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Who gains from the government's new policy on faith schools?

Some sections of the Jewish community may have reason to thank Education Secretary Damian Hinds

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While the government may have retreated from its manifesto commitment to lift restrictions on religious admissions to free schools, its  new proposals on faith schools may give comfort to the Orthodox right.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds, who came into office at the beginning of the year, has tried to maintain a careful balancing act, enabling more faith schools to be set up but not in such numbers as to provoke a backlash from those hostile to them.

His announcement at the end of last week drew a mixed reaction from Jewish organisations. Outgoing Board of Deputies president Jonathan Arkush was disappointed at the backtrack on the faith cap, but Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis welcomed the government’s support for establishing faith schools under the old voluntary-aided system (that is, through the local council).

Rabbi Jonathan Romain, a longstanding campaigner for curbs on faith schools, saw the retention of the faith cap as a victory — and hoped it would be extended to entry for all faith schools. 

The introduction of the new free school model has made it easier to set up faith schools and the Jewish community has taken advantage of that. But there was one critical difference: whereas voluntary-aided faith schools have full control over admissions, free schools can guarantee only half their places to children on the basis of faith. 

In practice, the faith cap has had little impact on Jewish free schools, where the intake is still predominantly Jewish. But the strictly Orthodox in particular regarded the free school entry conditions as problematic. So, when Prime Minister Theresa May announced nearly a year and a half ago she was intending to remove it, this was heralded as a breakthrough.

As the Charedi sector continues to grow, so does its need of new school places — but the cost of supporting independent schools is placing an ever greater burden on it. 

However, even if the faith cap on free schools had been lifted, potential pitfalls remained for strictly Orthodox applicants. Funding for free schools is tied to an agreement to teach evolution — which is rejected by much of the Charedi rabbinate. And free schools would have to show in their admission arrangements that they were at least notionally open to children of other faiths.

Since the government threw its weight behind free schools, the door became all but closed to new voluntary-aided faith schools. Now it has been pushed open a little more widely.

Voluntary-aided schools do have a catch, compared to free schools. Whereas new free schools have their buildings funded by government, applicants for voluntary-aided schools will have to find 10 per cent of the capital costs themselves.

Mr Hinds says voluntary-aided faith schools will be expected to promote social cohesion by continuing to “play an active role in their communities”. An example of this, he suggested, would be to include “twinning with other schools and ensuring diversity on the governing board”.

How councils will interpret the small print on social cohesion remains to be seen. But it should not be a deterrent to new Charedi voluntary-aided schools and the fact there are a number of these already is a precedent for more.

It will remain possible to start a faith school via the free school route. The team behind the New Jewish High School project has waited  patiently for more than a year to submit its bid for a new modern Orthodox secondary school in London, which it believes necessary to meet future demand for places.

The government plans to approve around 35 new free schools in the next round of applications, which have to be in for September. It has indicated it will favour bids in areas of low educational achievement — which does not include the projected locality of the NJHS, however — or where there is a general demographic need for places. 

Although a government map does suggest there is need for some new secondary places in Barnet and Hertfordshire, it is hard to tell if the figures will be useful to the NJHS.

The NJHS team says it is reviewing recently published requirements for the next round of free school applications. 

“In the meantime,” the team said, “we are disappointed that there are still children waiting for maintained Jewish secondary school places for 2018, and we hope that the existing schools, particularly JFS will make good on their promise to offer places above their regular PAN [recognised entry limit] if required”.

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