An east London community group fears that proposals to create two new Redbridge faith schools, which have the power to select all their pupils on the basis of religion, could be divisive. The Department for Education (DfE) unveiled 14 bids to create “voluntary aided (VA) schools” across the country last week – including two in Redbridge. If approved, this would see charity the Al Noor Foundation and academy trust the Avanti Schools Trust create two new secondary schools based on the Muslim and Hindu faiths respectively.
Paul Kaufman, chairman of East London Humanists, expressed concerns about these school’s potential impact community cohesion in a statement released on Thursday (March 28).
“We strongly support freedom of religion and belief. However it is not the role of the state to fund religious schools or to endorse and promote a divisive school system. We celebrate the diversity of east London. The best way of ensuring understanding and harmony between our communities is for our children to live, learn and play together as they grow up,” he said.
VA schools’ admissions and staff selection procedures can be determined entirely by their governing boards. The stands in contrast to new state schools, where the government has set a cap which allows them to select only 50pc of pupils according to faith.
The Al Noor Foundation already runs a VA primary School, in Green Lane, Goodmayes. It admits non-Muslim pupils, reserving 50pc of places for Muslim pupils at Reception and Year 1.
