introduce a new skills-based curriculum in all schools in Wales.
The National Secular Society, which has strongly lobbied ministers in Wales over curricular reform, has welcomed some significant changes introduced by the bill.
These include:
- Replacing religious education (RE) with religion, values and ethics (RVE), a new subject which will fit in a humanities section of the curriculum.
- Introducing statutory relationships and sexuality education (RSE) in all schools, under a health section of the curriculum.
- Explicitly requiring RVE to cover secularism as a key concept and include non-religious worldviews alongside major religions.
- Requiring faith schools to provide families with the option of RVE according to the locally agreed syllabus, which is more pluralistic than the faith-based alternative.
Ongoing NSS concerns
But the NSS also warned that the bill represented a missed opportunity in other regards, noting that:
- Some faith schools will continue to be able to teach faith-based RVE, meaning they are likely to face practical difficulties in running two syllabuses and undervalue the locally agreed option.
- Ending parents' right to withdraw children from RVE may lead to legal challenges where the subject is insufficiently pluralistic and objective.
- The RVE syllabus will continue to be determined by local bodies, known as SACREs or ASCs, where representatives of faith and belief groups hold significant influence.
- Faith schools will continue to teach RSE from a faith-based perspective. NSS research has shown this has led to inaccurate, shame-based or incomplete coverage of issues deemed 'controversial' by some religious groups.
- The curriculum reform does not address the legal requirement on all schools in Wales to hold a daily act of broadly Christian collective worship, despite recommendations from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
NSS comment
NSS head of education Alastair Lichten said: "This landmark piece of legislation will give pupils across Wales access to a more objective way of learning about religion and belief.
"But government concessions will mean religious groups' interests continue to enjoy a privileged input into this subject area – and to shape the way it's taught in many faith schools.
"All children should be entitled to an impartial and pluralistic education on religion and belief. Policy makers across the UK should work to make this a reality.
"We also welcome the Welsh government's move to make relationships and sexuality education statutory. This represents a significant step forward for children's rights."
Notes
- Ministers will consult on and agree statutory guidance by September 2021 to allow the new curriculum to come into effect in September 2022.
- Religious interest groups unsuccessfully lobbied against several of the changes in the bill, including the inclusion of secularism and non-religious worldviews on the curriculum.
- The NSS campaigns for all children to have an entitlement to a pluralistic and objective education on religion and belief.
Faith-based school admissions pave the way for sexist and unreasonable demands. It’s time to end them
Posted: Fri, 5 Mar 2021 13:38
An adjudicator's ruling has exposed the outrageous requirements a state-funded faith school places on pupils and their families. This shows the need to end faith-based discrimination in admissions, says Megan Manson.
Allowing state schools to prioritise children whose family belong to a particular religion is a bad idea. Using faith-based admissions criteria leads to segregation, unfairness and inequality. If it weren't for extensive exemptions in the Equality Act 2010 designed to accommodate faith schools it would certainly be unlawful.
Another upshot of allowing faith schools to pick and choose children according to religion is the proliferation of lengthy and complex admissions arrangements. For example, it's not uncommon for Catholic schools to prioritise children with Catholic baptism certificates, then children who are preparing to be baptised into Catholicism, then children with parents of other Christian denominations, then children from families of other religions, and finally any other children who don't fit into these categories (i.e. those from nonreligious families).
This is ridiculous enough. But this is by no means the limit to how outrageous school admissions can be. As a recent admissions tribunal decision demonstrates, allowing faith schools to apply their own faith-based criteria can lead to truly extraordinary requirements placed on prospective families and children.
In February the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA), which decides whether or not schools are complying with the Schools Admissions Code, found a multitude of problems in the admission arrangements of Beis Yaakov Jewish High School. Beis Yaakov is an all-girls faith school located in Salford and has been state-funded since 2005.
The catalogue of issues identified by the OSA in Beis Yaakov's admissions arrangements include:
- Specifying dress codes for pupils that were not sufficiently "objective", for example, requiring pupils to conform to "the ideas of modesty and the true dignity of a Charedi Jewish girl".
- Requiring fathers of pupils to be a member of a Charedi ('ultra-Orthodox') synagogue. Because only men whose mothers are Jewish can usually join such synagogues, the OSA determined that this requirement is contrary to the School Admissions Code and to equalities legislation. The OSA also said the "understanding" that members of synagogues will make "regular voluntary contributions" meant this requirement fell foul of the prohibition on giving priority to children on the basis of financial support parents may give to religious authorities associated with a school.
