Guidance for Faith Schools

Home , Faith school, Free school (England)

Mainstream Guidance Faith free schools

May 2018

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Contents

Page 2: Introduction Page 2: Applying to open a faith school Page 3: Completing the DfE’s application form Page 6: Integration and cohesion Page 7: Issues to consider in a faith free school Page 8: Admissions Page 10: Curriculum Page 12: School life Page 13: Collective worship Page 14: Recruitment Page 16: Governance Page 17: Reaching out to the community Page 18: Obtaining a faith designation Page 19: Further information

Introduction Proposers setting up a mainstream free school can choose to set up a free school with a faith ethos or faith designation. This guidance outlines the difference between these terms and the freedoms available to this type of free school. Groups proposing a school with a faith ethos or designation must show that the school will be inclusive to all pupils, including those of other and no faith. Groups proposing to establish a free school with a faith basis or designation must meet additional criteria to demonstrate their commitment to inclusion. The purpose of this guidance is to support applicants to identify the different issues they need to consider when proposing a faith free school.

Applying to open a faith school Mainstream free schools can either have a faith ethos or a faith designation. When documents refer to faith free schools, they are normally referring to faith designated schools as this will generally be the status of schools where faith plays a larger role. It is important, when deciding the role you would like faith to play in your free school, to be fully aware of the different freedoms and restrictions that accompany having an ethos or designation, and that you are able to make the case for it being the right choice for your school.

Faith designated schools with a nursery cannot apply any faith based admissions criteria for nursery places. Nurseries must follow the Early Years Foundation Stage and, like the rest of the school, must provide a broad and balanced curriculum and actively promote fundamental British values.

If you are opening a 16-19, special or an AP school, you can only adopt a faith ethos, you cannot be faith designated.

Faith ethos Faith ethos is explained in the glossary of the DFE’s How to Apply Guidance Adopting a faith ethos is a way of explicitly aligning your school with a particular faith. The principles of that faith can shape your vision for the school and its ethos. However, a school with a faith ethos cannot:  Provide religious education and collective worship in line with your chosen faith, if this is anything other than Christian in nature (unless the school has successfully applied to the Secretary of State for an exemption);  Adopt faith based admission arrangements; or

 Recruit teachers on the basis of faith unless it can be justified as a genuine occupational requirement (e.g. in the case of the principal designate or RE teacher).

You might wish to adopt a faith ethos if you want your school to remain inclusive to all students but believe that students would benefit from the character of the school being shaped by faith. Please consider though whether a faith ethos will provide you with enough freedoms to incorporate the faith tenets that you wish to impart.

Faith designation Faith designation is explained in the glossary of the DfE’s How to apply guide. Obtaining a faith designation means that your school can more overtly uphold the tenets of your chosen religion. Faith designation is a legal recognition that your school has a religious character. You only need to do this if you intend to:  Provide religious education and collective worship according to the tenets of the faith of the school; and/or  Give preference when appointing teachers to those of the same faith as the school; and/or  Admit up to 50% of pupils on the basis of faith if your school is oversubscribed.

Having a faith designation will mean that you involve the appropriate religious Canary Wharf College is a Christian designated primary school in Tower Hamlets authority which will inspect the provision of religious education and advise on admissions. You could also involve them at a governance level.

Completing the DfE’s application form If there will be a faith based element to your free school, you will need to decide at the application stage whether you wish to go down the faith ethos or designation route. You will not be designated until the funding agreement is signed (see below) but your application will need to be very clear as to how you intend to incorporate your faith into your school.

All the issues that you will need to consider are discussed in more detail below. Here we list the sections in the application in which you may need to describe your faith provision. You can obtain more NSN guidance on how to approach each of these sections here.

Section A2– Your You will need to indicate whether you are choosing an ethos or chosen school designation and for what faith. Section B1 – It is important to show there is enough basic need in the area you evidence of need are looking to set up your school to ensure opening the school would not lead to an oversupply of places. This is important even if your school might attract pupils from a wider area due to its faith designation.

