Admission row primary will bid to drop church link

ONE of two primary schools at the centre of a row about admissions at Tudor Grange Academy is to bid to drop a key Church of England link.

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Tudor Grange Primary Academy St James in Shirley would consult to remove a demand that parents are practising Church of England worshippers.

Along with St Alphege C E Junior School, pupils would get priority over catchment area children when places are allocated for Tudor Grange Academy for September 2014.

This has angered some parents who say it gives an unfair advantage to CofE pupils to get into the academy, which is not a faith school.

The St James plan was revealed in a letter from the Diocese of Birmingham to the British HumanistAssociation (BHA), which said the Tudor Grange plan could breach equality laws.

Diocese director of education Jackie Hughes said: “St James’s will in due course begin consulting on changing its admission policy in order to remove Church of England practice as a criterion.”

Tudor Grange said it wanted to change its admissions policy as it has a partnership with St Alphege and is the sponsor of Tudor Grange Primary.

But BHA head of public affairs Pavan Dhaliwal said the St James plan “isn't stated in the consultation anywhere  (thereby denying parents important information which would help them respond), hasn't yet been  decided, and even once it is decided, will take six years to filter through to the secondary”.

He said Tudor Grange Academy: “This is the first time we have heard of a school without a religious character effectively giving  preference to children whose parents are religious.”

The plans are “very possibly unlawful” under the 2010 Equality Act, he told the school.

Mrs Hughes, responding for the school, said those with concerns “appear not to have fully understood” the relationship between the three schools.

She said: “A school without a designated religious character is not prevented from having a school with a religious character as a feeder school.

“Indeed such a position is commonplace in England where Church of  England primary schools commonly feed a local secondary school, whatever its character and indeed whatever its category.”

There are plans to make both primaries feeder schools and it is “somewhat precipitous and ill advised to be alleging discrimination or unlawful conduct” she said.

The school has said therewill be enough places for all catchment children until at least 2019. Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council has objected to the plan.

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