|TOP|Councillors on Northumberland County Council have hit out against faith schools as the provision of free travel for pupils attending faith schools in the region continues to face an uncertain future.

Currently pupils attending faith schools outside their catchment area are provided free transport to enable them to attend the schools on religious grounds.

In the case of pupils who seek education out of their catchment area on grounds other than religious beliefs, the parents are required to shoulder the responsibility of bringing their children to and from the schools by themselves.

The issue of free travel to faith schools has received a mixed reaction from Blyth Valley Council, while Cllr Bernard Pidcock claimed that faith schools ‘breed bigotry’.

Numerous councillors throughout the region have also come out to argue that faith schools are a form of prejudice and that all pupils in the education system should be treated the same, reports Blyth and Wansbeck Today.

|QUOTE|It is expected that the county council will decide in favour of axing the free transport provision to faith schools outside the catchment area, forcing parents to find other means of transport.

Cllr Ian Tompkins said: “Choice in schools is government policy but choices have costs.

"So if parents choose to send their children out of the catchment area, they should pick up the cost of doing so."

Meanwhile Cllr Pidcock said that children should be able to be educated in a faith system if that is the wish of the parents while expressing his disapproval of faith schools.

"If parents want their children to be brought up in a faith system they should be allowed to do that, but not in the existing education system,” he said.

Cllr Pidcock added that children should be taught in a multi-cultural environment and not be segregated from people of different backgrounds.

|AD|"I am not against faith education, but I am against faith schools," he said. "I really genuinely believe they breed prejudice and bigotry."

Around 700 children at Roman Catholic and Church of England first and middle schools throughout the region benefit from the free home to school transport currently provided by the county council at an annual cost of around £600,000.

Cllr Wayne Daley came out to defend the free transport, warning that some parents simply do not have the choice but to send their children to faith schools outside of the catchment area.

"At the end of the day it is about individual choice and this is discrimination," he said.

Hampshire County Council is also considering withdrawing the free transport for children attending faith schools, which it has provided since the 1944 Education Act was introduced.

Parents in Rushmoor who send their children across the Hampshire-Surrey border to All Hallows Catholic School in Weybourne decried the plans, warning that the removal of free transport would in effect take away their right to send their children to a Catholic school.

Kairen Harris said the move would force her to find other schools for her two younger children, who currently attend St Bernadette’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Farnborough, because she cannot afford bus fares.

She said: “I believe it is my right as a parent and a Catholic to choose to have my children educated at a Catholic school.

“I chose to send my children to Catholic schools so they could benefit from what I think is a superior education.

“Unfortunately without free transport I would have to seriously consider moving my children to an inferior school, disrupting their education and alienating them from friends that they have been through the school system with.

“As the majority of children attending the school use the bus service many pupils would be moved, putting our school at risk. It would be morally wrong if All Hallows was to close because of a lack of pupils.”

Deputy head of All Hallows, John Bird, told Aldershot News and Mail: “I think our parents have been very, very worried about it. It is not just the present students that it will affect but also their younger brothers and sisters and future parents who aren’t actually being consulted.

“I certainly think it would make a difference to the school if they did withdraw the funding."

With some parents having two or three children at the school, Mr Bird estimated that parents could be left footing a transport bill of around £1,500 just to get their children to their schools.

Mr Bird said: “I’d like to say though that parents are very grateful and the schools are very grateful that the council does support transport to school.

“We know it costs a lot of money but we feel really that it’s a right to be able to have that transport.”

If Northumberland County Council votes in favour of ending the free transport provision parents will be left to foot the bill themselves as of September 2007.