- Using a panel of rabbis appointed by the local synagogue to settle disputes regarding the religiosity or Jewish status of pupils. The OSA said that it was "inappropriate" for a case to be referred to a religious institution for a decision affecting a pupil's admission to a school based on anything other than what is set out in the admission arrangements.
- Requiring parents seeking faith-based priority to provide contact details of two Charedi 'referees'. The OSA said this was inappropriate because it may breach data protection laws and render the school's admissions system "susceptible to abuse".
The deviations from the admissions code identified by the OSA are striking in themselves. But what is perhaps more shocking is the elements in Beis Yaakov's admissions criteria that the OSA did not criticise.
For example, the OSA did not object to the fact that the dress code imposed on prospective pupils and their mothers is both sexist and unreasonable. It specifies that mothers and girls "will dress at all times in accordance with the strictest standards of Tznius (modesty)", which includes prohibiting "figure hugging dresses", "very brightly coloured" clothing and clothing made from "trendy" fabrics. Additionally, mothers must completely cover their hair "at all times", sleeves "must cover the elbows at all times", and tights "should be worn at all times and it should be apparent that they are being worn".
Such outrageous demands might belong in a Victorian etiquette book. They certainly do not belong in the admissions criteria of a 21st century state school. And yet the only objection given by the OSA is that they might be difficult to understand because they aren't "objective".
It doesn't end there. The OSA's report mentioned that the admissions arrangements require families to strictly limit their children's access to all forms of communication including cinema, theatre and written material. The OSA not only fails to question these extreme restrictions the school places on the private lives of its pupils and it families – it appears to approve them. It gives the example of the requirement that "school aged children do not watch television" as one that is capable of being judged objectively, and is therefore acceptable.
This isn't the first time the OSA has given a free pass to state-funded faith school admissions arrangements that are sexist and controlling. In 2018 the OSA considered a case relating to Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School in London. The adjudicator effectively ruled that the school was not breaching the school admissions code by requiring families not to wear leather or lycra, access the internet or use online entertainment.
It is perplexing that the OSA can seemingly do nothing to stop a state school from imposing admissions codes that reinforce gender inequality and force parents to prevent their children from taking part in everyday society by placing severe restrictions on what they see, hear, read and wear. Indeed, both would seem contrary to the welfare and educational needs of children growing up in 21st century Britain.
But allowing any school, even if it has a less severe religious ethos, to use faith-based admissions arrangements sets a precedent for more extreme faith schools to set extremely exclusive criteria. If we accept the premise that state schools can be religious communities, which decide who can attend based on religious criteria, we make it far harder to challenge even patently ridiculous religious rules.
The issue should also cause us all to question the very existence of state-funded faith schools in the first place. Despite being funded by taxpayers from all religion and belief backgrounds, it is plain from their admissions arrangements that schools like Beis Yaakov are not intended for the whole community. They are intended only for an insular religious minority willing to obey, and make their children obey, the draconian rules of religious leaders.
While every person should have the right to choose this lifestyle, the state should not be expected to facilitate and promote it. And the state certainly should not direct our taxes to schools that cater only to this lifestyle and exclude anyone who challenges or rejects it.
Ep 44: Post-Christian Britain and religion in schools
Posted: Tue, 2 Mar 2021 08:00
This episode is about the place of religion in Britain today, both in society in general and in schools in particular. Emma Park interviews Linda Woodhead, professor of religion at Lancaster University.
In May this year, Linda will be giving a lecture series at Birmingham University entitled 'Values are the New Religion: Britain's post-Christian Culture'. The first part of her interview deals with her research into the decline of Christianity in Britain over the last 100 years, the reasons why this has happened, and to what extent non-religious people look for analogous systems to give their lives meaning and structure. During the pandemic, the NHS may even have become a surrogate for organised religion.
If Britain is becoming less religious, this raises the question of what its place ought to be in our education system. The admissions procedures commonly used by faith schools can unfairly discriminate against non-religious children. There are also many problems with the way Religious Education is currently taught. The Welsh government is reforming its RE provision: there is a strong argument for doing the same in England, but successive administrations have dragged their feet.
