Sir, The majority of Church of England (CofE) schools do not control their admissions policies – the local authority does (“Sneaky, unfair, divisive: welcome to church schools”, May 23).

Alice Miles suggests that all church schools only select those who are the most advantaged in their catchment area. She cites one London church school with a privileged intake (whose admissions policy has changed) as if it is typical of all church schools.

Much more typical of the 147 church schools in the London diocese are those in Tower Hamlets, where the majority of the pupil population are from a Muslim or Bangladeshi background, or the 37 church schools where English is an additional language for more than 50 per cent of the pupils – or, indeed, the 68 church schools where more than 30 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals.

Church of England schools in the Diocese of London take the same proportions of white and ethnic minority children, as well as deprived and privileged, as is true of London as a whole.

The real agenda here is not about admissions policies in church schools; it is about the views of those desperate to deny a place in the education system for any schools which explicitly recognise faith and the religious approach to life as being of value.

Must secular liberalism be the creed for all schools? What then for those unfortunate children whose only fault is to have religious parents?

DR RICHARD CHARTRES, The Bishop of London

Sir, CofE schools largely mirror the communities they serve, and help to build social cohesion rather than the opposite.

The Church of England has endorsed fully the ban on interviewing for places, or any other mechanism for “covert selection”. National guidance issued by the Board of Education to dioceses earlier this year, designed to inform individual governing bodies’ admissions policies, are based simply on attendance at worship where faith criteria apply.

Our recent announcement of plans for 100 new CofE academy schools is a development that will provide quality education in an “inclusive and distinctive” environment, for children from some of the most deprived communities. Historically, serving these children’s educational needs was behind the Church providing large numbers of schools 200 years ago. It is still our main driver now.

THE RIGHT REV STEPHEN VENNER, Bishop of Dover and Acting Chairman, Board of Education, Church of England

Sir, Alice Miles highlights the divisive selection policy of CofE schools – the same applies to Jewish schools, where membership by parents of “the wrong type of synagogue” can prevent a child attending, despite the school being publicly funded.

However, there are even greater objections to such schools: by encouraging religious segregation from the age of 4 upwards, they create a social fragmentation that is unhealthy for society at large.

The best of them do attempt to teach about other faiths and British culture, but many do not, and exist precisely to oppose integration.

It is possible to believe in a faith, and in schools that take faith seriously, but not in single-faith schools, with religious identity instead coming from the home and extracurricular classes. Schools should be places where national cohesion takes priority.

Politicians need to be brave enough to resist the demands of local religious groups that wish to isolate their children, while bishops, rabbis and imams should see the common good as a religious value in itself.

RABBI DR JONATHAN ROMAIN, Maidenhead, Berks

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