The Department for Education has announced the final eleven Free Schools to open in 2011, bringing the total number to 24. Five of these eleven have a religious ethos, bringing the overall number of religious Free Schools to eleven of the 24 – just shy of half – a fact the British Humanist Association (BHA) has labelled ‘alarming’.
The five schools include the Maharishi School, a school that will teach Transcendental Meditation, a philosophy with Hindu roots; Discovery New School, a Church of England school; Langley Hall Primary Academy, a Christian school; Priors Free School, a Christian school that does not intend to religiously discriminate in admissions, but may still discriminate in employment and teach an unbalanced curriculum; and Sandbach School, a converting private school which describes itself as ‘not affiliated to a particular religion or religious denomination, but [with] a strong spiritual ethos within broad Christian traditions.’ Even if Sandbach School chooses not to be formally designated as Christian, it will still be able to teach a narrower curriculum than that taught by community schools.
BHA Campaigner Richy Thompson commented, ‘Free Schools are very attractive to religious groups because they are able to discriminate on religious grounds in up to 50% of their intake, are able to religiously discriminate when employing all their staff, and can teach a biased curriculum in areas such as Religious Education, Collective Worship and Sex and Relationships Education.
‘It is alarming that so many of the first Free Schools, which are meant to open up high quality education to children of all backgrounds, in fact exclude many in their catchment, and instead continue the religious segregation of the state education system.’
The first Free Schools open on 5th September, with all 24 to be open by the end of the month.
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For further comment or information, please contact Richy Thompson on 020 7462 4993.
Read the Department for Education press release, 24 Free Schools to open across England this year.
Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on ‘faith’ schools.
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.