Session 2024-25
Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill
Written evidence submitted by the National Secular Society (NSS) (CWSB121)
Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill
Introduction
1.1. This response is made on behalf of the National Secular Society (NSS).
1.2. The NSS is a not-for-profit, non-governmental civil society organisation founded in 1866, funded by its members and by donations. We advocate for separation of religion and state and promote secularism as the best means of creating a society in which people of all religions and none can live together fairly and cohesively. We seek a diverse society where all are free to practise their faith, change it, or to have no faith at all. We uphold the universality of individual human rights, which should never be overridden on the grounds of religion, tradition or culture.
1.3. We campaign for an education system which equally respects the rights and freedoms of pupils, families and teachers of all backgrounds. Our secular approach to education aims to ensure all publicly funded schools are equally welcoming to all children and their families.
2. Executive summary
2.1. We are particularly interested in the implications of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill in two areas: 1) tackling the problem of unregistered faith ‘schools’ and 2) faith-based admissions at state funded schools.
2.2. Regarding 1), we welcome the measures in the bill regarding children not in school and independent educational institutions. These measures will help protect children from being trapped in unregistered, unsafe and unsuitable settings.
2.3. Regarding 2), we are concerned the proposals could lead to the proliferation of faith schools which select 100% of children based on religion. We therefore urge the committee to support the amendment to the bill tabled by Munira Wilson MP which would mean new state funded schools could allocate no more than half of pupil places on basis of faith.
2.4. We also call for measures to ensure local authorities prioritise opening community schools without a religious character or ethos, which treat children and families of all religion and belief backgrounds equally and therefore help to bring communities together.
3. Children not in school, Independent educational institutions
3.1. We support clauses 24 to 38 of the bill. These measures will help protect children who are not in a registered school, including those attending unregistered faith ‘schools’ such as yeshivas. These settings frequently deprive children of secular education (including spoken and written English), expose children to highly unsafe and unsuitable environments, and use inappropriate and illegal practices such as corporal punishment [1] .
3.2. We are concerned that the previous government’s Schools Bill was shelved following protests from fundamentalist religious leaders, particular those of the Charedi (‘strictly Orthodox’) Jewish community [2] . This previous bill featured similar measures to crack down on unregistered schools. We urge policymakers to reject alarmist rhetoric from extremist religious leaders who claim regulating home education and unregistered settings is inconsistent with freedom of religion or belief. The freedom to practise a religion does not give groups the right to deprive children of an adequate education in a safe setting.
4. Opening new schools
4.1. We do not oppose clauses 51 to 55 in principle, which would remove the ‘free school presumption’. However, we are concerned the removal of this presumption will make it considerably easier for local authorities to open voluntary aided (VA) faith schools. While new religious free schools have faith-based admissions capped at 50%, no such cap exists for VA faith schools, which can select all pupils based on religion as part of their admissions criteria when oversubscribed. These clauses could therefore lead to a new wave of highly discriminatory faith schools.
4.2. An increase in fully selective faith schools would be regressive and pose significant risks to social cohesion, equality, and inclusion in our communities. Faith-based selection disadvantages families who do not share the religion of the school and contributes to social division. Recent research has demonstrated faith schools are more socially selective [3] , create barriers for looked-after and previously looked-after children [4] , and admit fewer pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) [5] . They also segregate our children, and thus our communities and society, along religious and ethnic [6] lines, which is inimical to the promotion of integration and mutual respect.
4.3. Other concerns regarding VA faith schools , include their ability to teach confessional religious education and the use of ‘religious tests’ in appointing, promoting, disciplining and setting the salary of any teacher.
4.4. The bill would also enable voluntary controlled (VC) schools to open more easily. While these are less likely to operate faith-based oversubscription criteria, it is legal for them to do so. Research by Humanists UK into religious selection at Church of England schools found some VC schools do use religious oversubscription criteria [7] .
4.5. In a recent broadcast of BBC Radio 4’s Sunday, the Department for Education said: "Under the proposals the local authority will be able to commission the right new schools for their area that meet local authority need for places. It is highly unlikely that the need for places would be met by schools that intended to operate a 100% faith-based admissions arrangement" [8] .
4.6. We share the DfE’s view that schools operating faith-based admissions are highly unlikely to meet any local authority’s need for places. We know that many parents have been particularly badly affected by the presence of selective faith schools [9] . We believe this underscores the need for an approach to the opening of new schools centred on inclusivity, equality and social cohesion. This is particularly important given England’s rapid and profound demographic changes: Christians are now a shrinking minority, while the second largest religion or belief group are the nonreligious. Members of minority religions including Islam and Hinduism are steadily increasing [10] . It is vital that in such a religiously diverse and irreligious environment, resources are best utilised on schools which accommodate all children and families, and which promote cohesion between communities of different religions and beliefs, rather than driving them apart.
4.7. After meeting with DfE officials in January, we believe provisions must be added to the bill to ensure local authorities prioritise opening inclusive community schools, rather than religiously selective faith schools. Without these protections, local authorities are likely to face mounting pressure from religious groups, particularly those advocating for the establishment of 100% selective VA schools, thus further deepening societal divisions rather than promoting inclusivity.
4.8. The Catholic Church, which dominates the VA faith school sector, is especially uncompromising in its position on faith-based selection. It claims ‘canon law’ means it cannot open any school which does not have the ability to select 100% of pupils based on religion when oversubscribed [11] . It lobbied aggressively for the existing 50% cap on faith-based admissions at free schools to be removed [12] , which resulted in the previous Conservative government initiating plans to abolish the cap [13] . We fear local authorities will be put under the same pressure as the previous government by the Catholic Church and other religious groups to open VA schools with fully selective admissions.
4.9. We therefore urge the committee to support the amendment tabled to the bill by Munira Wilson MP: "New schools to allocate no more than half of pupil places on basis of faith" [14] . We believe this safeguard is necessary to prevent the opening of VA (and other school types) that can select 100% of pupils based on religion.
4.10. We also call for measures to ensure local authorities prioritise opening community schools without a religious character or ethos, which treat children and families of all religion and belief backgrounds equally and therefore help to bring communities together. Northern Ireland has long recognised the problem of schools which segregate children according to religion, and is working to address this through the duty on the Assembly to promote integrated schools which proactively teach children from different backgrounds together. England should similarly prioritise schools which enhance community cohesion and integration, rather than fostering segregation and division.
January 2025
[1] For examples, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq66V_H5JaM
[3] https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/selective-comprehensives-2024/
[4] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66054105e8c4420011220428/OSA_Annual_Report_2023.pdf
[5] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03054985.2023.2249818
[7] https://humanists.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017-12-18-LW-v6-FINAL-No-Room-At-The-Inn.pdf
[8] https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0026tz6
[9] Example: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/how-much-control-should-liverpool-24914227
[13] https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/faith-school-designation-reforms
[14] https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-01/0151/amend/children_day_pbc_0121.pdf