What's happening?
Due to high demand on school places in Inverclyde, the council have agreed to expand St Columba's High School in Gourock. They are also consulting on proposals which will affect both denominational and non-denominational schools in the area. These proposals include options to:
- Convert one of the non-denominational primary schools into a Catholic faith school.
- Open a new campus with both a Catholic and non-denominational school in West Inverclyde.
- Introduce religious selection so that only pupils with a certificate of Baptism into the Catholic faith will be able to automatically transfer from village schools to Roman Catholic secondary schools.
- Remove non-denominational village schools as feeder schools for denominational secondary schools.
UPDATE 14/01/2020: A report to Inverclyde Council's education and communities committee does not recommend options 1, 2 and 4 above. But the report has recommended that only pupils with a certificate of baptism into the Catholic faith should be automatically allowed to transfer into Catholic secondaries from the local non-denominational primary schools. Read more...
Inverclyde Consultation letter to parents (PDF, 94 Kb)
Inverclyde Council Report to Education and Communities Committee (PDF, 5.3 Mb)
Outcome of pre-consultation in relation to the admission policy for village schools and the future need for denominational education in the west of Inverclyde.
Inverclyde Education Committee meeting November 2019.pdf (PDF, 140 Kb)
NMFS pre consultation response Inverclyde (PDF, 612 Kb)
NSS response to Inverclyde Village School consultation (PDF, 992 Kb)
We responded to oppose any changes that would increase discrimination and segregation based on religion or belief.
Who are we?
No More Faith Schools is a national campaign coordinated by the National Secular Society and with supporters from a broad social, political and religious spectrum. We're dedicated to an end to state funded faith schools. We would like all schools to be nondenominational with an inclusive community ethos, free from any religious discrimination, privilege or control.
We help people challenge new faith schools, particularly where they have discriminatory admissions rules and where there are proposals for inclusive alternatives.
What's our view?
Introducing discrimination in admissions can only entrench separationism and sectarianism. It will disadvantage those for whom a particular local school is otherwise acceptable. If additional school places are needed, a joint campus just adds unnecessary complexity. The focus should be on inclusive non-denominational schools open to the whole community. The lack of any consideration of this option is perplexing. Depriving either Wemyss Bay or Inverkip of an inclusive non-denominational primary school is a step backwards and deeply unfair on these communities.
When do you get a say?
Inverclyde Council has carried out a pre-consultation on the proposals and the results have now been published - find out more here.
The Council has ruled out options 1,2 and 4 above, but would now like to introduce religious selection so that pupils with a certificate of Baptism into the Catholic faith will be prioritised in admissions. They are now consulting on this plan; you can find the consultation here (the accompanying consultation document can be downloaded here).
Please respond to the consultation and let Inverclyde Council know that it should rethink its discriminatory admissions proposals. Whether children have a religious certificate or not should not be a relevant factor in determining where they go to school. The deadline to respond is 25th March 2020.
Related news
Related news
Government doesn’t know how many children are forced into faith schools
Posted: Thu, 29 Jul 2021 17:24
The government has said it has no estimate of how many children are effectively forced into faith schools,...
Faith school with only white ethnicity options in application form to be investigated
Posted: Mon, 5 Jul 2021 16:50
A state-funded faith school in north London will be investigated after the National Secular Society raised...
Plan to open discriminatory C of E school approved in Kingston
Posted: Wed, 23 Jun 2021 12:27
A proposal to open a Church of England secondary school with an exclusive religious ethos in Kingston-upon-Thames...
Plans to open new faith school in Kingston face local opposition
Posted: Thu, 17 Jun 2021 13:21
Plans to open a discriminatory Church of England school in Kingston-upon-Thames have come under fire...
NMFS campaign: seek inclusive alternatives to Kingston faith school
Posted: Fri, 28 May 2021 11:11
The No More Faith Schools campaign has urged the local council in Kingston-upon-Thames to reject a proposal...
Campaigners criticise discriminatory faith school planned in Oldham
Posted: Wed, 26 May 2021 17:22
Local campaigners have criticised plans to open a new Church of England school which will be allowed...