Are local faith schools guilty of discrimination?
Are local faith schools guilty of discrimination?
Plus: Some say the new Lib Dem leader is the victim of sexual objectification
Dear readers — welcome back. For most of this week, Jack will be in Europe’s second most charming sun-soaked port city. Whether or not the pizzas in Naples’ Centro Storico measure up to Crazy Pedro’s on Parr Street is anyone’s guess; he’ll reveal the answer next week. Regardless, the Post is no longer a solo operation, and the show must go on.
Today we’re looking at Liverpool’s schools admissions policy, and the parents who feel their children are being overlooked on the basis of their faith. On top of that, we’ve got a Renaissance-style image of Concert Square drunkenness and a debate over the supposed objectification of the new Liverpool Lib Dem leader.
At the weekend, Daniel Timms took a look at the tides that bind, with a piece on the threat of rising sea levels to Merseyside communities. It got a fantastic response in the comments and on Twitter. Thanks to everyone who left kind words like these:
“Excellent but worrying article about something I consider more regularly these days.
“An interesting read. it reminds me of articles that appeared in the Echo when it was a proper paper in the late 80's early 90.”
“Many thanks for highlighting the problem, we really NEED to think hard about it!”
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This week’s weather
Monday ☀️ Sunny and a gentle breeze with highs of 23°C
Tuesday ☀️ Sunny and a gentle breeze with highs of 23°C
Wednesday ☀️ Sunny and a gentle breeze with highs of 22°C
Thursday ☀️ Sunny and a moderate breeze with highs of 23°C
Friday ☀️ Sunny and a moderate breeze with highs of 24°C
Weekend 🌦️ Light rain showers and a gentle breeze with highs of 26°C
This week’s weather forecast is sourced from BBC Weather and it’s for Liverpool.
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This week we’re writing about the Battle of Birkenhead, as Alison McGovern challenges Labour colleague Mick Whitley to contest the seat at next year’s general election. Got any juicy tips, opinions or information? Send them over to jack@livpost.co.uk ASAP.
We’re looking into the street art museum that would have been part of the failed Berry House development in the Baltic Triangle. Any tips regarding the museum, which was part of plans outlined by insolvent property firm North Point Global, or about the artwork that was supposed to be displayed there, please email abi@livpost.co.uk.
The big story: Are local faith schools guilty of discrimination?
Top line: This year, more than 500 children in Liverpool were allocated a secondary school that was not on their shortlist of five. That’s over 10% in total, with a further 67% not getting their first choice. It’s not uncommon for parents to find themselves frustrated at school admissions, but in Liverpool the issue is particularly charged. A number of parents believe the selective admissions policies of faith schools are discriminating against their children, and knocking them down the pecking order.
Liverpool has the second highest number of faith schools in the country. It also has serious issues with over-subscription, a problem that is, perhaps, most pronounced in the L8 area, which has a high number of Muslim children but also a number of faith schools who have the leeway to set their own admissions policies, and who prioritise Christian children. By definition a faith school would be expected to act this way, but the consequences can be painful nonetheless. As one Dad told the BBC in March:
"It's like the children are fighting with the system, where the system's telling our children that they are second-class citizens."
Former cabinet member for education Tom Logan stated in 2021 that the city would need an extra 400 school places to meet demand over the next two years, with “such dire need” that two completely new schools could ultimately be required. The near-closure of De La Salle Academy in Croxteth (after the government issued the school a financial notice) threatened to compound the issue. But it is the faith aspect that makes this state of affairs seem particularly egregious:
At one L8 school, St Hilda’s, only 10 Muslim children are admitted every year — despite there being over 200 Muslim applicants, according to one campaigning mother in the Echo
The council say they have no power to force faith-based schools to adopt new policies, but are investigating to see if Muslim children are missing out
Former mayor Joanne Anderson agreed that something was wrong, and wrote to Schools Minister Nick Gibb earlier in the year, saying: “There would appear to be latent discrimination in how the schools admissions code plays out”
Protest: Last month, a group of parents and children gathered outside the Cunard Building holding signs that read “Remove the barriers from our kids”. The BBC covered the protest, with one parent and member of the Granby Somali Women's group, Fatima Adan, saying that her child would need to take two buses to go to a former special measures school after she had put down five local choices and got none of them. “They are scared and afraid," she said.
