News by email Donate

Suggestions

Top Stories

Most Read

Popular Videos

school-cross-on-wall-main_article_image.jpg
Photofusion/REX
UK News

Church of England rejects faith school criticisms

by Aaron James

It hit back against the claim in an open letter to the Times after one of its columnists, Rachel Sylvester, wrote a piece called "Faith schools encourage a form of apartheid" - a reference to the former political system in South Africa where black people were legally discriminated against in favour of white people.

In the column Sylvester said: "As Britain becomes more secular it is time to separate education and faith. Nobody would ever support hospitals, or trains, run on religious grounds.

"There is nothing One Nation about faith schools".

Sylvester also criticised the government's removal of a cap, on the amount of children faith schools can take from a certain religion. Previously those schools could only select up to 50% of pupils based on faith if they were oversubscribed - now they can select as many as they want on that basis.

Her column was based on two recent reports. One was by Dame Louise Casey, which said Britain is more socially divided than ever. It highlighted areas with particularly high concentrations of south Asian Muslims.

The other was by the Education Policy Institute, a thinktank which found Christian schools have a lower proportion of children from deprived backgrounds than secular schools.

Writing in response Rev Nigel Genders, Chief Education Officer for the Church of England, said: "More than half of the 4,700 Church of England schools have no faith criteria for admissions. Many of those that do, do so precisely to encourage disadvantaged pupils and a diverse social mix.

"A proposed 'lifting of the cap' will not change our approach. Our schools are popular with families of all faiths and no faith."

"The Church of England will continue its long tradition of providing church schools for the community."

A Monthly Gift Of $11 Makes A World Of Difference

In a world of fake news there’s never been a greater need for quality Christian journalism. Premier’s mission is to provide the Church with the most up to date and relevant news, told from a Christian perspective. But we can’t do it without you.

Unlike many websites we haven't put up a paywall — we want to keep our journalism free at the point of need and as open as we can. Premier’s news output takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. No one in the USA is sharing news like we are across radio, magazines and online so please help us to continue that today.

For a monthly gift of $11 or more we’d also be able to send you a free copy of the brand new Premier Bible, a wonderful Anglicised version of the NLT packed with exclusive bonus content, reading plan and resources to help you get the most out of scripture.

Your monthly support will make a world of difference. Thank you.

Support Us
Continue the conversation on our Facebook page

Related Articles

Sign up to our newsletter to stay informed with news from a Christian perspective.

News by email

Connect

Donate

Donate