Leadership

Illegal admission criteria for religious schools

This year's annual report by the chief schools adjudicator, Sir Philip Hunter, has confirmed that a disproportionally high number of faith schools failed to fully implement the government's new code on admissions. Yet, whilst the statistics are high, how many of the complaints made by parents are justified?

This year’s annual report by the chief schools adjudicator, Sir Philip Hunter, has confirmed that a disproportionally high number of faith schools failed to fully implement the government's new code on admissions. Yet, whilst the statistics are high, how many of the complaints made by parents are justified?

Much has been written recently about the illegal admissions practices uncovered at 3,500 faith schools, foundation schools and academies by the Schools Adjudicator, Sir Philip Hunter, in a study ordered by schools secretary Ed Balls into admissions code compliance.

Faith schools, in particular, have been found to be among the worst offenders for breaching admissions rules.

The report concluded that there was ‘evidence of widespread and serious departures from the Code,’ and that failure to adhere to the admissions arrangements may have led to potentially thousands of families being wrongly refused places at their chosen schools, with little hope of having the decision reversed.

The accusations included asking illegal questions about parents' marital and employment status, and the charging of fees by asking for financial contributions - particularly by Jewish schools who said they needed the money for religious teaching and extra security.

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