Faith schools accused of 'back-door selection'

Church schools are creaming off the brightest pupils through their admissions procedures, according to research to be published next month.

Figures show that faith schools which have control over their own admissions are 10 times more likely to be highly unrepresentative of the neighbourhoods they serve. They indicate that most are using back-door selection to choose their pupils. The result is high levels of social segregation within nearby neighbourhoods - leading to lower exam performance among community schools.

The figures emerge after a week in which the Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, indicated he wanted to send his daughter to a faith school. He re-ignited controversy over admissions after it emerged there were 14 other primary schools nearer to his Kensington home than the voluntary-aided Church of England school he is understood to favour, St Mary Abbots.

The figures are in a forthcoming report by the Institute for Public Policy Research, a left-of-centre think-tank, which says there is no need to give any school control of its admissions process. Richard Brooks, of IPPR, said: "This is a huge disparity. It is very strong evidence they are covertly selecting their pupils."

One-third of all secondary schools (1,085 schools) are voluntary aided - which means they, rather than the local authority, are in charge of the admissions process. The vast majority of these are church schools.

In addition, there are some voluntary-controlled faith schools where the local authority is the admissions authority. The figures show that - while only 4 per cent of those with admissions run by the local authority are likely to be in the top 10 per cent of schools with the most high-flyers in national curriculum tests for 11-year-olds - 38 per cent of those controlling their own procedures are.

They also show that foundation schools - largely the former grant-maintained schools whose status was abolished by Labour but who still remained their own admissions authorities - are also six times more likely to be highly unrepresentative of the area they serve.

Ostensibly, the reason why faith schools retain control of their admissions procedures is to keep a check on the religious background of potential pupils. However, the IPPR argues that the figures show the sole reason schools want to be their own admissions authority is so they can select pupils by ability. They are worried the trend will spread to Prime Minister Tony Blair's new privately sponsored "trust" schools - which will also retain control of admission procedures. "We need a system of fair choice for all parents and pupils," said Nick Pearce, the director of IPPR.

Ministers are introducing a tough new admissions code which will ban interviews for school places - but still allow schools to control their own admissions. "The reforms are welcome but the new system is like asking pupils to mark their own essays - while providing them with detailed rules to prevent them from cheating," Mr Pearce added.

The IPPR is recommending that no school should administer its own admissions process - and that all schools should adopt a fair banding system under which they undertake to take a certain percentage of pupils from each of, say, five ability groups. Faith schools, it argues, could still be allowed to select their applicants on the basis of faith from each of the bands.

Headteachers rejected the call for admissions changes. Martin Ward, the deputy general secretary of the Association for School and College Leaders, said: "This is hardly an appropriate time to propose changes when the Government's admissions code has not even come into effect. Schools need time to embed the new code and work through the snags that will inevitably occur."