Section B2 – Need If part of your rationale is that a faith ethos or designated school of for good school the type that you are proposing will add choice and diversity, then places you should consider how you will evidence this. If you intend to argue that a school of this type would increase parental choice, then you should look to show that there is not already provision in the area offering a similar ethos or designation to that which you are proposing, along with information suggestive of the fact that the local population shares your views or would be likely to choose this school over other providers were the option available.

Section D - You will need to show that you have reached out to a wider successful community and that your school is attractive to those outside your engagement with faith. You must ensure you fully explain how your faith will impact parents and the the school. It is important that you provide enough information local community about the religious character of your school for parents to make an informed decision about whether to support it. If you are planning a structured twinning programme, you should communicate this to parents. Section E1 – If you have chosen a faith ethos, you should outline in this section curriculum plan the ways in which the values of that faith will manifest themselves in the life of the school. If you have chosen a faith designation, you will be able to incorporate your faith in your educational offering. In this section, you will need to explain how this is done while

remaining inclusive of students of other faiths and none. Bear in mind that your religious authority can help you with the design of your religious education and will inspect it once open. If you are planning to replicate an existing school and this is a faith school with 100% faith based admissions, you will need to explain what curriculum changes you will need to make to reflect the fact that the proposed school can only admit 50% pupils with reference to faith when oversubscribed and must be inclusive to pupils of all faiths and none. Section E3 – staffing If you have chosen a faith designation, you may want to include structure some members of staff who will teach your religion. Their role will need to be explained here.

Section E4 – In this section you will need to show that your school will be community welcoming to pupils of all faiths and none, and show how the cohesion and school will meet the needs of these pupils. You will need to explain integration how you will teach fundamental British values and encourage pupils from different faiths and communities to work together and learn about each other.

As part of this you will need to give information on how the faith ethos or designation will impact the curriculum, including the proportion of time spent studying RE or faith-related subjects and the alternatives that will be available to those who wish to opt out of these subjects. You must demonstrate that the curriculum will be broad and balanced and prepare pupils for life in modern Britain. You must give due consideration to spiritual, moral and social education (SMSC) personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) and adhere to the Prevent Duty. In addition, you will need to state the impact of your school’s policies on pupils of other or no faith, including safeguarding, school meals and any dietary requirements, the school uniform and collective worship.

In order to demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity you should explain any arrangements you will make to ensure pupils have the opportunity to have meaningful interactions with pupils of a

different/no faith. This could include arrangements for twinning with another school, or to form a mixed-faith multi academy trust.

Section F2– the You may have a principal designate in mind who will represent your necessary faith; you should explain what role their faith plays and how they experience and are otherwise qualified. If you have chosen a faith ethos and yet credentials to would want to recruit a principal of your faith you will need to deliver the school explain why this is necessary for your school. to opening You may wish to demonstrate your commitment to inclusivity by including one or more trustees of a different faith and you should provide information about this here.

Section F3 – An If you will be a faith designated school and a faith organisation will effective have a governance role, this should be made clear here. You should governance also highlight any conflicts of interest that may arise from this and structure how you will manage these.

Integration and cohesion The DfE will carefully consider the potential impact of the approval of a faith free school on integration and community cohesion in line with the priorities set out in the Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper. In order to demonstrate a genuine commitment to inclusivity you should consider how you will foster meaningful relationships between your pupils and those from another or no faith background. In annex C of the How to Apply Guide the DfE have suggested several ways in which applicants can demonstrate a long term and authentic commitment to this, and they are summarised below:

Twinning Twinning or partnering your faith designated school with a school of a different faith designation or no faith designation can help to ensure pupils at your school have an opportunity to work with and learn from people with different beliefs. If you intend to demonstrate a commitment to inclusion though a twinning arrangement it is important to have a clear idea about what this arrangement will look like in practice, and what the commitment of each partner will be. This must be clearly set out in your application.

A twinning arrangement might involve: 6

 sharing teachers;  sharing resources;  conducting shared lessons;  joint assemblies;  joint sporting or other extra-curricular activities and competitions.

