Faith Schools Required to Admit Pupils from Wider Community

Under legislation being put forward by the Government on Tuesday, new faith schools in England will be required to admit at least 25 per cent of pupils from the wider community.

The measures will apply to new state-funded faith schools of any religion and are not targeted at the Muslim community, Education Secretary Alan Johnson told BBC radio.

"What the debate about Muslims recently has highlighted is that education is such an important part of ensuring that a society does not become divided," he said.

Earlier this month, the Church of England said all new schools would have at least a quarter of their places open to families that were not practising Christians, with the aim to provide schools that were both Christian and inclusive. The plans have been announced by Kenneth Stevenson, Bishop of Portsmouth and the board's chairman, in a letter to Alan Johnson in a move welcomed by the Government.

The requirement will be put forward as an amendment to the Government's Education Bill, which will be debated in the House of Lords on Tuesday. But it will not be a statutory requirement for all schools.

Local authorities will be able to insist on new faith schools widening their admissions where they think it appropriate.

Where there is local opposition to widening pupil entries, the local authority will have to seek the consent of the Education Secretary for the new faith school to admit less than 25 per cent of non-practising families.

The amendment is similar to one already tabled by former Conservative Education Secretary Ken Baker, now a member of the Lords.

Conservative education spokesman David Willetts has already signalled his party would support such a measure as long as it was not a national requirement for all faith schools.

There are around 7,000 faith schools in England, mostly Church of England or Roman Catholic institutions.