Groups submit bids to open 2013 Free Schools as BHA lists applicants

Today is the deadline for submitting a bid to open a Free School in 2013, as part of the ‘third wave’ of applications. 337 groups have indicated to the New Schools Network that they intend to bid. The British Humanist Association has been able to identify 38 proposals for ‘faith’ or pseudoscientific schools, out of 99 identified in total.

Free Schools are a type of Academy, used to refer to Academies that are brand new state schools (as opposed to those converting from the maintained school sector). Free Schools and Academies have more freedoms than other types of ‘faith’ school. They do not need to follow the National Curriculum, can teach faith-based RE, and teachers they employ do not need to have qualified teacher status. They can use a religious test in selecting all teaching staff, and are able to religiously discriminate in admissions (though for Free Schools, only for up to 50% of the intake).

In addition, the government has recently published the first model funding agreements for University Technical Colleges (UTCs) and Studio schools – two other types of Academy. These confirm for the first time that UTCs and Studio schools can also have a religious character – in effect, creating two more categories of ‘faith’ school. Like Free Schools, they are only able to select up to 50% of their intake on grounds of faith. Like Academies, but unlike Free Schools, there is nothing precluding these schools from teaching creationism or other pseudoscience.

BHA Faith Schools Campaigner Richy Thompson commented, ‘We’ve been able to identify a large number of faith-based bids, but we speculate that there may be as many as 100 groups applying to set up ‘faith’ or pseudoscientific Free Schools.

‘We are already working with local campaigners to oppose a number of these proposals, and will continue to keep pressure up on the Department for Education (DfE) to vigorously scrutinise and if need be reject bids.’

Free School bids identified by the BHA

Faith-based (31):

Either with a ‘faith ethos’, or a formally designated religious character.

Church of England (7):
Barrow 1618, Shropshire
Anglican school in St Albans
Bradford Girls' Grammar School
Clayton Academy (proposed by Jesmond Parish Church, who have strong links to the Christian Institute)
Bristol Cathedral Choir primary school
Fulham Boys School
University Cathedral School, Chester

Catholic (1):
Catholic school in Chalfont St Peter

Greek Orthodox (1):
St Andrew The Apostle Greek Orthodox School

Christian Schools Trust (Creationist) (2):
Sheffield Christian Free School
Destiny Christian School

Bretheren (1):
Hornby Park School

Other Christian (12):
Exemplar Academy, Newark (creationist, formerly Everyday Champions Academy)
Sevenoaks Christian School
Durham Free School
Proposed Priorslee School
Oasis Community School, Southwark
Oasis Southwater Community School (with Horsham Churches Together)
Christian Free School in Haywards Heath
Alpha Omega Primary Academy, Walthamstow
Bishop House, Brent
Kings School, Hove
Weston Christian Academy, Weston-super-Mare
Doxa Deo School, Raynes Park

Orthodox Jewish (1):
Jewish Orthodox school in North West London

Other Jewish (3):
Leeds Jewish Free School
South London Jewish Primary School – in Richmond/Wandsworth
New Jewish Primary School, Barnet

Muslim (2):
Emaan Academy, Middlesborough
Muslim school in Brighton & Hove

Sikh (1):
Sikh ethos Free School in Leeds

Pseudoscientific (7):

Steiner (5):
Leeds Steiner School
Iona School, Nottingham
Steiner Academy Exeter
South West London Steiner Academy
Calder Valley Steiner School

Maharishi (2):
Maharashi Free School Suffolk
Maharashi Free School Richmond

Bids without a ‘faith ethos’ or religious character (61):

Deutche Bilingual Primary School; Stoke by Nayland Free School; Cobham Free School; Phoenix Free School (Manchester); School in Harborough; Hadlow Rural Community School; Everton FC school; Chichester Free School; Oakbank (Wokingham); Ixworth and Stanton Free School Group; Coast School for Active Learning (Grimsby – 2014); "Putney Hospital" Free School; Route 39 (Devon); Hackney New School; Ixworth Free School; New Islington Free School (Manchester Grammar School); Sun School (Brighton); Harperbury Free School (2014); Oxford New School; Netherleigh and Rossefield School (Bradford); Oxford Pillars School; Rivington Park School (Bolton); East London Science School; Thomson House School (Richmond); Heyford Park Free School (Oxford); Boston Primary Free School; Science & Engineering Free School in Richmond; Chorley Career and Sixth Form Academy; Hadlow Rural Community School; Holyport Free School (Windsor and Maidenhead – 2014); Benjamin’s School (Norfolk); Hatcham Temple Grove Free School (Lewisham); Harris Free School Tottenham; Sparkwell Primary Free School; Rosewood School (Southampton); Basingstoke (Rooksdown Community Centre);West London Free School (primary); The Cedars School (Peterborough); Tottenham Hotspur Free School;Academy of Entrepreneurial and Sporting Excellence (Tottenham); Marine Academy Plymouth (primary); Three Peaks Community Academy ; Saxmundham Free School (Suffolk); Sir Isaac Newton Free School (Norfolk); The International Academy of Greenwich; West Newcastle Academy; Diaspora High School; Class Free School (London – Billy Elliott); Future Education (Free School for Norwich); Lynch Hill School secondary (Slough); Plymouth School of Creative Arts; Samuel Ward Academy Trust (Free School for Haverhill); Graveney School primary (Tooting); Aspirations Academies Trust (Gloucestershire); Aspirations Academies Trust (Banbury); The Maltings (Halifax); Rainbow Primary School (Bradford); Rainbow Primary School (Leeds); Education4Crowland; Harwell Enterprise Academy (Bicester); Bilingual Spanish Free School (Brighton and Hove)

Some of these groups may not have submitted applications, but all have suggested intent to do so.

Notes

For further comment or information, please contact Richy Thompson on 020 7462 4993.

Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on ‘faith’ schools: http://www.humanism.org.uk/campaigns/religion-and-schools/faith-schools

View the BHA’s table of types of school with a religious character: http://www.humanism.org.uk/_uploads/documents/schools-with-a-religious-character.pdf

The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.