In your application you should include a letter from the school(s) you intend to partner with, stating their commitment to the twinning arrangements you set out in your proposal. It is important to ensure you carefully consider what this relationship will look like. In particular, you must ensure the twinning arrangement is ‘sustained and structured’ and is genuinely embedded in the life of the school.

Mixed faith MATs Applicants proposing a new faith school will need to demonstrate a genuine commitment to working with schools of other faiths and none. One option is to form a mixed faith multi academy trust, which could include sponsoring a school of a different faith or with no faith designation.

Setting up a multi academy trust is one way to formalise the relationship between schools of different faiths, and create a vehicle for spreading high standards. The DfE will be interested in your plans to grow your trust and how the free school fits in to these plans, and you should consider whether you plan to grow to include schools of a different faith designation. It is important that any decision to grow your academy trust must only be made after a thorough risk assessment and due diligence process has been undertaken. You can read NSN guidance on how to become an academy sponsor here.

Diversity on the board Including one or more trustees of a different faith or no faith on the board of trustees can demonstrate a MAT wide commitment to diversity. It is important that the majority of appointments to the board of trustees are made by trust members, and that appointments are skills based. If you would like to read more about this, NSN has produced a skills gap analysis tool.

Issues to consider in a faith free school If you are applying to open a faith school, you will need to consider how faith will impact on the following aspects of your application:

Providing for pupils of all faiths Faith free schools need to remain inclusive of students of all faith and none. This is a crucial aspect of the faith free school policy and denotes a different approach than that adopted by some voluntary aided state maintained schools. These are schools that can provide a faith education to pupils of only one faith. Free schools need to reach out to pupils of all faiths and none as well as those of their own faith. By their very nature, free schools have a lot of freedom to adopt different curriculums and timetables and can plan a variety of extra-curricular activities. However, the inclusion of faith in the running of schools is possibly the area in which there are the most restrictions and sensitivities precisely because the DfE want to avoid any discrimination. The DfE expects you to be able to show that any pupil, regardless of their religious beliefs, would be welcomed and feel included in your school. Each decision regarding how your faith will be manifested in your school should be tested by considering how this will impact on pupils of other or no faith, and whether it would be inclusive for them too.

We set out below how faith can impact on the design of your school and give you a few examples of what you can and cannot do.

Admissions You do not have to set out your admissions policy in your application form, this will be finalised during the pre-opening period. However, if you are planning a faith school, designated or ethos, your faith will impact on admissions and how you seek to populate your school. The DfE will want to see an outline of how you expect faith to affect your admissions in your application. You could explain your position in section E where you need to set out your evidence of demand and how you have reached out to the community.

Ethos If you are applying to open a school with a faith ethos, you will not be able to include faith as an admission criterion under any circumstance. You will need to follow the admission codes as all other non-faith free schools do. However, you should explain in the application how you have reached out to a wider community by telling them how your ethos will benefit pupils of all faiths and none, to prove that your admissions will indeed be inclusive.

Designation If you are applying to open a faith designated school, you can include a provision for accepting up to 50% of your intake on the basis of faith, but only if you are over-subscribed. Conversely, this means 8

that you will need to accept at least 50% of your intake without reference to faith. You will need to involve a relevant religious authority to help you determine how to conduct this admissions process. For example, they can help you decide how you will judge that an applicant is of a particular faith.

This means that if you are over-subscribed, you can, to a certain extent, prioritise pupils of your chosen faith. In practice, this might mean that you have more than 50% of pupils of your chosen faith, but that those accepted beyond the 50% are accepted on the basis of criteria which are applicable to children of all or no faith.

When determining your admissions criteria, you need to decide how important it is that your school can impose a religious requirement on entry. As this criterion can only be applied to 50% of your intake, your school will need to remain inclusive and open to pupils of other faiths or none. The DfE will be looking for admissions arrangements that make your school accessible and attractive to the wider community.

