The Religious Character of Schools (Designation Procedure) Regulations 1998

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations set out the procedure to be followed by the Secretary of State in making an order or orders designating foundation or voluntary schools as schools which have a religious character under section 69 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (“the Act”).

Designation as a school which has a religious character is relevant for a number of purposes, notably:

(a) as part of the mechanism for determining the form of religious education to be provided under Schedule 19 to the Act;

(b) as part of the mechanism for determining the form of collective worship to be provided under Schedule 20 to the Act;

(c) as part of the mechanism for determining school staffing matters under sections 58 to 60 of the Act;

(d) as part of the mechanism for determining the criteria for the admission of pupils to schools under section 91 of the Act;

(e) for the purposes of the disposition of assets under paragraph 5 of Schedule 3 to the Act, so that assets can be re-assigned for the benefit of schools of the same religion or religious denomination;

(f) the inclusion of a description of the ethos of the school in the instrument of government under paragraph 1(1)(g) of Schedule 12 to the Act.

It should be noted that section 554 of the Education Act 1996 (power to make new provision as to the use of endowments held or used wholly or partly for or in connection with the provision at a school of religious education in accordance with the tenets of a particular religion or religious denomination) makes no reference to a school having a religious character.

Religious character is not acquired or lost by virtue of being designated or not designated under the procedure set out in these Regulations. Designation is the recognition of a religious character which a school already has as a question of fact. Under the Act a school must first close if it wishes to acquire or change religious character.

These Regulations make special provision for cases where a final decision has not been made by 1st September 1999 as to whether or not a particular school has a religious character and the religion or religious denomination (or religions or religious denominations) in question.

Those religions in accordance with whose tenets religious education is, or may be, required to be provided at the school in accordance with Schedule 19 to the 1998 Act are currently the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions. The relevant religious denominations within Christianity are the Church of England, the Church in Wales, the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church and the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

A statement in relation to a school that the religious denomination in accordance with whose tenets religious education is, or may be, required to be provided at the school in accordance with Schedule 19 to the 1998 Act, is Roman Catholic does not determine whether or not the school is a Catholic school according to canon law.