OFSTED on Faith Schools

Those who support so-called 'faith schools' (i.e. schools run by religious groups - not 'faiths') are celebrating a recent OFSTED report that concludes that they do not undermine 'community cohesion'.

What none of the reports I've read (including the BBC) note is that OFSTED was not reviewing state 'faith schools' but independent religious foundation schools. It is true that by and large they found that these independent schools were not socially divisive in their teaching. But they're socially divisive in that only those can afford to pay can send their children there - the report notes that pupils sometimes have to withdraw because their parents can't afford to keep them there, and that when they do they don't feel nearly so included. The report also notes that their pupils are generally not representative of the local community in which the school is set.

So middle-class kids from out of town get a balanced education. Good.