You should show an in depth knowledge of your community, its needs and beliefs. You should show that you have reached out to the wider community and explained how your school will benefit them in an open and inclusive way. If your immediate community is very homogenous, you should consider opening up your catchment area and introducing faith impartial criteria such as lotteries or banding to make sure that for at least the 50% of your pupils, your intake is varied.

Bear in mind that a free school, even if faith designated, must act in an equal and inclusive way to all members of the community. In addition, free schools are, like all schools, subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty, which forms part of the Equality Act 2010. This duty requires a school to have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation; advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between communities. The Equality Act will not only affect how you treat your pupils and your admissions process but also how you treat your staff.

A Sikh designated school has adapted their admissions policy so that they can effectively reach out to the Sikh community as well as the mix of faiths in their immediate vicinity. They plan to draw their 50% of children of Sikh faith from a wider catchment area as the Sikh community is more spread out. Their non-faith admissions will draw from a smaller area as they expect to be able to fill the remainder of their places locally.

A proposal for a Christian designated school suggests that the school would not apply in full the over subscription rule which would allow them to reserve 50% of places to Christian children. They want 9

their school to be more inclusive. To support their ethos, they would take 25% of pupils on the basis of faith but 75% of the places would be available on a non-faith basis.

Curriculum Along with an act of collective worship, all schools in England must provide religious education. Faith ethos schools need to follow the same guidelines as non-faith schools. They need to provide RE that reflects British religious traditions, which are considered to be in the main Christian whilst taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain. The provision of RE will be inspected by Ofsted.

Faith designated schools should provide RE in accordance with the tenets of the particular faith specified in the designation. They can teach pupils about other faiths as well, for example through following part of the locally agreed syllabus. The provision of RE in a faith designated school will be inspected by the appointed religious authority.

Aside from religious education, in a faith designated school it is possible that the faith Pupils at Krishna-Avanti Primary School, a Hindu designated school in Leicester, have the opportunity to learn yoga and Sanskrit. will have a wider influence on the curriculum offer. The DfE has not provided proscriptive rules on what can and cannot be done, except for the explicit rules that creationism cannot be taught as a valid scientific theory and that evolution must be adequately taught as part of the science curriculum. Each school will need to consider what would suit its pupils and the local community best. But as a general rule, any religious education should not be dogmatic and you should consider the following points:

 The core curriculum should not be influenced by faith. However essential you consider a certain aspect of religious education, it should not be imparted to the detriment of the core curriculum. When considering what is core, you should take a step back and consider not what you, or even your community, might consider core, but what the DfE will consider the essential part of the curriculum for all pupils. Your faith should not prevent you from

teaching certain aspects of the curriculum which would be considered essential, such as evolution.

 There are no set rules for how much of the school day can be taken up with faith related subjects, it will be up to the groups to make a judgment as to what is reasonable and they will need to justify their position in their application. Beyond the act of collective worship or the instruction of RE, any further religious education should be provided in the context of extra-curricular activities. High value alternatives will need to be available to those pupils who are withdrawn by their parents.

 When devising your religious education you should always consider the pupils of different or no faith who might attend your school. Whatever education is provided should also be for their benefit and if it is not they should be presented with a meaningful alternative of equal educational value.

 You should not only consider what you are teaching but how you are teaching it. You will not be able to teach in what would be considered a discriminate way (for example separating the sexes) unless there is a valid educational reason for your methods.

All maintained schools, including faith schools, are required to promote fundamental British values as part of providing for the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development of pupils (SMSC). Some of the ways your school will do this is through meeting collective worship requirements (please see more information below), through its ethos and through enrichment activities. Whilst as a faith school your school’s curriculum and ethos may be influenced by the tenets of your particular faith, these must still be in line with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. The DfE have produced guidance that explains this in more detail.

A Sikh faith designated school does not include any further religious education in the main curriculum. They have planned a number of extra-curricular activities for their Sikh pupils, and others who wanted to participate, including music, singing, cultural studies, learning Punjabi but they have matched these with non-Sikh activities such as learning French, archery, fencing. “In this way, non-Sikh children can enjoy enrichment and extra-curricular activities alongside their friends”.

