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RENFREWSHIRE Council has defended plans to prioritise pupils who are baptised Catholic for admission to denominational schools after a campaign group slammed the idea.
In an unusual move, resources manager Alison Gallagher wrote directly to the National Secular Society (NSS) after it criticised the proposals in an official response to a council consultation.
The NSS, which champions the separation of religion and state, had said it was “particularly disturbed” by the proposals and claimed they would “needlessly exacerbate sectarian divisions.”
But in her letter, Ms Gallagher hit back and said the council was not excluding any group. She also insisted priority would only be given to Catholic children for admission to a denominational school in the event it was oversubscribed with pupils from its catchment area.
The NSS branded the letter as “disappointing waffle.”
Chief executive Stephen Evans said: “This letter failed to address several significant issues which we raised in our consultation response.
“Prioritising places in publicly-funded schools for pupils in possession of a certificate of baptism is neither equitable nor fair.”
The plan set out by the council would require parents to submit their child’s Catholic baptism certificate before primary places are allocated.
This would allow a child to be prioritised for admission to Catholic primary schools if places are oversubscribed.
A child who has been baptised will be considered ahead of pupils who have siblings already at a school and those who have medical needs meaning they cannot go anywhere else.
Currently, children in Renfrewshire are allocated schools based purely on where they live and, if places are oversubscribed, they are then allocated by ballot, with no religious test.
The council has also proposed to base the initial allocation of a child’s secondary school on the denomination of their primary school and their home address.
Pupils who are baptised as a Roman Catholic and attend a denominational school would take priority over those who are baptised but attend a non-denominational school.
The consultation on the proposals closed at the end of last month.
A council spokeswoman said: “All children and young people have a right to attend any public school if there are enough places. The consultation on a new school admissions policy has now been completed and we have submitted these responses to Education Scotland for review and further consultation.
“Once we have received the report from Education Scotland on their review of the consultation, we then will present the proposal and consultation responses to elected members on the education and children’s services policy board.
“The provision of denominational schools is required by national legislation and our proposed changes to the school admissions policy take this into account while also giving parents as much freedom as possible within the resources available. The new policy would only be required when a denominational school is oversubscribed.”
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