Government to lift cap on faith school places

A consultation on lifting the 50% cap, which applies to new faith free schools, has been launched alongside proposals on opening special faith-based academies.

The 50% faith cap means that if a new free school with religious character is oversubscribed, it can only prioritise pupils based on faith for 50% of places. At least half of the school’s available places must be allocated without reference to faith-based admissions criteria.

As a result, some faith groups have felt unable to open new free schools and felt discouraged about bringing existing schools into academy trusts.

Education secretary Gillian Keegan said that these proposals will mean “high-performing faith school providers will be able to create more good school places and create strong multi-academy trusts”.

As it is currently not possible for special schools to open as academies and be designated with faith status, the department wanted to explore how to improve provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities by opening special faith-based academies.

However, Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), questioned the decision to consult on scrapping the cap.

“The 50 per cent cap was introduced for a good reason – to provide a balance between the needs of faith groups to have access to schools which reflect their ethos and beliefs, while also ensuring that schools are accessible to local communities,” he said.

The DfE are reported to have said the admissions cap policy, introduced in 2010, had “not been particularly successful in achieving high levels of diversity within faith free schools as originally intended”. They said that when measuring by ethnicity data, the intake for free schools designated for minority faiths such as Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and Hinduism, is “largely made up of pupils of similar ethnic backgrounds”.

The consultation closes on 20^th June 2024.