Faith schools ‘treating children in care unfairly’

Martin Shipton

Campaign group Humanists UK has called for a change to school admission policies they say allow faith schools in Wales to treat children in care unfairly.

The call comes after Education Minister Lynne Neagle told the Senedd that the Welsh Government was “not aware of any evidence” that such discrimination was happening.

However, Wales Humanists published a report last year alleging that nearly half of Catholic schools in Wales actively discriminate against children who are or were in care in their admissions.

In response to the Minister’s comments, the group has decided to name all the schools that it found to discriminate in this way.

Ms Neagle made the statement in response to a question from Labour MS Jenny Rathbone, who asked: “what oversight … the Welsh Government [has over] the compliance of schools, including faith schools, to prioritise places for looked-after children in their admissions criteria?”

Prioritise

The School Admissions Code requires all schools in Wales to prioritise “looked after” and “previously looked after” children, otherwise known as “care-experienced” children. These are some of the most vulnerable children in society and they often have complex and poorly met needs, including educational needs. However, argue the Humanists, loopholes in the Code mean that faith schools are exempted from the broad duties of care to these children that apply to other schools. As the rules stand, they can prioritise all children deemed to be “of the faith” over care-experienced children who are “not of the faith”.

In their report Careless or Uncaring? How Faith Schools in Wales Turn Away care-experienced Children, Wales Humanists published the results of a survey of all the admissions policies for religious schools in Wales. It found that 43% of Catholic schools and 1% of Church in Wales schools discriminate in this way.

These policies, they argue, put vulnerable children to the back of the queue for school places simply for being of the “wrong” or of no religion. In areas where faith schools dominate over other schools, these children may not gain admission to any local school.

Wales Humanists has now named 34 primary schools and two secondary schools which it says are engaging in such discrimination.

The primary schools are: Blaenau Gwent: St Mary’s Roman Catholic; Bridgend: St Mary’s R C Primary School, St. Mary’s & St. Patrick’s, St. Robert’s RC Primary; Cardiff: St Cuthbert’s RC Primary, St. Peter’s Primary School, Christ The King Primary School, St Philip Evans Primary School, St Alban’s RC Primary School, St. Mary’s RC Primary School, St Patrick’s RC School, St Bernadette’s Primary School, St. Francis RC Primary School; Carmarthenshire: Pentip V.A. C.I.W. Primary School; Conwy: Ysgol San Sior; Flintshire: St Winefrides, St David’s Catholic Primary School, St David’s Catholic Primary School, St Mary’s; Gwynedd: Ysgol Santes Helen, Ysgol Ein Harglwyddes; Monmouthshire: Our Lady & St Michael’s RC; Newport: St. Davids Primary, St Joseph’s RC Junior and Infants, St Mary’s Primary School, St Michael’s RC Primary School, St Patrick’s RC Primary, St. Gabriel’s RC; Rhondda Cynon Taf: Our Lady’s RC, St. Margaret’s Catholic Primary School; Vale of Glamorgan: St. Joseph’s RC Primary School, St Helen’s Catholic Primary School; Torfaen: St. David’s RC School, Cwmbran; Padre Pio RC Primary School.

The two secondary schools on the Humanists’ list are Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School in Bridgend and St. Joseph’s RC High School in Newport.

With the exception of Pentip V.A. C.I.W. Primary School in Carmarthenshire and Ysgol San Sior in Conwy, both of which are Church in Wales schools, the rest are all Roman Catholic schools.

‘Unfair’

A spokesperson for Wales Humanists said: “While most faith school admissions policies surveyed were clearly unfair but technically lawful due to loopholes in the Code, some went beyond what the law permits. For example, St David’s Roman Catholic Primary School, Cwmbran gives ‘highest priority’ to care-experienced children within each admissions category, rather than overall.

“Since these categories place not only baptised Catholic children, but also children of other Christian denominations and other faith backgrounds ahead of the non-religious, care-experienced children in lower priority categories can end up behind non-care-experienced children of faiths other than that of the school. This directly violates the Code, which requires schools to ‘give a higher priority to looked after children and previously looked after children not of the faith than other children not of that faith’.”

Humanists UK Education Policy Researcher Dr Ruth Wareham said: “Our research clearly demonstrates that many faith schools in Wales are placing religious adherence above the needs of some of the most vulnerable children in our society. In doing so, they are exploiting loopholes in the School Admissions Code and undermining the principle that all children, regardless of background or belief, deserve equal access to education.

“The Welsh Government must take immediate action to close these loopholes and ensure that no child is denied a place at their local school simply because they are not of the ‘right’ faith – or of any faith at all.”

‘Faith’

A spokesperson for the Welsh Government said: “In accordance with the School Admissions Code, when deciding on their oversubscription criteria, faith schools must give first priority to looked after children of their faith, however higher priority may be given to looked after children not of their faith. It is for the admission authority to determine the order of their oversubscription criteria, and we will work with admission authorities to re-emphasise the importance of prioritising all looked after children in admissions policies regardless of faith.”

A Gwasanaeth Addysg Gatholig (Catholic Education Service) spokesperson said: “All schools can prioritise pupils according to criteria agreed in law when oversubscribed, including Catholic schools, though due to falling school populations this is rarely necessary. Catholic schools were originally established to serve the children of poor immigrant communities in the 19th century and continue to do so to this day, with the highest proportion of students and staff from ethnic minority backgrounds in Wales.”