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Catholic School Warned Over Discriminatory Entry System (23 November 2011)

Date: 23/11/2011
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Catholic School Warned Over Discriminatory Entry System

An oversubscribed Croydon Catholic school has received a warning from the Office of the Schools Adjudicator, following giving priority to the children of parents actively involved in church related activities through its entry system. The complaint, which was heard by England’s schools admissions watchdog and was raised against the Croydon-based Coloma Convent Girls' School, was partially upheld. The ruling may have implications for faith schools across the UK.

The school was informed that its points-based admissions system was discriminatory. It provided points to parents who had baptised their children as babies and to those who helped in church. The school is oversubscribed and has received an Ofsted grade of “outstanding”. The Office of the Schools Adjudicator's review of the school’s admissions system was launched following complaints from both the school's religious authority and a local parent. The school claimed that it had revolved its oversubscription criteria around the date of baptism of a child and the parents’ involvement in church related activities to avoid using a system that was based upon a child’s specific geographic location.

The school claimed that an admissions system based on distance away from the school would provide affluent parents with an advantage and worsen the proportion of ethnic minorities in the school's intake. However, the school was found to intake a greater proportion of children from affluent families and a lower proportion of ethnic minorities in relation to its local area.

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