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** November 2019 update

Hello,

This month we'll be helping parents in Hampton Water, Peterborough, who are campaigning for an inclusive local school rather than a proposed Catholic faith school. We want every faith school proposal to face robust opposition at every level and make every effort to support secular inclusive alternatives. We always seek to work with local supporters and build a broad positive coalition.

This month I'm in East Anglia for a talks about the campaign in Cambridge (Wed 27 Nov) and Peterborough (Thu 28 Nov). We hope to add more events <[link removed]> in future, so please get in touch if you'd like a speaker on faith schools for your local group.

In our latest testimonial, Janet shares her son's experience of being made to feel abnormal in their local school because he's not Christian.

In other news this month, the Department for Education confirms it plans to retain the cap on religious discrimination in admissions to new academies. But it's exploring options to increase the number of fully selective voluntary aided schools. The dean of Westminster Abbey has called for more state funded Islamic schools. Yet another report has found that faith schools' supposed <[link removed]> academic benefits are overstated. And we've highlighted a petition where Campaigners in Lancaster are calling on a C of E faith school to stop discriminating in admissions.

Best wishes,

Alastair Lichten
Campaign coordinator - NMFS

** Latest news & opinion

* DfE plans to keep cap on faith-based discrimination in admissions <[link removed]>

The government has said it has no plans to lift a 50% cap on faith-based admissions to new faith schools in England.

* Senior CoE priest calls for more Muslim faith schools <[link removed]>

The NMFS campaign has criticised a call from the dean of Westminster Abbey for "a substantial number of state-funded Muslim schools".

* Faith schools perform less well under fairer assessment, says study <[link removed]>

Faith schools drop dramatically in league tables when fairer indicators of pupils' background are taken into account, a study has found.

* Petition calls for end to religious selection at Lancashire school <[link removed]>

Campaigners in Lancaster have started a petition calling on a Church of England secondary school to end religious discrimination in its admissions policy.

** Can you give the campaign a quick boost?

If you're on Twitter, then you can help draw attention to the campaign with one of our template tweets.

Tweet 1

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** Latest testimonial

* Parent's perspective: My son shouldn't have to feel abnormal because he's not Christian <[link removed]>

My son is struggling to reconcile his lack of religious belief with his school's Christian ethos, says Janet*.

Just a little... Read More » <[link removed]>

** Help the campaign - share your story

• Have you been assigned a faith school against your wishes, like John from Plymouth? • Were you unable to send your child to your local school because of religious discrimination, like Stephen from Newcastle Upon Tyne? • Have you had to deal with unwanted evangelism at your or your child's school, like Helen from York? • Have you been affected by faith schools' discriminatory relationships teaching, like Catherine from County Durham? • Are you a teacher who's been turned down for a job because you're the 'wrong' religion, like Rachel from Sussex, or dealing with growing evangelism at a CofE faith school, like another of our contributors? • You can help the campaign by showing the people behind
the facts, figures and principled arguments against faith schools.

Share your story <[link removed]>

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