A faith school is a school in the United Kingdom that teaches a general curriculum but which has a particular religious character or formal links with a religious or faith-based organisation. The term is most commonly applied to state-funded faith schools, although many independent schools also have religious characteristics.
There are various types of state-funded faith school, including Voluntary Aided (VA) schools, Voluntary Controlled (VC) schools, and Faith Academies.
Schools with a formal faith designation may give priority to applicants who are of the faith, and specific exemptions from Section 85 of the Equality Act 2010 enable them to do that. However, state-funded faith schools must admit other applicants if they cannot fill all of their places and must ensure that their admission arrangements comply with the School Admissions Code.
Note that legislation varies between the countries of the United Kingdom since education is a devolved matter.
England
The Education Act 1944 introduced the formal requirement for daily prayers in all state-funded schools, even if many state schools, particularly secondary schools, no longer do so. . National Secular Society. Retrieved on 22 November 2025 Later acts changed this requirement to a daily "collective act of worship", the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 being the most recent. This also requires such acts of worship to be "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character".Collective worship. www.teachernet.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2011-12-01. The term "mainly" means that acts related to other faiths can be carried out providing the majority are Christian.The Churches and Collective Worship in Schools. Approved by the Churches’ Joint Education Policy Committee on 9 May 2006. Catholic Education Service
Independent schools are exempt from this provision, so it has always been possible to have an independent (not state-funded) school with no act of worship or with acts of worship relating to non-Christian religions. However, many schools that were originally church schools are now largely state funded, as are some Jewish schools. These are allowed to have acts of worship "in accordance with the beliefs of the religion or denomination specified for the school". Until 1997, the UK funded only Christian or Jewish faith schools (Muslim schools existed but were privately funded), but the 1997–2007 Labour Government expanded this to other religions, and began using the term "faith school".
Education in England includes various types of state-funded faith school, including Voluntary Aided (VA) schools, Voluntary Controlled (VC) schools, and Faith Academies.
The two main providers of faith schools in England are the Church of England and the Catholic Education Service.Schools and the Church of England: Church schools . Cofe.anglican.org (2011-06-25). Retrieved on 2011-12-01.
In 2011, about one third of the 20,000 state funded schools in England were faith schools,BBC News 3 Dec 2011 Catholic faith schools in academy switch approximately 7,000 in total, of which 68% were Church of England schools and 30% were Roman Catholic. There were 42 Jewish, 12 Muslim, 3 Sikh and 1 Hindu faith schools.
Following the 2010 Academy Act, many faith schools converted to Academy status, and are sometimes known as Faith Academies. Many Free Schools have also been created with a religious designation, and these are also sometimes referred to as Faith Academies. All academies can set pay and conditions for staff, and are not obliged to follow the National Curriculum. However the Department for Education "will not approve any application where we have any concerns about creationism being taught as a valid scientific theory, or about schools failing to teach evolution adequately as part of their science curricula."
Voluntary Aided and Voluntary Controlled faith schools follow the same National Curriculum as state schools, with the exception of religious studies, where they are free to limit it to their own beliefs.
Wales The Welsh Government provides statutory support to education that recognises a religious dimension, including funding. All publicly supported schools are Christian in character. They can give priority to teachers of the faith and to pupils of the faith where oversubscribed. The Anglican Church in Wales runs 172 primary and secondary schools in Wales. The Catholic Education Service runs 89 schools in Wales. The school buildings and land are owned by the Church, but running costs and 90% of the maintenance are covered by the state. 51% of teachers are Catholic and is required that the Head Teacher, Deputy Head, and Head of Religious Studies are Catholic. St Joseph's Catholic and Anglican High School is the only faith school in Wales for both churches. Cardiff Muslim Primary School, and Ihsan Academy are independent Muslim schools (taking boys and girls) in Cardiff.
Scotland Although schools existed in Scotland prior to the Reformation, widespread public education in Scotland was pioneered by the Church of Scotland, which handed over its parish schools to the state in 1872. Charitably funded Roman Catholic schools were brought into the state system by the Education (Scotland) Act 1918. This introduced state funding of Catholic schools, which kept their distinct religious education, but access to schools by Catholic clergy and requirement that school staff be acceptable to the Church were retained. The Catholic schools remain as "faith schools." Other schools in Scotland are known as "non-denominational" schools, however, the Church of Scotland continues to have some links to this form of education. The subject of religious education continues to be taught in these non-denominational institutions, as is required by Scots Law.
