Good news from South West London Humanists: North Kingston campaign
SW London Humanists this week celebrated the success of their North Kingston campaign for inclusive education and against a proposed new secondary school being run by the Church of England when the Office of the Schools Adjudicator announced its decision in favour of a bid to manage the school from Kingston Education Trust, a consortium of Kingston Council, Kingston University and the local FE College.
SWLH found much support from local parents for an inclusive neighbourhood school that would not discriminate against their children on religious grounds.
A key role for humanists was to point out what local people often didn’t know and weren’t being told by supporters of the Diocese bid: how much influence the Church would have over the school’s admissions policy for its very small financial investment; that, whatever the Diocese were saying about admissions, policies could change and the school become more religiously selective in future years; and that the fact that many local parents sent their children to Church primary schools demonstrated only that, for historic reasons, there were a great many of them within walking distance, not that parents were committed to faith-based education and demanding its continuation at secondary level.
For the full report from South West London Humanists, including a link to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator’s decision, see http://humanists.uk/wp-content/uploads/good-news-from-swlh.pdf.
Notes
The BHA supported SW London Humanists in their campaign for inclusive education. More information about the BHA’s work for inclusive education and against divisive ‘faith’ schools.