No one could blame the National Secular Society for feeling a little smug when it received an assurance last year that the Government had no plans to review the 50 per cent limit on faith-based admissions to free schools. The rule effectively prevented the Catholic Church from opening such schools, which are “free” in the sense that they aren’t controlled by a local authority and can be set up and run by parents and other groups.
But how times change. Last Friday, the Prime Minister said she intended to scrap the 50 per cent rule, describing it as an “obstacle” to the creation of “more good faith schools”. The NSS was horrified; the British Humanist Association appalled. The Catholic Education Service was delighted, of course. It said the reform would lead to “thousands of new Catholic school places across the country”.
