Move could make social selectivity worse, says social mobility charity

The groups applying for government funding to create new faith schools that can select 100 per cent of their pupils on the basis of religion have been unveiled in the face of opposition from unions and secular campaigners.

Increasing the number of voluntary aided faith schools could be a “disaster for community cohesion” and make “social selection” much worse, campaigners and charities have warned.

And unions have questioned whether the funding for voluntary aided schools, set up by faith groups with council help, will provide places for the local children who need them most.

The majority of the 14 funding applications to the Department for Education (DfE) for new schools are located in the south – with five in London, three in Cambridgeshire and two in Hertfordshire.

It comes after a report from social mobility charity Sutton Trust called on top faith schools that are “socially selective” to admit more poorer pupils from local areas to ensure they are “fairer”.