Intake of pupils into faith schools 'skewed'

Some are using a points-based system which favours children whose families are heavily involved in church activities, or can meet their strict criteria on practising the faith, Dr Ian Craig said.

For example, they could have parents who clean the church, take part in bell-ringing, or have baptised their youngster within three months of birth.

Under the admissions code, faith schools are only allowed to give higher priority to children who are members of or practise their religion.

Dr Craig said there were still concerns that some schools

were using stricter criteria than this.

He said: "I would have an issue, generally, you might have in a middle-class area a lot of women who aren't going to work who might be able to go in and clean the church.

"It may well be in a more working-class area there isn't that ability.

"We've come across some issues where that sort of thing, we

feel, benefits the white middle-class area and doesn't necessarily benefit some of the immigrant children that might live in the community."

He added: "I don't generally think we've come across schools that have done that to skew their intake specifically, but our view is it has been skewing the intake."

Dr Craig published the annual report of the Office of the Schools Adjudicator yesterday. Part of the adjudicator's role is to investigate complaints about schools' admissions arrangements.

The report shows that referrals to the adjudicator have almost doubled in the last year, largely down to the increasing number of parents who are lodging objections.

The report also raised concerns about the use of aptitude tests in admissions, saying they are too closely linked to testing ability.

Dr Craig called on ministers to investigate the issue.

Under the code, schools are allowed to recruit up to 10 per cent of their intake based on aptitude for sports, the arts, languages or music. But the report raised concerns that testing in this way was also effectively testing ability, which is banned.

Dr Craig said the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) had looked at a case in which a school was awarding points to children who had been baptised within three months of birth.

This could disadvantage immigrant families, for example those from Eastern European areas, who do not baptise their children until they are a year old, he said. In the highlighted case, the school changed its admissions rules.

The report shows that the OSA dealt with 387 objections to admissions arrangements in 2009-10, up from 201 the previous year.

Dr Craig suggested it was down to parents to police the code to ensure schools comply.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "Maintained faith schools offer parents a genuine choice for their children's education.

"All maintained schools must comply with the School Admissions Code and related legislation, including faith schools which prioritise pupils of their faith.

"In complying with legislation, maintained faith schools should – together with their religious authority – consider carefully any determination which may affect their admissions policies and act accordingly."