improved faith school performance is due to selective admissions policies

Church of England ignore evidence showing improved faith school performance is due to selective admissions policies. League tables ranking English primary schools on their performance in English, Maths and Science tests taken by 11 year-olds were released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families last Tuesday.

While faith schools are disproportionately represented in the list of 200 schools with the highest marks for these subjects, they were evenly matched by community schools in the far more significant list of 200 schools which obtained the highest contextual value-added scores. Faith schools comprise 36% of primary schools in England and comprised 74 of the 200 schools (37%) in this second category. Contextual value-added scores seeks to assess the progress made by pupils and take into account factors outside of a school's control that are known to affect the performance of children, such as having special education needs, being in receipt of free school meals or having a first language other than English. Faith schools continue to take fewer than average numbers of children from these backgrounds.
Read more about BHA work on faith schools.