School life As well as the taught curriculum, faith might inform the way in which your school is constructed and run. You may want to take your faith into consideration when deciding on many aspects of the school life:  How the buildings are configured  Extra-curricular activities  School meals  Uniform  Pastoral care  Classroom features

The DfE have no set criteria for deciding what adjustments are allowed and which are not, apart from that they need to be inclusive. Each plan will be studied on a case by case basis. The DfE are looking for proposals that show the school will not discriminate on the basis of faith. A faith free school is not a place of worship: it is likely that a significant percentage of your intake will be of a different faith or no faith. You should always bear in mind that you need to cater for these pupils on an equal basis. In faith ethos and faith designated schools you are allowed to reflect your faith in the framework of the school but this should be relevant and accessible to other students and a meaningful alternative should be offered to reflect alternative beliefs.

The best way to illustrate what approach should be taken is by setting out examples of proposals that have been accepted by the DfE and those that have not:

A Sikh designated school decided that it would only offer vegetarian meals as school lunches but it would allow pupils to bring pack lunches from home and accepted that if parents so chose, these may include fish or meat.

A further Sikh designated school had the Holy Books on show in the school which led the school to impose a rule that all pupils and staff had to cover their heads as required by their religion when in 12

the presence of the Holy Books. The DfE decided that this was not inclusive or proportionate. The school should not be a place of worship. The Holy Books needed to be put away and only brought out on show at particular times and in the presence of those who chose to be there which meant that the rule that all should cover their heads was no longer necessary and could be abolished.

Collective worship All schools in England are legally required to provide an act of collective worship. Pupils can be withdrawn by their parents or can withdraw themselves once they are 16. However, it has to be available.

Schools that have a faith ethos and are not designated should follow the same rules as all non-faith school and provide an act of collective worship which is “wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character”. There can be additional aspects of the collective worship which come from different faiths, as long as it remains broadly Christian. Schools can apply for a derogation from this rule though. With the approval of the Secretary of State a school can offer an act of collective worship which more accurately reflects the beliefs of the community. A group would have to apply for this derogation and the Secretary of State can consult local representatives when considering whether this would be appropriate or not.

A faith designated school will need to provide an act of daily worship in accordance with the tenets of the particular faith specified in the designation. They can also cover other faiths if they so wish. The act of daily worship will be inspected, in a faith designated school, by the appointed religious authority, in a faith ethos school, within the remit of any Ofsted inspection.

In your application you will not need to describe in full what an act of daily worship will consist of. However, if you are applying to open an ethos school and plan to obtain an exemption to the Christian nature of the worship you should explain in some detail why this would be appropriate. If you are applying to open a faith designated school you should explain how your daily act of worship will be inclusive and beneficial to children of different faiths. You should also explain how a pupil of another faith can opt out of the act and what meaningful alternative will be proposed to them.

A Muslim designated school ensures that prayer time is staggered so not all the Muslim children will be at prayer at any one time. In this way the non-Muslim children easily fit in with alternative activities going on at the same time.

One faith designated school makes sure that its collective acts of worship and assemblies focus on topics to which everyone can relate, such as environmental responsibility, healthy lifestyles, global citizenship and sustainability, as well as regularly celebrating the successes of their students.

Recruitment Faith schools can be allowed a certain amount of flexibility in terms of recruitment of some staff.

Ethos In faith ethos schools, you are not ordinarily allowed to take account of faith in recruiting your staff. You will be applying the same criteria as non-faith schools on the whole, and this will involve applying the terms of the Equality Act (you can read more about the how the Equality Act applies to schools here).

However, there may be limited Nishkam High School in Birmingham has a Sikh ethos and aims to produce lifelong learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens circumstances in a faith ethos school where and compassionate contributors to society. the school can appoint staff on the basis of their faith. You will need to demonstrate that the applicant having a particular religious belief is a genuine occupational requirement (for example, the principal designate or RE teacher) and that having that requirement is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

You need to remember though that the DfE will be looking for applicants that want the best for their pupils and remain inclusive of all, regardless of religion. You will be able to make religious affiliation one of the recruitment criteria for some specific positions, but the DfE will want to see that first and foremost you are looking for the best candidate for the job and would question whether religious affiliation should be a paramount consideration for a role.

