The Government has today announced state funding for two more religiously designated Free Schools, as part of the ‘fifth wave’ of Free Schools due to open from 2015. The pair are amongst eight new mainstream schools announced in total. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has expressed regret at the continuing increase in the number of ‘faith’ schools.
The two new schools are Didsbury CE Free School, a Church of England primary school in Manchester, and King Solomon International Business School, a Christian secondary school in Birmingham. Fewer schools have been announced than in previous years because the Government have moved from accepting, assessing and announcing proposals in one ‘wave’ per year to three.
Ten more religious schools were approved in December, and 25 were approved in May last year.
BHA Faith Schools Campaigner Richy Thompson commented, ‘We’re disappointed to see even more religious schools are being set up with state funds. Such schools are discriminatory in their admissions and employment policies and in the content of the curriculum. Most people don’t want them and very few people consider religion important when choosing where to send their children to school. But the powerful church lobby group, already with control of a third of schools, is able to use its predominance to continue to grow the number and proportion of schools that are religious. This is wrong and should be reversed.’
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For further comment or information, please contact Richy Thompson on 020 7324 3072.
Read the Government’s announcement: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/successful-free-school-proposals-announced
Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on ‘faith’ schools: https://humanists.uk/campaigns/religion-and-schools/faith-schools
View the BHA’s table of types of school with a religious character: https://humanists.uk/wp-content/uploads/schools-with-a-religious-character.pdf
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.