The Blue Coat School, Oldham - Admissions Policy and Criticism

Admissions Policy and Criticism

The area in Oldham where the school is based consists predominantly of the most deprived areas in the North West. However despite this local deprivation it is unclear, to what extent local pupils benefit from the presence of the school. This is an unfortunate side-effect of the school's policy of religious selection - in many cases those who live closest to the school are denied access with their places assigned to students who live further away, but better meet the School's arbitrary religious selection criteria. For this reason the catchment area of the school is very broad, and extends over much of Rochdale, Oldham, Manchester and Tameside.

Both Blue Coat, and also sister school Crompton House in Shaw, have a consistently excellent track record of high achievement at GCSE and A-Level, in an area of entrenched educational underachievement. However both schools, have received heavy criticism in the past for their Christian-only admissions policies. These used to ensure that the children of non-Anglican families were excluded from the two best schools in the Oldham area on entirely religious grounds. This faith-based admissions policy proved controversial, and led to accusations that the predominantly white, Christian school was wholly unrepresentative of the ethnic makeup of the local area. It should be noted that approximately 25% of Oldham's 250,000 strong population consists of Muslim families, the majority of which are originally of Pakistani and Bangladeshi extraction

These policies caused the school to be thrust uncomfortably into the glare and scrutiny of the media spotlight in the aftermath of the Oldham Riots, and the schools attracted criticism. The Liberal Democrat education spokesman Phil Willis cited Blue Coat as an example of a school which has only a few non-white pupils despite being in a predominantly ethnic-minority area. This erroneous statement was made even though he had never visited the area, which is in a predominantly white working class area. Consequently both schools found themselves open to accusations of racism, and that they were helping to foster educational "apartheid" by helping to further perpetuate the high-levels of racial segregation in the town.

However, the admissions policy has changed markedly in recent years. The 2008 school admissions policy for Year 7 pupils welcomes applications from any religion that is part of the UK Inter-Faith Network This includes the Muslim, Sikh and Jewish faiths, along with many others. This document states that applications from members of these faiths will be judged using the same criteria as for Christian applicants.

Even with this recent change in policy to broaden the basis of selection, the fact still remains that Blue Coat is still effectively a selective school albeit on religious rather than financial or academic grounds. As might be expected, church schools such as Blue Coat are keen to stress their egalitarian philosophy and principles, and the good work performed by school pupils in the local community. To the school's credit it is a regular supporter of many local good causes, with Rochdale Hospice in particular traditionally being a major benefactor.

As might be expected though, this central pillar of the school's admission policy has made it an easy target for critics of religious selection who have sought to criticise the school in the past. Such critics typically seek to argue that although selection exclusively on religious grounds might seem outwardly egalitarian, it actually does just as much to reinforce inequality as the academic selection practiced by grammar schools or the implicit financial selection inherent in independent schools. However in terms of its admissions policies, Bluecoat is arguably no different from any number of similar faith schools across the UK who maintain similar admissions practices. Indeed given the recent changes to the school's policies there is a good case to be made that is more equitable than most. Unfortunately, Blue Coat has had this misfortune of being located in an area that suffered from a race riot, which has inevitably led to a spotlight being focussed on the school's policies at a national level. Such attention has arguably made it an 'easy target' for such criticism.

Despite the change in admissions criteria to include those of other faiths, as of 2010 Blue Coat School has not admitted any pupils that are not regular attenders at Anglican churches for the past two years. Extract from their Guidance to Parents on Admissions:

The following information is offered as an indication of patterns and trends.

• In 2007 all Anglican applicants were admitted. Thirteen applicants from Churches Together in Britain and Ireland were admitted.
• In 2008 only Anglicans up to and inclusive of Criteria 4 were admitted.
• In 2009 only Anglicans up to and inclusive of Criteria 4 were admitted.

Criteria 4 is defined by the school as, "Children whose parent (s) or legal guardian (s) show evidence that the child and one parent/ legal guardian are active members of the Church of England, by a worship attendance of not less than fortnightly over a period of three years as of 31 August 2010. “Fortnightly” means attendance at least 24 weekly services per year."

Criticisms of this are:

• Exclusion of the children from socially deprived backgrounds
• Unrepresentative of ethnically diverse population, which can lead to racial tensions between schools
• Pressurising families from socially deprived areas to attend Anglican churches for the sole purpose of securing a place for their child in a good school
• Failure to apply the core ethos of the school as demonstrated in criticisms 1-3.

An example of this is the following parent's comment on Richard Dawkin's attack on Faith Schools: "I think you’re mistaking parents who send their children to CofE or RCC church primaries for believers when many are not. All over the country determined and motivated parents attend “feeder” churches to ensure their children meet the entry requirements for the best primaries. These churches are packed with young families. Once the children are older, and the school places obtained, the family’s church attendance drops off or ceases entirely, only to be replaced in the pew by the next ambitious young family."