Designation In a faith designated school you will have more freedom to make religion a recruitment criterion as exemptions from the Equality Act will apply. You may apply religious criteria when recruiting or

dismissing any member of your teaching staff. In recruitment, remuneration and promotion you may give preference to applicants:  Whose religious opinions are in accordance with the tenets of the religion of the school;  Who attend religious worship in accordance with those tenets; or  Who give, or are willing to give, religious education in accordance with those tenets.

When dismissing a member of the teaching staff, the governing body may have regard to any conduct that is incompatible with the precepts, or with the upholding of the tenets of the religion of the school.

Please note that you cannot apply religious criteria to the employment of non-teaching staff unless there is a genuine occupational requirement to do so. This may arise for example in the case of someone in charge of pastoral care in certain communities, but the DfE will want to see that the ability to do the job properly is your priority, rather than the religion of the applicant.

Your approach to recruiting staff whether you are opening a faith ethos or designated school should remain inclusive. You should first and foremost consider whether the applicant has the right qualifications and approach to be a good Headteacher or teacher in your school. Their religion may play a part in a designated school but the DfE will be concerned if this is the first and main criteria.

You should also remember that before you are designated, the exemptions from the Equalities Act will not apply. So if you want to recruit staff prior to the funding agreement being signed and your official designation being approved, you should apply the rules that apply to faith ethos schools. Under those rules, you will only be able to use religious affiliation as a recruitment criterion if it is a genuine occupational requirement. This may apply to the principal or an RE teacher but probably not for the rest of the staff so, if you want to benefit from the derogations to the Equality Act you should refrain from signing employment contracts until after you have designation.

One school with a Muslim designation employs a principal who is not Muslim. Their priority was to find a person who shared the trust’s vision for a school with a Muslim ethos, which appeals to, attracts admissions from and has advocates in all sectors of the community. The trustees decided the strongest candidate for the role, and they happened to not be of the designated faith. In addition, the school employs an Assistant Principal for Specialisms whose role includes making inter- faith projects and community cohesion happen.

Governance A free school has a lot of freedom to choose who is on their governing body (subject to the rules on governance set out in our notes here). These freedoms apply to both faith ethos and designated schools.

The structural composition of the governing body will be set out in the Articles of the Company. When setting up your company limited by guarantee (see our guidance here on how), you can include a provision for your religious authority to be represented amongst your members and / or on your governing body. Particular individuals can play roles or the authority can have the power to appoint a representative, so that there will always be a presence on the governance team. The presence of a trustee (or governor) who represents the interests of a religious authority is a suggested but non-essential criterion for being designated as a faith school.

The remainder of the governors are generally appointed by the members or the other governors, who will probably consist of the members of the founding group. It will be up to the group (subject to supervision by the DfE) to decide who will be on the governing board. Religious beliefs may therefore play a role.

Do bear in mind that the DfE is paying a lot of attention to the quality of governance in free schools. You will need to give full details of the competence and capacity of your proposed team in your application. Going forward you will also have to notify the DfE of any changes to the governing body and the governors will also be judged in the context of any inspection of the school. Consequently, although religion may be one criterion in governor recruitment, you will need to prioritise quality and ability to do the job.

As mentioned above, even if your free school is faith designated, it will need to remain inclusive to other pupils so you should consider whether having a diverse governing body will help you to make your school appealing to the whole community. A governing body with members of different faiths and none will help to demonstrate that you are serious about inclusivity.

In a faith designated school the leadership is tasked with monitoring different groups of pupils and staff to check that there is no ‘faith bias’ happening which would impact on pupil outcomes. The results of their monitoring are reported on a regular basis to the governing body as part of the accountability exercise.

One multi academy trust that runs Muslim designated schools has a policy that each of its schools will enter into a partnership with a local non-faith school for their mutual benefit. This shows a commitment at governance level to inclusion and community cohesion.