And in January, the ombudsman upheld a mother’s complaint after her child was rejected by Cardinal Heenan Catholic School in Liverpool. It was found that the child’s baptism status had been wrongly questioned (the school prioritises children who are baptised Catholic) and they were instead allocated a school that meant them spending two and a half hours on the bus every school day. At the time, Jack Rivington of the National Secular Society, said:
"This case demonstrates how allowing faith schools to discriminate against pupils and their families on the basis of religion can lead to other important considerations, including health and special educational needs, being disregarded.
Bottom line: According to those in charge, there are no easy solutions here. More than 5,000 children applied for a Year 7 place for 2022, an increase of 315 over the previous year. Although a new academy is set to open next year, rapidly increasing numbers mean even that is unlikely to significantly ease the issue. The council isn’t able to build new schools of its own accord, meaning free schools or academies may be the only solution, and the existing faith schools are pursuing policies that have long-since been in place. One thing’s for sure though; the council will be busy working on appeals ahead of September.
Your Post briefing
A 33-year-old man has been charged after wearing an offensive football shirt referring to the Hillsborough disaster. James White, from Warwickshire, wore the shirt during the Wembley FA Cup final over the weekend, prompting outrage from football fans online. The Metropolitan Police Events Twitter account retweeted an image of White wearing the shirt, which had the number 97 printed on the back — in reference to the 97 Liverpool fans who died as a result of the disaster — along with the words “Not Enough”. He was bailed and will appear at Willesden magistrates’ court on 19 June, charged with displaying threatening or abusive writing likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
The mother of a Liverpool teenager who was murdered in 2017 has issued an appeal for witnesses after an investigation failed to find those responsible for his death. Yusuf Sonko, 18, was shot dead in Toxteth in one of five Merseyside killings within a week. Appealing to anyone with information, his mother said: "This is not snitching. This is a murder case, snitching and a murder case are completely different. If you keep that information to yourself then you are wicked, you have a wicked heart.”
Liverpool Lib Dem leader Carl Chasman has sparked an objectification debate after a flurry of crude tweets were posted about him in response to an image of him door-knocking. The image drew 2.3 million views on Twitter, despite many doubting whether the municipal politics of Church Ward are of that much national interest. Cashman was elected as the new leader of the Lib Dems just last month, taking over from long-serving Richard Kemp, and has since been met with a series of online posts drawing attention to his appearance. Quote tweets that appeared over the weekend included “Come knock on my door” and “I’d spit on you”. Some have questioned whether the obsession over Cashman’s appearance is an example of inappropriate objectification, with one widely shared tweet saying: “if this was a woman people would be going mental”.
A 36-year-old woman has received praise online after renovating a previously derelict house in Liverpool as part of the council’s “homes for a pound” scheme. Maxine Sharples first got the keys to the property in 2020, and spent two years doing up the two-bedroom Victorian house — at a cost of just under £60,000. In a blog post on CNBC, Sharples said: “This house is now worth much more than what I paid in renovations. A 2-bedroom house on my street recently sold for $137,000. But if I ever decided to leave, I’d only rent it out. I’ve invested too much in this place to sell it.” Look inside the fully renovated home here.
Home of the week
This five bedroom home in Halewood has heaps of outdoor space for green-fingered types. It’s a detached property, with an open plan living area and plenty of natural light flooding through large bay windows in the sitting room. Outside is a patio and seating area, plus a paved driveway with room for three cars. It’s on the market for £415,000 — find out more here.
Post Picks
🎸 Bootle Music Festival returns this weekend, headlined by Scouse indie rock royalty The Zutons. Spread over two days, Friday and Saturday, the event is happening at the Lock and Quay. More details here.
😂 Hot Water Comedy Club presents another weekly selection of some of the UK’s best comedy circuit acts. BBC Radio 4 favourite Phil Chapman is performing this Thursday, alongside three other acclaimed comedians. It’s a free event — find out more here.
🍺 Liverpool’s Craft Beer Expo celebrates its 10th birthday this week. Hosted at Black Lodge Brewery and Sub Rosa in the Baltic Triangle, the popular festival will be serving up a plethora of beers, ciders and street food from Thursday right through until Saturday. Buy a ticket here.
🕺 Back by popular demand, disco club night Proper Heavy Disco returns to Camp and Furnace armed with more than enough f Luther, Diana and James to keep the fire burning all night long. The party kicks off this Saturday — find out more here.
