We want a fairer way of allocating school places in Oldham.

We are a group of parents, teachers, and local residents who have come together to campaign for an end to religious selection in Oldham schools.  The group thinks that everyone should have equal rights to a good quality education in our local state-funded schools, regardless of their social class, religious faith, ethnic origin, or postcode.

We believe

• All state-funded schools should be equally accessible to families of all faiths and none, regardless of who is running them.
• Dividing children on the grounds of religion damages community cohesion. Allowing children to grow up with friends from diverse religious backgrounds promotes harmony.
• Religious segregation leads to socio-economic segregation. Religiously selective schools typically admit a much smaller percentage of pupils on free school meals than others.

We aim to

• highlight any cases where this type of discrimination has other negative consequences locally, such as covert social or racial selection.
• oppose the establishment of any new admissions policy that discriminates against children on the basis of religion or belief, including the one adopted by the Brian Clarke Academy.
• campaign for an end to faith-based discrimination in the admissions policies of existing local schools.

What we are not

• Our group is not against religion.  Our supporters include Christians, Muslims, and members of other faiths, as well as humanists and other non-religious people. We are united on the principle that it’s wrong for state-funded schools to have admissions policies that discriminate against local children simply because of their parents’ religion or beliefs.
• We aren’t associated with any particular political party.