The UK Government’s new ‘missions’ to improve the outcomes of disadvantaged children need to be matched by a commitment to tackle unfair religious selection by faith schools, Humanists UK has said.

The Education Secretary has announced new ‘missions’ in the North East and coastal communities which are aimed at improving the outcomes of children in some of the most disadvantaged parts of the country. While welcoming the focus on disadvantaged children, Humanists UK says the plan ignores one of the ways inequality is built into the school system: through the ability of state-funded faith schools to select pupils on religious grounds.

Areas with more faith schools have higher levels of socio-economic segregation

Research by the Sutton Trust in 2024 found that areas with more faith schools, particularly those areas with Catholic schools, have higher levels of socio-economic segregation than those areas with fewer schools with a religious character.

An example in the North East is St Cuthbert’s High School, a Catholic secondary school in Newcastle that has a faith-based admissions criteria for applicants. Current government data shows that 40.2% of pupils at St Cuthbert’s are eligible for free school meals. However nearby Excelsior Academy, a school of no religious character, has a far higher rate, at 69.9%.

In Scarborough, a coastal community highlighted by ministers as having poor outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, St Augustine’s Catholic School is a Catholic secondary that also applies a faith-based admissions process. 19.6% of its pupils are eligible for free school meals. Nearby Graham School, which has no religious character, has a much higher proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals (36.9%) and lower Attainment 8 scores.

Humanists UK says the contrast shows how disadvantaged pupils can be concentrated very unevenly between neighbouring schools, with some schools educating a much larger share of poorer pupils than others. It said the Government must look not only at extra support for pupils, but at how faith admissions can shape disadvantage locally.

School Admissions Code Review must include faith admissions

Humanists UK also notes that the Government’s announcement refers to working with ‘faith groups’ as part of the missions, but does not address the role of faith-school admissions in shaping who gets access to which schools. They have called for faith-based admissions to be subject of this review.

Disappointingly, the Government remains committed to faith-based admissions. Responding to a written parliamentary question on the Schools Admissions Code Review from All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group member, Jeff Smith MP, education minister Georgia Gould said it was ‘important faith schools can set admissions criteria that work for their local circumstances’.

Loopholes must be closed

Humanists UK has also urged Ministers to close loopholes created as a result of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act. The Act has reopened a path for new 100% religiously selective state-funded schools. This will undermine the 50% cap on faith free schools, which Humanists UK research has shown improves ethnic integration in schools. Humanists UK, which led the campaign to amend the Act as it went through Parliament so that the cap was applied to all new religious schools able to open due to measures in the Act, will continue to make the case for the cap’s application to all schools.

Humanists UK’s Policy and Campaigns Manager, Lewis Young, said:

‘The Government is right to focus on improving outcomes for disadvantaged children, but these missions need to be matched with a concerted effort to tackle the way faith-based admissions divide children.

‘If the Government is serious about helping disadvantaged children in places like the North East and coastal communities, it must make sure that every state-funded school is open equally to every child, regardless of their parents’ religion or belief. Any review of the School Admissions Code must include faith-based admissions.’