Schools: Admission Policies

Debate between Lord Nash and Lord Dubs

Monday 22nd July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

Where we have areas of basic need, we are keen to encourage all comers to help us. I entirely agree with the right reverend Prelate about the performance of Church of England schools. Again, in respect of achieving five A* to C grades, including in English and maths, they score 62% versus 58%, and at level 4 of key stage 2 they score 82% as opposed to 78%. We would welcome expansion of these schools as they provide an excellent education.

[Lord Dubs]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Nash]

I agree with my noble friend. A 2009 independent report commissioned by the Church of England analysed Ofsted’s judgments on schools’ promotion of community cohesion. The report found that for secondary schools, faith schools contributed more highly to community cohesion than community schools and had higher average grades than community schools for promoting equality of opportunity and eliminating discrimination.

[Lord Dubs]

My Lords, will the Minister look at the situation in Northern Ireland where more than 90% of the children are in schools that are segregated on religious lines? Whereas that is not the only factor contributing to the historic difficulties in Northern Ireland, there are ominous lessons for us. Surely, the right way is to move, as in Northern Ireland, towards integrated education, which is what the majority of people in Northern Ireland want and what I believe most people in Britain would want.

[Lord Nash]

We need a diverse education system that, as I say, is open to all faiths and teaches tolerance of all faiths. Indeed, there are good examples of faith-based groups running schools or sponsoring schools in Muslim areas, where the co-operation is working extremely well.