Do the admission procedures for ‘faith’ places help CofE schools ‘cherry pick’ middle-class children?
No, national and diocesan guidance on admissions to Voluntary Aided schools stress the importance of simple, clear criteria, which (for ‘faith’ places) focus solely on attendance at worship, either on Sunday or another day of the week. There is nothing inherently ‘middle class’ about going to church (and if parents are opposed to attending worship it is difficult to see why they would be seeking a place at a school because of its Christian foundation and ethos). The CofE has always supported the ban on interviews, additional tests or the seeking of other information about the family. The Church’s own analysis shows that, across the whole school stock (secondary and primary), the CofE has an almost identical proportion of schools labelled as having ‘severe’ disadvantage (over 30% eligible for free school meals) as the rest of the state sector.
