Faith school takeovers are not the answer to falling pupil numbers

As councils across England grapple with falling pupil numbers, our Policy and Campaigns Manager, Lewis Young, looks at why difficult decisions about school closures and mergers must not be allowed to become a back door route to more faith school takeovers.

A worrying pattern of faith school takeovers

Councils across England are facing hard choices as pupil numbers fall. A recent Schools Week report found that one in three councils expect more than a fifth of primary school places to be unfilled next year. The UK Government is also preparing to work with councils on how to manage the issue, amid growing pressure for a planned national approach.

Dealing with falling pupil numbers is not easy, but decisions must be made fairly and in the interests of the whole community. The answer must not be to default to faith school takeovers.

Humanists UK has seen a worrying pattern in recent years: where falling numbers are cited as the reason for reorganising schools, the proposed solution too often involves closing or merging a school of no religious character into a faith school. That may reduce the number of school places, but it can also permanently remove inclusive local provision and leave families with fewer genuine choices.

Community schools under threat

In 2024 in Southwark, Charlotte Sharman Primary School faced a proposal to merge it with St Jude’s Church of England Primary School and form a new voluntary aided faith school. This was despite the fact that 38% of the population of St George’s ward identified as having no religion, compared to 37.3% identifying as Christian, and 12% identifying as Muslim. In our response we warned that the proposal would remove the only school of no religious character in St George’s ward, despite Charlotte Sharman having more pupils than St Jude’s. The merger was later dropped, but Charlotte Sharman subsequently faced a separate closure proposal.

In 2025 in Bristol – one of the most non-religious cities in England with 51% of its population identifying as such – Hotwells Primary School, a long-standing school of no religious character, was threatened with merger into Cathedral Primary School, a Church of England school. Humanists UK warned that the proposal would remove the only primary school of no religious character in the immediate area and leave every local primary school with a Church of England character. The Department for Education ultimately rejected the merger, a victory for the local community.

Earlier this year, Surrey County Council released plans to merge Merrow Junior School with Merrow C of E Controlled Infant School. If approved, this would have seen a community junior school become part of a Church of England faith school. However, following strong local opposition, Surrey County Council launched a second consultation which, crucially, includes the option of creating a foundation school of no religious character. That consultation closes on 10 July.

Is your school under threat of a merger with a faith school? Get in touch.

Not just a name change

These cases matter because school organisation decisions aren’t just about changing a name or consolidating resources. When a school of no religious character is absorbed into a faith school, changes to governance, admissions, ethos, teaching, and employment follow. That is especially serious where the school being lost is the only non-faith option in the area. A child should not be left with only faith school options because a council has decided that, in a falling numbers crisis, the easiest merger is the one that preserves religious control.

Planning must be fair and inclusive

Councils should also be alert to the risk of unfairness. They should not assume that the faith school’s identity should survive while the school of no religious character disappears. In some cases, the fairest answer may be a merged school of no religious character serving the whole community.

This is not an argument against planning. But planning should begin from clear principles:

• Do they protect inclusive provision? 
• Is the impact on families of different religions and beliefs being properly assessed? 
• Are meaningful efforts being made to avoid reducing parental choice?

Councils should be using this checklist as they put forward these proposals.

Update national guidance

Guidance already says school proposals should show how they will support integration, welcome pupils of all faiths and beliefs, and meet the needs of all families. But there is no clear requirement for councils to consider a school of no religious character when closures or mergers are proposed. That should change. Where a merger into a faith school would leave an area without non-faith provision, councils should have to show that a genuinely inclusive alternative has been properly considered.

Falling pupil numbers may be unavoidable, but faith school takeovers are not

If councils are to make difficult decisions in the years ahead, they must do so in a way that protects inclusive education and the rights of all families, not in a way that entrenches religious privilege in the state school system.

That means looking carefully at which schools are being protected, which are being lost, and whether local families will still have access to a school that welcomes children equally, regardless of religion or belief. A shrinking school population should not lead to a shrinking of parental choice, nor should financial pressure be used to justify permanent changes to the religious character of local education. The priority must be fewer surplus places, not fewer inclusive, community schools.