The Department for Education has announced ten new religious Academies that will be built as part of its Targeted Basic Need Programme (TBNP), which is intend to establish new schools where there is a shortage of places. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has questioned how religious schools can seek to meet the basic need of the whole of their communities.
The ten schools include four established by Church of England dioceses, five established by Oasis Community Learning (which has a Christian ethos) and one established by another school that will also have a Christian ethos.
BHA Faith Schools Campaigner Richy Thompson commented, ‘Religious schools, by definition, seek to serve and meet the needs of members of a particular religion, to the exclusion of those with other religions and of no religion. The state funding of religious schools is therefore discriminatory and divisive. But it is even more surprising that the Government would choose to perpetuate such discrimination when it is looking to establish new schools are intended to meet a basic need for additional places.
‘We urge the Government to review its policy of establishing new religious schools.’
Full details of the new schools:
| Local authority | Project | Phase | Sponsor |
| Bradford | Douglas Road – BD4 8QW | Secondary | Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust |
| Bristol | Markesbury – BS3 5JL | Primary | Oasis Community Learning |
| Bristol | Fairlawn Road – BS6 5JL | Primary | Colston’s Girls’ School Trust |
| Croydon | Segas – CR0 1YL | Primary | Oasis Community Learning |
| Croydon | South Norwood – SE25 4QL | Secondary | Oasis Community Learning |
| Hillingdon | Yiewsley – UB7 9AE | Primary | London Diocesan Board for Schools Frays Academy Trust |
| Kent | Isle of Sheppey – ME12 3GN | Primary | Oasis Community Learning |
| Plymouth | Derriford – PL6 5AA | Primary | Diocese of Exeter |
| Sheffield | Attercliffe – S9 3TL | Primary | Oasis Community Learning |
| Swindon | Tadpole Farm – SN26 8DZ | Primary | Diocese of Bristol Academies Trust (DBAT) |
In total 39 more schools were announced.
Notes
For further comment or information, please contact Richy Thompson at richy@humanists.uk or on 020 3675 0959.
Read the Department for Education’s announcement: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bt-mossbourne-academy-and-the-harris-federation-named-among-sponsors-of-new-academies
Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on ‘faith’ schools: https://humanists.uk/campaigns/religion-and-schools/faith-schools
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.