Representatives of King David High School, Manchester, are to meet officials from the watchdog that oversees schools admissions next week after a challenge to its entry rules.
The Orthodox school is one of around 50 schools from different faiths whose rules have been questioned by the Fair Admissions Campaign.
FAC was co-founded last year by the Accord Coalition, an educational lobby group chaired by leading Reform rabbi, Dr Jonathan Romain, which believes that faith schools should be open to all and not select children on the basis of their religious background.
But King David chairman Joshua Rowe claimed that the complaint about entry rules to the Office of Schools Adjudicator was part of a wider aim “to put an end to faith schools”.
King David’s entry system was “practice-based”, he said, giving preference to synagogue membership. But belonging was not the exclusive criterion. “We want to know that they attend synagogue, that they are practising Jews.”
Attacking Accord, he said that “they are only liberal as long as people agree with their views”.
