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The local consequences of faith-based selection:

RISC has a core aim to "highlight any cases where [faith-based admissions systems have] negative consequences locally, such as covert social or racial selection".  We'll add more information to this section as the process evolves, including:

 

  • Highlighting anomalies in the social make-up of local faith schools:

    A Catholic primary school in Twickenham has been highlighted in the national press as having one of the lowest intake of children on free school meals in the country; ten times lower than the community school in the same street.  We've published some borough-wide statistics, showing that faith-based admissions may be leading to discrimination against deprived children within the borough.

  • Monitoring the impact on specific groups, such as children with special educational needs (SEN), or bulge class cohorts:

    • One issue that has come to our attention relates to families with children at SEN units co-located with faith schools.  Read more...
    • We've also been alerted to an issue with a bulge class in Teddington, where younger siblings from non-religious families will have only a very slim chance of attending the same school as their older brothers and sisters.  Read more...
  • Identifying Black Holes for Community Admissions:

    There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that community access to primary school places is severely restricted in some areas of the borough.  Local MP Vince Cable has raised concerns about the level of competition, and the need for church schools to play their part in alleviating it.  RISC has published a major report into the impact of faith-based admissions policies at our local primaries, with simple recommendations for school governors on how to improve community access to their schools.  Read the report ...

 

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