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Over 100 children in Torbay assigned to faith schools

Thursday, 2 September 2021 07:55

By Joe Ives, local democracy reporter

It goes against their families' preferences

More than a hundred children in Torbay were assigned to faith schools contrary to their families’ top preferences this year, according to new research.

The data, compiled by the National Secular Society (NSS), a pressure group that campaigns for what it calls a ‘secular democracy,’ shows 109 Torbay pupils whose parents wanted them to go to a non-faith state school were nonetheless assigned to one for this September.

Proportionally this makes Torbay the eighth-worst local authority in England in terms of meeting non-faith school preferences.

The NSS data looked at the three nearest primary and secondary state schools in every postcode in the Bay. On this metric, primary education was most affected. On average only one in five primary schools nearest to any given postcode in Torbay is non-faith. In nearly 15 per cent of postcodes, the three closest primary schools are all faith schools.

In contrast, on average two of the three nearest secondary schools in any given part of Torbay are not connected to organised religion.

NSS, which campaigns for the separation of religion and state, collected the data using freedom of information requests to the Department of Education.

It claims that across England faith schools account for a third (34 per cent) of all state schools – but in Torbay, that figure is 40 per cent. According to the same data, more than 20,000 pupils nationally have been assigned to a faith school for the new school year, despite their families expressing a preference for a non-faith option. 

Speaking on the issue nationally, NSS head of education Alastair Lichten said: “Proponents of faith schools often argue that they are good for parental choice, but these figures show how flawed that argument is. 

“It shouldn’t be acceptable for families’ right to freedom of religion and belief to be undermined when they simply want their children to go to community schools which educate children from all faiths and none together.”

Torbay Council says that every parent in the Bay can state their three preferences in rank order.

A spokesperson for the council added: “Torbay Council has a statutory duty to offer a school place to all children living in the area and every address in Torbay sits within a school catchment area. Generally, parents that express a preference for their catchment area would expect to get a place, however, there is no guarantee. 

“Within Torbay local authority there is one secondary faith school [St Cuthbert Mayne] which welcomes and values all students, regardless of whether they have a faith background or not. All parents have the right to appeal if they are not satisfied with their child’s allocated school.”

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