1

“Faith schools give parents greater choice”

2

“Faith schools achieve better results”

3

“Faith schools are better at teaching children morals”

4

"Faith schools are necessary to protect parents’ religious freedom"

5

“Faith schools don’t do any harm – why not just let them be?”

6

“We are a Christian country, so therefore it is only right that we have Christian schools that teach our Christian values”

7

“Children can just opt out of religious activities at faith schools”

8

“Church schools are for everyone”

9

“Faith schools help to relieve the burden on the state by funding our children’s education”

10

“We’re stuck with them”


According to research in a 2018 report by the National Secular Society (The Choice Delusion):

  • Almost three in ten families across England live in areas where most or all of the closest primary schools are faith schools. There is significant regional variation and the problem is more prevalent in rural areas. However, even in urban areas around one in four families live in areas with high or extreme restrictions.
  • In 43.4% of rural areas restrictions on non-faith school choice are categorised as "high" or "extreme". In fact, 53% of rural primary schools are faith-based.
  • 20.6% (7,727) of those who missed out on their first choice of a non-faith primary school in September 2018 were assigned a faith school. This includes 1,398 people who had made all their preferences (typically five) for a non-faith school.