Our favourite reads
In a long-read worth a revisit from last year’s Sunday Times, David Collins explores the life of Curtis Warren, “a cross between a Scouse Pablo Escobar and Robin Hood”, the drug kingpin who rose from the streets of Toxteth to amass a £200 million fortune. Warren was released from prison last November, and Collins’ depiction of his unique character (he had a photographic memory, loved chess and taught himself Dutch and Spanish despite leaving school at 11) and the damage he wrought, is fascinating. Warren has spent over half his life in prison, and officers hope he’s left his old life behind; “The last thing anyone wants is Warren returning and creating another drugs turf war in Liverpool,” says one.
Four stars for Tom Wood in The Guardian, with Hannah Clugston describing his largest ever UK show — which is on at the Walker until next year — as a triumph. From “elderly women in smoking rooms, teenage lads leaning on railings [to] mothers hauling babes and bags round markets,” Woods focus has always been on the everyday, especially around Merseyside in the 80s and 90s. Patience is key to his approach, which saw him once spend two years (rather than a planned six weeks) visiting patients at Rainhill psychiatric hospital, a commitment that yielded remarkable results. No doubt Wood will be pleased with the kudos bestowed on him by The Guardian, but the real make-or-break review is yet to come. You can read that one tomorrow, right here.
And a treat for the policy wonks among you. Professor Michael Parkinson, the esteemed regeneration expert and Heseltine Institute ambassador, takes a look at the economic prowess of the UK’s second cities (Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and so on) in The Conversation and why they often lag behind their European counterparts such as Barcelona and Munich. “European cities have more responsibility than their UK counterparts for a wider range of functions which affect their economic competitiveness,” Parkinson writes. Germany in particular, with its highly decentralised system, has fostered a cluster of world-class cities. We could use a bit of that, maybe?.
Photo of the week
A renaissance piece worthy of the walls of the British Museum. Credit goes to Reddit.
Letters from readers
Excellent but worrying article about something I consider more regularly these days. Especially when I hear or read about climate change. I would definitely be affected but hopefully I won’t be here by then. A bit of a selfish thought, I know, but I try to do as much as I can, pity more don’t. ‘Rising sea levels: where in Merseyside stands to lose most?’, Carolyn Thornton
Having different rules for different authorities is ridiculous, especially if it means circumventing rules put in place to protect vulnerable passengers. What is the point of having a local private hire plate at all? ‘Covert operations, untraceable cabs and legal loopholes: Liverpool’s broken taxi system’, Mike R
hmmm lets take a step back here.
If they are faith schools and if my memory servers then the church concerned are mostly responsible for the "infrastructure" but teachers are supplied by the lea. This was after the the state intervened and did not like schools being able to have teachers as the same faith of the school. This means that Roman Catholic schools can not longer, i believe, state a teacher must be a roman catholic and the same for Anglican schools.
These are Christian schools. They are not Muslim schools or Hindu schools so yes I would expect them to include more students from a Christian background than a Muslim /HIndu/Other back ground. Along with this I would challenge that the only reason other none Christian traditions apply to these schools is not because of their teaching excellence (and having two daughters who came from Archbishop Blanch it is not that great) but because they are single sex schools .
This is not discrimination in the sense of not having someone because of a character but because they make a definitive statement of what type of school the are. The are a Christian school. which means they should have a Christian ethos and should give priority in teaching Christianity above all other traditions. Before you say they are all the same I beg to differ. Christianity is not the same as Islam as much as Islam is not the same as Hinduism.. The do not worship the same deity or hold to the same rules.
I am a tad disappointed in this article in that it has not got to the facts of the story or challenging a narrative . This story is a naked attack on Christian school accusing them of being sectarian when that is far from the truth (it has changed a lot over the years) and I wonder if the journalist who wrote it bothered to interview the Muslim parents who were protesting to see why they wanted their children to go to a explicitly Christian school that would be forced to change to accommodate Muslim sensibilities.
Although it is story of interest if only it shows the attack that happens against Christian schools and not only in Liverpool . One wonders why the real story is not covered . That education in this city mostly sucks. Teachers are under so much pressure and underpaid for what they do and schools have been closed as demographics change yet now the city is on the up where are the new schools for an increasing population. That is the real story that needs to be answered not some tawdry attack on faith based schools that are doing their best in very difficult situations.
You say that the Council will be busy with appeals for secondary education over the summer. I beg to differ - the appeals system has been outsourced to a London based company and is an almost farcical waste of time. If your target school says it is full, end of story.