Faith School - England

England

Education in England includes many schools linked to the Church of England, which controls governance and admittance while the funding comes from the state. At voluntary-aided schools, the Church pays for 10% of projects; at voluntary-controlled schools, the Church contributes only the building itself. The Church sets the ethos of the schools and influences selection of pupils; at voluntary aided schools, usually half or more of the school's places are reserved for "actively involved" members of the Church determined by local clergy. These form 68% of the approximately 7000 Christian faith schools in England in 2011. The Roman Catholic church maintains 30% of schools. In addition, there are 12 Muslim, 42 Jewish, 4 Hindu and 2 Sikh faith schools. Faith schools follow the same national curriculum as state schools, with the exception of religious studies, where they are free to limit this to their own beliefs.

About one third of the 20,000 state funded schools in England are faith schools. Some of these have converted to Academy status, which means they can set pay and conditions for staff, and no longer have to follow the national curriculum. However the Department of Education and Science expects evolution to be taught as part of every science curriculum and does not expect creationism etc. to be taught.