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Free School proposed by creationist Jesmond Parish Church progresses to intervie...

5/29/2012 12:11 PM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
Clayton Academy, a Free School proposed by members of creationist Jesmond Parish Church, has been passed the first stage of the process and been progressed by the Department for Education (DfE) to the interview stage. The...
The Vicar of Jesmond, the Rev David Holloway, has written a number...

BHA signs letter expressing concern at pseudo-scientific Maharishi and Steiner F...

5/14/2012 6:36 AM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
A letter in yesterday’s Observer expressing concern about pseudo-scientific Free Schools has been signed by the British Humanist Association (BHA). Amongst others, the letter was also signed by Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter; David Colquhoun, Professor of Pharmacology at...
The letter reads:

Sir – Since the formation of the coalition, a lot of public concern has...

New BHA research reveals most new ‘faith’ schools opening ‘by the back door’

4/27/2012 5:58 AM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
Every single ‘faith’ school proposed to be fast-tracked through the opening process without competition in the last five years was approved. This 100% success rate contrasts with the results of other schools trying to open outside of competition, when fewer than half of proposals were successful. When ‘faith’ schools faced competition from non-religious proposals, barely one-third succeeded. These are the main...

Even the government don’t know which Academies and Free Schools are religiously ...

4/18/2012 10:57 AM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
A new Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the British Humanist Association (BHA) has revealed that even the Department for Education (DfE) do not know which Academies and Free Schools have a ‘faith ethos’ and which do not. The BHA has branded the revelation ‘unbelievable’.
‘Faith ethos’ schools are a growing but largely hidden type of state-funded school. In the state-maintained school sector...

Legal action against state-funded religious schools opening ‘by the back door’

4/11/2012 7:01 PM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
The British Humanist Association (BHA) and Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign (RISC) have joined forces to bring legal action against Richmond Council, which is seeking to open state-funded, selective Roman Catholic schools outside of competition.
New rules that came into force on 1 February state that ‘If a local authority in England think a...

Methodists risk giving up all their education principles on a wing

3/27/2012 5:49 AM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
This weekend saw the Methodist Church hold a meeting aimed at ‘re-invigorat[ing] its engagement with the education sector’. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has expressed dismay at the related Education Committee Report with its calls for expansion and increasing evangelisation of Methodist schools, and expressed concern...
Earlier this year, following the passage of the Education Act, the DfE gained the...

New Church of England report seeks expansion and evangelisation of state-funded ...

3/22/2012 8:01 PM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
A new report by the Church of England is set to call for an increase in the specifically religious character of its state-funded schools, as well as the setting up of 200 more state-funded Church schools. It follows a call by the Church of England Bishop responsible for education for church schools to be used to combat ‘aggressive secularism’. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has labelled the report insular...

Groups submit bids to open 2013 Free Schools as BHA lists applicants

2/24/2012 2:22 PM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
Today is the deadline for submitting a bid to open a Free School in 2013, as part of the ‘third wave’ of applications. 337 groups have indicated to the New Schools Network that they intend to bid. The British Humanist Association has been able...
Free Schools are a type of Academy, used to refer to Academies that are brand new state schools (as opposed to those converting from the maintained school sector)....

Government changes Academy model funding agreement... but DOESN'T ban creationis...

2/16/2012 7:27 AM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
The Government yesterday revised the Academy model funding agreement to bring it in line with all the recent changes made to the Free School model funding...
Last month, the Government changed the Free School model funding agreement to preclude ‘the teaching, as an evidence-based view or theory, of any view or theory that is contrary to established scientific and/or...

New rules on setting up schools in England come into force

2/1/2012 12:20 PM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
New rules on setting up English schools introduced by the Education Act 2011 have come into force today. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has called the changes a ‘regressive step in further entrenching favouritism enjoyed by “faith” school proposals in the school creation process’.
Where a local authority recognises a need for a new school, the changes strongly give preference to all new schools being...