7:00am Wednesday 28th July 2010
By Martin George
Kingston humanists have launched a campaign against the proposed north Kingston secondary school becoming a church school.
Almost 50 people have signed an online petition calling for the school to be “run by an organisation that will provide an inclusive neighbourhood school which does not discriminate on grounds of religion in its employment and admissions policies, ethos or curriculum”.
Groups interested in running the school have until August 23 to submit bids, with Kingston church school appeal proposing to allocate 40 per cent of places to Christian pupils.
Lead petitioner Peter Mason said: “Kingston Council say they want to this to be an inclusive neighbourhood school, so they must make sure it does not end up selecting pupils by religion.”
Funding of the proposed eight form of entry school on the North Kingston Centre site is uncertain following the scrapping of the Building Schools for the Future programme, but the council hopes to open it in September 2015 as scheduled.
Humanists will hold a public meeting at the Hawker Centre, Richmond Road on the evening of Monday, September 27. The petition is at tinyurl.com/33dgbw4.
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