In Scottish Catholic schools, employment of non-Catholics can be restricted by the Church; often, one of the requirements for Catholic applicants is to possess a certificate that has been signed by their parish priest, although each diocese has its own variation on the method of approval. Non-Catholic applicants are not required to provide any religious documentation. Certain positions, such as headteachers, deputy heads, religious education teachers and guidance teachers are required to be Roman Catholic. Scottish faith schools have the practice of school-wide daily assembly/worship; some Catholic schools even have their own prayer. Whilst maintaining a strong Catholic ethos, Scottish Catholic schools have long welcomed pupils from other faith backgrounds, though they tend to give precedence to non-Catholics who come from religious families and a large number of Muslims also go to Catholic schools.
The Imam Muhammad Zakariya School, Dundee was the only Muslim school in the UK outside England, and was an independent school,Association of Muslim Schools: Dundee until its closure in 2006.
Northern Ireland In the early part of the 20th century, the majority of schools were owned and run by either the Catholic or Protestant churches.The Bain Report (2006) Schools for the Future
The Protestant schools were gradually transferred to state ownership under Education and Library Boards (ELBs) responsible to the Department of Education, but with an Act of Parliament to ensure that the ethos of the schools conformed to this variety of Christianity, and giving the churches certain rights with respect to governance.
The Catholic schools are not owned by the state but by trustees, who are senior figures in the Church. However, all running costs are paid by the ELBs and all capital costs by the Department of Education. The employment of teachers is controlled by the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, who are the largest employer of teachers (8,500) in Northern Ireland.http://www.ccmsschools.com/. CCMS Official Website The 547 Catholic schools teach 46% of the children of Northern Ireland.Northern Ireland Commission for Catholic Education. Catholiceducation-ni.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-01. Teachers are not required to be of the Catholic faith, but all those in Catholic primary schools must hold a Certificate in Religious Education.
While the Protestant and Catholic schools were theoretically open to all, they were almost entirely of their own religious sectors, so starting in the 1980s, a number of so-called integrated schools were established.
As of 2010, the great majority of schools in Northern Ireland are either Catholic or Protestant, with relatively few integrated, a situation called "benign apartheid" by Peter Robinson, the First Minister of Northern Ireland.
Issues about faith schools in the UK
+ English schools with fewer free school meal children than local postcode average (2010) School type Primary Secondary Church of England 63.5% 39.6% Roman Catholic 76.3% 64.7% Non-religious 47.3% 28.8% + Pupils claiming free school meals in England (2010) School type Primary Secondary All 19.3% 15.2% Church of England 13.1% 12.0% Roman Catholic 16.3% 14.0% Non-religious 21.5% 15.6% An analysis of 2010 English school data by The Guardian found that state faith schools were not taking a fair share of the poorest pupils in their local areas, as indicated by free school meal entitlement. Not only was this so at the overall national level, but also in the postcode areas nearby the schools. This suggested selection by religion in England was leading to selection of children from more well-off families.
In 2002, Frank Dobson, to increase inclusivity and lessen social division, proposed an amendment to the Education Bill (for England and Wales) to limit the selection rights of faith schools by requiring them to offer at least a quarter of places to children whose parents belong to another or no religion. The proposal was defeated in Parliament.
However, in October 2006, Bishop Kenneth Stevenson, speaking on behalf of the Church of England, said, "I want to make a specific commitment that all new Church of England schools should have at least 25% of places available to children with no requirement that they be from practising Christian families." This commitment applies only to new schools, not existing ones.
In 2005, David Bell, the head of the Office for Standards in Education said "Faith should not be blind. I worry that many young people are being educated in faith-based schools, with little appreciation of their wider responsibilities and obligations to British society. This growth in faith schools needs to be carefully but sensitively monitored by government to ensure that pupils receive an understanding of not only their own faith but of other faiths and the wider tenets of British society". He criticised Islamic schools in particular, calling them a "threat to national identity".
Although not state schools, there are around 700 unregulated madrassas in Britain, attended by approximately 100,000 children of Muslim parents. Doctor Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, the leader of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain, has called for them to be subject to government inspection following publication of a 2006 report that highlighted widespread physical and sexual abuse.
In September 2007, attempts to create the first secular school in Britain were blocked. Dr Paul Kelley, head of Monkseaton High School in Tyneside, proposed plans to eliminate the daily act of Christian worship and cause "a fundamental change in the relationship with the school and the established religion of the country".
In November 2007, the Krishna-Avanti Hindu school in north-west London became the first school in the United Kingdom to make vegetarianism a condition of entry. Additionally, parents of pupils are expected to abstain from alcohol to prove they are followers of the faith.