A campaign has been launched to stop a primary school in Southwark from being forced to become a faith school.
Charlotte Sharman, the only non-faith school in St George’s ward in Southwark, is set to merge with St Jude’s, a church of England primary, due to falling numbers.
It means the new school would be a faith school, campaigners say. More than 600 people have signed a petition, organised by the Southwark branch of the National Education Union, for the new school to be non-faith.
Charlotte Sharman primary, named after an evangelical Christian who ran orphanages locally in the 19th century, is understood to be at 78 per cent capacity with 134 pupils, while St Jude’s is at 31 per cent with 81 pupils.
The proposed merger would see the new school based on the Charlotte Sharman site while retaining the Church of England status of St Jude’s.
The petition said: “We want Charlotte Sharman to remain an inclusive, community school, without any emphasis on any particular religious belief. We have a committed long-serving workforce who have taught generations of local families, the majority of whom are very concerned about these proposals."
Lewis Young, of Humanists UK, said: “Clearly, a decision needs to be made about how to tackle declining roll numbers across both schools, but this shouldn't be to the detriment of pupils from a non-religious or non-Christian background."
