The National Secular Society has opposed plans to convert a secular school in west London into a faith school.

The proposals would turn Ealing Fields High School, which has no faith ethos, into a Church of England school.

The school’s consultation page on the proposal says Ealing Fields “currently has no faith designation, but is part of a Church of England Trust and, we believe, is functioning as a church school in all but name”.

“Without a faith designation we are not being transparent and open about having a strong Christian ethos”, it says.

The school joined the Twyford Church of England Trust in 2017.

Discriminatory admissions and hiring

The school says gaining an official religious character “will not affect the school’s admissions criteria in any way”.

But the NSS said that the change in faith designation would legally empower the school to potentially implement a discriminatory admissions policy in the future.

As a faith-based free school, Ealing Fields could choose to select 50% of pupils based on religion when oversubscribed. But this is not mentioned in the consultation.

A government consultation on removing the 50% cap for free schools has recently closed.

Becoming a designated faith school would also allow the school to use a religious test in the appointing, remunerating and promotion of all teachers. Teachers could be disciplined for conduct which is ‘incompatible with the precepts’ of the school’s religion. This is also not mentioned in the school’s consultation.

The consultation page says the school wants to ensure the values of staff “align with us”.

Faith schools usually teach religious education (RE) from their faith perspective, and are inspected by a religious body instead of Ofsted. If it becomes a faith school, Ealing Fields High School’s RE and collective worship would be subject to Church of England “religiosity” inspections to ensure they comply with a CofE ethos.

Explicitly religious song lyrics considered “inclusive”

Despite being registered with the Department for Education as having no religious character, a previous version of the consultation, which has now been removed, described the school as “Christian”.

It said the “overt Christian foundation of the Trust” had been “fully integrated” into the school’s pastoral system.

The document said the “only difference” students would notice following a change of religious designation is that its ‘celebration services’ would include holy communion.

A YouTube video on the consultation, produced by the Trust, says the school’s ’10:10′ ethic is “grounded in and inspired by” Christian teaching, specifically “creation”, “fall” and “redemption”. 10:10 refers to chapter 10, verse 10 of the gospel of John. The video says the ethos is “overtly Christian” but “inclusive”.

It claims care is taken to ensure assemblies are “inclusive”, with language that is applicable to “students of all faith and none”.

But video goes on to show an example of assembly songs with lyrics including “bless the Lord, oh my soul” and “I worship Your holy name”.

The NSS said it was “unclear” how the songs could be interpreted as “inclusive”. The video claims the approach “ensures that every student” will feel comfortable joining in “with gusto”.

Church of England targets nonreligious community schools

Last year the Church unveiled plans to use schools, including those which are not currently CofE, to “contribute to the Church’s vision to double the number of children and young people who are active Christian disciples by 2030”.

Earlier this month, it announced the launch of its “FLOURISH” network, which seeks to “engage a large number of children, young people, and their families” by establishing ties between schools and local churches.

A 2020 NSS report highlighted how religious academy trusts use academisation to absorb nonreligious schools. It found more than 2,600 non-faith academies are in multi-academy trusts with religious governance.

Last year, the NSS revealed how a nonreligious school in Sandhurst gave “highly misleading” information to parents about its plans to join a Church of England academy trust.

In May, a Church of England bid to take over a community school by merging it into a CofE school was thwarted by a campaign by parents, school staff and the NSS.

NSS: Church capture of community school “should ring alarm bells”

NSS human rights lead Alejandro Sanchez said: “This Church of England attempt to capture a community school should ring alarm bells for the education system.

“Academisation has already allowed the Church to impose its ethos on what was once an inclusive free school that did not privilege any religion. By forcing religion into the school, the Church has now opened the door for the school to become a fully-fledged faith school.

“In an increasingly irreligious and religiously diverse society, our education system should be open and welcoming to all. Church attempts to turn our schools into mission fields must be resisted.”