Around a third of all state-funded schools in England and Wales are schools ‘with a religious character’ – the legal term for ‘faith schools’, as they are known in England and Wales, or denominational schools, as they are known in Scotland and Northern Ireland. This number has grown in recent years as successive governments have increased the influence of religious groups in the state-funded education system.
We aim for a secular state guaranteeing human rights, with no privilege or discrimination on grounds of religion or belief, and so we campaign against faith schools, and for an inclusive, secular schools system, where children and young people of all different backgrounds and beliefs can learn with and from each other. We challenge faith schools’ admissions, employment and curriculum policies, as well as the privileged processes by which new faith schools continue to open.
We maintain a table describing the types of faith school and explaining their privileges and exemptions, as well as comprehensive annual data on how many of each of these types of school there are. You can help us by being alert to proposals for new faith schools in your area, challenging them when they arise, and working to make existing faith schools more inclusive in their admissions and other policies.