Reaching out to the community/meaningful engagement How you reach out to the wider community forms a whole section of the application to the DfE, which goes to show how important this aspect is. As we have stressed throughout this application, an application to open a faith free school is first and foremost an application to open a school that is inclusive of and beneficial to the whole community. The DfE will be assessing groups on how they plan to be inclusive and how they plan to attract pupils from all backgrounds and faiths.

You can do this by giving evidence of how your marketing has reached out to the wider community. You will need to show that your documentation clearly explains how your school will be run and how faith will impact on your school. You will need to make these explanations clear and understandable to people outside your faith. You will also need to show that this information was disseminated to the wider community. You may need to go to cultural centres, other places of worship, schools, or shopping malls. You could use the general press. You could organise or attend events which would attract people outside your faith. You should also document the interest taken in your school in a way that shows that you have reached out to the wider community. You may have separate lists of pupils who have chosen your school separated according to faith.

Beyond attracting pupils from a wider community, you will also need to show how your school will fit into the local community and how, once open, it can be a useful resource for all. Free schools are expected to integrate into their local community by providing services, allowing their premises to be used or in some way making a beneficial impact. In fact, as a faith school you could use your faith to bring people together, to educate the wider community as to your faith and others. You could show how faith should bring people together rather than divide them.

A faith ethos school adopted an engineering specialism and made links with their local university to offer a more specialized science program. This made their school more attractive to pupils and parents of all backgrounds and faiths.

A school seeking a Sikh designation marketed their school to many other faiths and cultures. They used different ways in which to reach out to different parts of the community including organizing a family fun fare aimed at the Eastern European community. They used Slovakian and Polish

speakers who were also fluent in English to help communicate the plans for the school to non- English speakers. They also translated their marketing material into other languages to appeal to the local community. As a consequence, 62% of the respondents to their demand survey were non- Sikh.

One Muslim designated school wants its pupils to focus on the ‘Big Society’. They state that “religious designation does not mean the exclusion of other faiths but rather it involves everyone rallying together to mend a broken society and to bring about the conditions necessary for a shared and bright future.”

Obtaining a faith designation You will not be designated as a faith free school until you have signed the funding agreement close to the date of opening your school. The process is worth mentioning here though as it may impact on your application.

The DfE offer guidance on how to obtain a designation in their mainstream pre-opening guidance (as only mainstream schools can be designated), here.

In order to qualify for designation you need to show that your school will be run in accordance with your faith and that one or more of the following applies:  If you are an already existing school, or have premises planned, that the premises to be occupied by the school are provided on trust in connection with (i) the provision of education, or (ii) in connection with the conduct of an educational institution in accordance with the tenets of your faith.  At least one trustee/governor is a person appointed to represent the interests of your faith.  The governing instrument (the articles and memorandum of association) of the school provides that the school shall be conducted, or some or all of the education shall be provided, in accordance with the tenets of your faith.

The Secretary of State will make the final decision on whether your school obtains a designation and in doing so he may consult any relevant religious body, he may also award a designation even if none of the specific criteria above apply.

You will need to appoint a religious authority to play a consultation role in your school. They will have 2 main responsibilities (although you can choose to give them more):

 To offer guidance on your religious education and collective worship provision and advise on what body should inspect these provisions (themselves or another body);  To offer guidance on your admissions policy, for example in judging how you will select pupils through the 50% rule if your school is over-subscribed.

Reference is made to which religious authorities may be consulted in the pre-opening guidance mentioned above. Essentially, any organisation that provides an official place of worship should qualify. For example, if you want to be designated as Church of England or Catholic, your local diocese will need to be your designated religious authority.

Finally, you will need to hand in the completed application form, which is attached to the pre- opening guidance, to your DfE lead at least 4 months before opening.

Further information

 DFE How to apply guide

 DfE pre-opening guide

 DfE guidance on faith academies

 DfE guidance on promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC

 DfE guidance on how the Equalities Act applies to schools

 DfE model funding agreement and articles of association