| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:DOW - Gunnersbury School Admission Policy | |
| Posted by: | Gordon Smith | |
| Date/Time: | 01/11/05 22:28:00 |
| The census data shows that 9.2% of the population of Hounslow are Muslim and 7.6% are Hindu with 52% Christian. This doesn't tell us about observance and doesn't tell us about the proportion of Christians that are Catholics but nationally there are about 5-6mn practicing Catholics. I would suspect that a borough like Hounslow would be slightly above the national average and in the east of the borough (Chiswick, Brentford, Isleworth) it would be about 15% So the answer to your original question is probably that Catholics are the largest religion in the borough but not by a big degree. The reason there are lots of Catholic and Anglican schools and few Hindu and Muslim ones is that the Christian Churches have been here longer and have more assets and used some of them to set up schools. There has never really been a policy to develop an education system to match the religious make up of the country but Government have been open to working with Churches who provide the assets in return for control of admission. As another contributor has pointed out the dismantling of this system is impossible without billions of pounds of extra funding and huge upheaval whilst it is taking place. Up until recently there has been some official uncertainty about non-Christian (and non-Jewish) schools but at a national level the current thinking appears to be favourable. The problem is that property values have risen very sharply and there are very few suitable sites in the urban areas where Hindu and Muslims generally live. Also as religions they tend to be less institutional than the two mainstream Christian ones (the same could be said for pagans) so they often have less financial muscle. The question is therefore should the Government move towards providing them with funding to acquire sites and develop schools. The answer would probably be a qualified no because then other religions, even pagans assuming there are enough to fill a school, would want access to the same kind of funding. Locally a Hindu school has been set up this year in Harrow and more are likely to follow. There is a non-state but highly subsidised (by the Saudi royal family) Muslim school in Acton which has a good reputation. Hounslow Council itself has a reputation for being hostile to the expansion of such schools but the new education White Paper would give them less power to obstruct their growth. If the Muslim or Hindu communities could get funding to start schools I would imagine that there would be several set up in the borough before the end of the decade. There will no doubt be a great deal of misgiving about this but the feeling in official circles appears to be that many minority communities feel their children have been ghettoised and isolated within a comprehensive education system that doesn't meet their needs. Putting children from different backgrounds can work very well but it can also lead to unmanageable conflict within schools. The original worthy notion that mixing races, creeds and backgrounds will lead to a generation of tolerant individuals who understand and respect differences is being reconsidered as the reality proves more complex. The fact that most of the London bombers went through the comprehensive education system has, I believe, convinced some that a change of direction is needed. As for the Oratory its admission policy is more scrutinised than any other in the country. I can't understand why it takes children from such a wide geographical area but there is little evidence that it discriminates on a socio-economic basis. On the usual measures i.e. free school meals, attainment on admission and English as a second language it doesn't appear to be managing its intake in this way. I don't know which school your relation teaches at but Hammersmith and Fulham as a borough has a very high proportion of Catholic schools. From memory this is over 30% The reason for this is that there was a high concentration of Catholic immigration in the area in the 50s and 60s mainly Irish but also from elsewhere. There still is a substantial Irish community in the area but many have moved out to be replaced by new waves of immigration. The school system remains in place but many attending these schools may not be Catholic or if they are they may not be observant enough to pass the Oratory's interviews! You could argue that the local schools should be given priority but this wouldn't be particularly fair on areas where there are no Catholic secondary schools for instance Chiswick. The attendance of Tony Blair's sons at the school has meant that for the last 8 or so years it has had to undergo a stream of politically motivated attacks which have cast doubt on the way that it has achieved the kind of results that it does. Looking at the relevant reports and data it would seem that most of these attacks are groundless. |