Bishop of Salisbury backs non-faith based tests for entry into Church of England schools

The Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Rev Nick Holtam, has given his support to a statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury that entry into a Church of England schools need not be based entirely on a faith test.

They are there, he believes, for the education of children of “all faiths and none” and this is the case in Wiltshire, where just two schools have a majority of children accepted on faith criteria.

In an interview in The Times newspaper, the Rt Rev Justin Welby said: “What you are seeing in the Church schools is a deeper and deeper commitment to the common good.  There’s a steady move away from faith-based entry tests.

“It is not necessary to select to get a really good school.  “There are unbelievably brilliant schools that are entirely open to all applicants without selection criteria apart from residence, where you live, and which produce staggeringly good results.

“It’s a question of – and you can point to them all over the place – it’s a question of outstanding leadership.”

Now Bishop Holtam has added his comments, telling The Times:  “Church of England schools in our local communities provide an excellent education to children of all faiths and none.

“In only two out of 196 Church of England schools in the diocese are a majority of pupils taken on faith criteria, while in most of our schools the proportion of pupils taken on faith criteria is in the order of 5 to 10 per cent.”

This reflects the trend that some Church of England dioceses are seeing many schools that do not select most pupils on the basis of faith.

And this number is bound to grow, according to the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia, which has challenged selection policies that discriminate on grounds of religion or belief as “un-Christian”, because of changing demographics.

Professor Ted Cantle, founder of the Institute of Community Cohesion, pointed out: “Justin Welby’s comments in The Times make his views clear – and he is right to support a move away from faith-based selection. His comments show the contradiction between the faith’s ideals and the practice of the Church.”