A council has raised “serious concerns” over Catholic schools lowering the importance of looked-after children in admissions after a youngster in care was refused a place at the school deemed “most appropriate” by their social worker.

A Schools Week investigation has also found council leaders in another area having to threaten Catholic schools with admission directions to get places for children in care.

Admissions rules state all oversubscribed schools must give looked-after children the highest priority. But those with a faith designation can prioritise religion instead.

Schools Week analysis suggests schools in at least seven dioceses now give priority to children of their faith before non-religious pupils in care.

In many of these, youngsters in care have been relegated to the fourth priority band, which normally spans a list of six to eight.

‘Serious concerns’

In a report lodged with the schools adjudicator last year, obtained by Schools Week, Bristol council revealed “for the first time a child in care did not secure [their] first-choice school”.

It blamed this on “the faith-related admissions criteria” that placed youngsters in care “at a lower priority than those not in care but of a specific faith”.

An admission appeal “was unsuccessful”, leaving the child “unable to attend the most appropriate school for them”.

The council said it had raised the case with the Catholic Diocese of Clifton as a “situation of vulnerability and concern”.

Christine Townsend, chair of the authority’s children and young people policy committee, added this involved “expressing our serious concerns”.

However, the diocese said it had not been approached by the council. Its schools “welcome and support children from all backgrounds, including those who are looked after or have previously been looked after”, a spokesperson said.

‘Creates further uncertainty’

Salford Council told the admissions watchdog that faith schools were the “main difficulty” for children in care admissions. Catholic schools often prioritised children of faith, which left looked-after children not of faith “unable to access these schools”.

Virtual heads – who champion the needs of children in care – were forced to “pursue conversations” with leaders, including “potentially direction in order to get those pupils admitted”, said the council’s annual admissions report published last year.

The situation “creates further uncertainty for these vulnerable young people when all their peers have confirmed school places”.

Research published by the charity Humanists UK five years ago found 41 per cent of all state secondaries of a religious character “discriminate against children who are or were in care not of their faith”. Ninety-two per cent were Catholic.

Schools Week’s checks of diocese admission arrangements showed that while seven prioritised just Catholic children in care, five did give equal priority. Admission documents for the other dioceses could not be located.

‘Localised but persistent problem’

The Office of the Schools Adjudicator, the admissions watchdog, said a “small number of local authorities” had raised the issue, describing it as a “localised problem, but a persistent one”.

Andrew Copson, of Humanists UK, said: “Religious state schools are funded by the taxpayer and they should be subject to the same admissions as every other school.”

Haringey council in London called for the admissions code to be revised so looked-after children had better access to high-performing faith schools.

But speaking in the House of Lords, Jacqui Smith, the skills minister, said the government had no plans to change the  rules.

Faith schools’ ability “to prioritise children of faith when they are oversubscribed” was “important”, she said.

A spokesperson for the Catholic Education Service said “all schools can prioritise pupils according to criteria agreed in law when oversubscribed”. However, falling rolls meant this was “rarely necessary”.