Emma is then joined by Alastair Lichten, head of education at the NSS, to reflect on Linda's words and give the NSS's perspective.
Watch this episode on YouTube | Direct MP3 Link | Transcripts
The evidence against faith schools is overwhelming
Posted: Tue, 23 Feb 2021 07:05
A comprehensive new bank of academic research shows how shaky the main arguments for faith schools are, say its authors Steven Kettell and Rebecca Vernon.
Since state-funded faith schools were radically expanded and diversified by the New Labour governments almost two decades ago, controversy around their place in the UK's education system has never been far away.
Supporters claim faith schools offer a variety of benefits, including greater choice for parents, superior educational outcomes, and the promotion of moral values. Critics strongly dispute such claims and maintain that state-funded faith schooling is incongruous in a country where religion is in significant decline.
Figures from the British Social Attitudes survey show that more than 50% of adults in Britain now describe themselves as having 'no religion', yet around a third of all state-funded schools in England are classified as having a faith (overwhelmingly Christian) designation. On an average school day over a million children will be found attending Church of England schools, a figure that dwarfs the average church attendance (currently standing at just 690,000 for any given Sunday).
While much has been written on this topic, research findings are often published in a variety of locations (often difficult to access), making it hard to gain a comprehensive view of the debate. We hope to address that. The Faith Schools Research Bank draws together available research which highlights the negative effects of faith schools, making it easy to access from a single location.
The research bank is divided into five sections, each outlining a key area in the debate. Research contained in the first section, 'social cohesion', challenges claims that faith schools are socially beneficial, as the evidence shows that segregating pupils on the basis of their parents' faith fosters exclusivity, insularity, and social division.
In the second section, 'performance and selection', we address the question of educational outcomes. Research here shows that faith schools do not produce better grades than non-faith schools once factors other than the alleged faith 'ethos' of the school (such as pupil intakes and demographics) are accounted for.
The third section deals with issues of 'choice and admissions'. This reveals substantial flaws in the argument that faith schools are good for parental choice. It looks at the way faith schools often compel parents to send their children to schools with a religious outlook which they may not share. It also highlights their use of unfair admissions procedures to limit entry for children whose parents do not share their religious faith.
Research in the fourth section, 'values and morality', examines the claim that faith schools are able to promote enduring moral values. Many studies here show that faith schools are primarily motivated to advance the interests of particular religious institutions, a goal that undermines the intellectual freedom and autonomy of their pupils, and that the promotion of religious values often runs contrary to ideals of equality in areas such as sexual orientation and reproductive rights.
The final section, on 'opinion polls', sets out a wide range of polling data questioning the popularity of faith schools in Britain. The evidence here suggests that there is a strong and consistent opposition to the idea of state-funded faith schools, from religious and non-religious citizens alike.
Entries in the research bank have been collated from three key sources of information: (1) peer-reviewed academic articles, based on an extensive survey of more than one hundred journals published during the last decade and a half; (2) reports from third-party organisations, such as think-tanks, charities, and campaign groups; and (3) findings from opinion poll surveys conducted on the issue of faith schools since their introduction.
Each entry in the research bank provides an easily digestible snapshot of the key evidence contained in the study, providing an at-a-glance overview of the central argument and how it relates to the core themes of the debate. All documents are fully referenced, and wherever possible we have provided direct links to the sources that we have used. Where we have been unable to do this (for instance, in the case of academic articles that are viewable by subscription), we have linked to alternative sources (such as the available author copies) as frequently as possible.
It is our intention to expand and update this research bank over the coming months and years, allowing us to include more research findings as they become available. Our hope is that it will provide an invaluable and comprehensive resource for anyone interested in the ongoing debate around faith schools in Britain.
Launch event: The NSS will be holding an online Q&A with Steven Kettell on Thursday 8 April. Click here to register.
Image: LightField Studios/Shutterstock.com
NSS research bank shows deep flaws in case for faith schools
Posted: Tue, 23 Feb 2021 07:00
A substantial new analysis of academic research, published by the National Secular Society, has highlighted significant and myriad weaknesses in the arguments for state-funded faith schools.
The Faith Schools Research Bank, which launched on Tuesday, brings together evidence from almost 200 sources on the impact of faith schools.
