2009-06-02

More on "faith schools"

On the Government's Teachernet site, we find the following:

Faith schools: working for cohesion
Examples of how faith schools' contribute to community cohesion through their inclusive admissions

The trust deed for Nottingham Emmanuel, a secondary school with a Church of England religious character, explicitly states that 33% of places are for local community children plus places for other faiths. As a result, of the published admission number of 180 places, 60 places are for the local community, 15 places for world faiths and 30 for Church of England primary schools. The remaining places are general places under the school's admission criteria.

Sir John Cass School, a secondary school with a Church of England religious character in Tower Hamlets, offers 20% of its places under its religious admission criteria; 10% as 'language' places; and the remaining 70% as 'open' places. As a result around 80% of pupils at the school are of Muslim faith.

Church of England schools in Norwich have the proximity of the pupil to the school as the first criteria for admissions rather than the faith of the pupil.

The admission policies for the Guru Nanak Sikh Primary and Guru Nanak Sikh Secondary Schools in Hayes give some priority to children of any faith, who attend worship regularly with their parents/carers. The schools' (sic) also gives (sic) priority to pupils with a sibling at the school, regardless of faith, and to children with acute medical needs. Currently the schools' student community consists of Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh students.

Further information on school admissions.

Return to Faith schools: working for cohesion

Published 15 February 2005


Now leaving aside the curious use of the apostrophe in the title, what are we to make of the logic here? Let's try replacing "faith" with "race":

Racially segregated schools: working for cohesion

Examples of how racially segregated schools contribute to community cohesion through their inclusive admissions

The trust deed for Nottingham Whites, a secondary school with an ethnic European character, explicitly states that 33% of places are for local community children plus places for other races. As a result, of the published admission number of 180 places, 60 places are for the local community, 15 places for coloured children and 30 for white children. The remaining places are general places under the school's admission criteria.

John Bull School, a secondary school with an ethnic European character in Tower Hamlets, offers 20% of its places under its racial admission criteria; 10% as 'language' places; and the remaining 70% as 'open' places. As a result around 80% of pupils at the school are coloured.

Black schools in Norwich have the proximity of the pupil to the school as the first criteria for admissions rather than the race of the pupil.

The admission policies for the whites only Primary and Secondary Schools in Hayes give some priority to children of any race, who attend Aryan meetings regularly with their parents/carers. The schools also give priority to pupils with a sibling at the school, regardless of race, and to children with acute medical needs. Currently the schools' student community consists of whites, coloureds, and black students.

Further information on school admissions.

Return to Racially segregated schools: working for cohesion

Published 15 February 2005


The Government, promoting sense through nonsense.

(I look forward to a Government report on how criminality promotes social morality because some crooks sometimes give back some of what they have stolen…… actually, thinking about it, that’s exactly what Ofcom & PhonepayPlus do say when it comes to premium rate crooks..hmmm)

2 comments:

  1. i have my own opinions on religion and faith schools in the UK. I think you need to make (whatever point it is you are trying to make here) clearer.

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  2. Well I suppose the main point I'm trying to make is that segregating children in accordance with their parents' religions is as wicked as segregating children in accordance with their ethnicity.

    Moreover, since the particular faith followed by an individual is almost always determined by accident of birth rather than by rational examination of the evidence, segregating children in accordance with their parents' religions will usually lead to segregating children in accordance with their ethnicity.

    Finally, I wished to make the point that the argument that religious segregation is ok because it does not necessarily imply 100% segregation is simply nonsensical. Either you believe in segregation or you believe in integration.

    PS This was a rather throw-away post. I discuss the arguments in more systematic fashion here:
    http://badreason99.blogspot.com/2009/06/faith-in-schools-dialogue.html

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