The bank has been compiled by University of Warwick academics Steven Kettell and Rebecca Vernon. It outlines evidence in five key areas: social cohesion; performance and selection; choice and admissions; values and morality; and opinion polls.
The NSS says the evidence "provides a compelling and comprehensive case against state-funded faith schools" when taken together.
It adds that it intends the bank to be a valuable resource for policymakers, politicians, academics and anyone else interested in the ongoing debate around faith schools in Britain.
Comments
Co-author Steven Kettell, an associate professor in Warwick's Department of Politics and International Studies, said: "High quality research on the impact of faith schools is often inaccessible to the general public.
"We hope the Faith Schools Research Bank will be an invaluable and comprehensive resource which will change that.
"The evidence shows that faith schools advance the interests of religious institutions, rather than society as a whole. Faith schools foster social division, undermine equality and infringe on pupils' intellectual autonomy. And the arguments made in their favour don't stand up to scrutiny."
NSS head of education Alastair Lichten said the research in the bank presented "a compelling and comprehensive argument against faith schools".
"Supporters of faith schools commonly claim that they provide a social benefit, improved choice, and a superior moral foundation. These claims and more are ground down under the weight of evidence.
"This should act as a wake-up call to policy makers, who should support a secular and inclusive education system to improve social cohesion and enable children to develop their own religious beliefs."
Notes
- The Faith Schools Research Bank is available on the NSS website.
- The research bank mainly focuses on faith schools in England and Wales, although it also draws on evidence from Scotland and Northern Ireland where relevant. More than a third of state-funded schools in England are faith schools.
- The NSS will be holding an online launch event including Q&A with Steven Kettell on Thursday 8 April. Click here to register.
Community school may be lost as faith-based provision is protected
Posted: Fri, 19 Feb 2021 13:30
Parents in Somerset could lose a community school as a result of special provisions which protect faith-based schooling, as the local council considers how to keep schools financially viable.
Schools in the Ilminster and Crewkerne area are in financial difficulties due to changing pupil numbers. Somerset County Council is consulting on possible solutions, but its options are restricted due to special provisions for faith schools.
The council is consulting on a change which would mean a transfer from a three-tier schooling system – where children are grouped by three different age groups – to a two-tier one.
This would result in Swanmead Community Middle School being absorbed into a new Church of England primary school, which may join a C of E backed academy in future.
If schools from the middle and top tier could join an academy trust, the faith and community ethos of existing schools could be preserved.
But this option cannot be explored because the C of E's Diocese of Bath and Wells will not allow faith schools to join trusts unless it's entitled to appoint a majority of trustees to oversee all the schools within it.
Relevant NSS concerns
The National Secular Society recently raised concerns that religious groups are using the academisation process to consolidate their control of schools, and that secular oversight is diminishing.
Previous NSS research has also highlighted a systemic bias in favour of faith schooling during school reorganisations.
The society's research has also shown that thousands of children are sent to faith schools against their parents' preferences each year. Families in the area affected by this row have an extreme restriction on the choice of anything but a faith school.
NSS response
The NSS argues that the community ethos of existing schools should be protected. The society also argues that where schools need to be amalgamated, community ethos provision which serves everyone equally should be prioritised.
The NSS has called on the council to conduct an assessment of the impact of the loss of the community ethos provision on equalities.
NSS head of education Alastair Lichten said the episode highlighted "significant problems caused by undue deference to religious interests in England's education system".
"Decisions around school reorganisation are always difficult for communities. But the restrictions imposed by faith schools' special status add to the stress and create unique challenges.
"Somerset County Council should explore all possible options to maintain community ethos schooling. Local authorities should consider the significant religious decline of recent years, and the increase in religious diversity, when making decisions around school provision.
"But this also shows the need for the government to take action to address the systemic bias in favour of preserving faith schools, the inequities between religious and secular provision in the academisation process, and the disregard for families left with no option but a faith school."
Respond to the consultation
- The council's consultation closes at 5pm on Wednesday 24 February.
Update, 26 August 2021:
Two families have launched legal action against the council over its plans. One of those families is due to argue that the merger between Swanmead and the C of E school, Greenfylde First School, will discriminate against those with no religious beliefs.
There are more details on Somerset Live.
The NSS wrote to the council and the Department for Education earlier this year to urge them to curtail the unreasonable use of the church's veto power.
Note: this story was updated on 22 February.
