The results shows that in London, a black child is less than half as likely to be admitted to a church school, which means a Catholic or Church of England school, for a remaining place there than a white child who also applies for that place.
Overall, black families are 68 per cent more likely to choose a church school than white families, yet they are significantly less likely to be admitted to a church school than a similar white family living nearby, the research shows. researchers said their findings don’t prove that church schools are “cream-skimming” pupils. Instead, non-white families may “underestimate the level of competition” for church school places, and consequently may not try to fulfil religious or other requirements before applying.
However, the results “provide strong evidence” that previous research showing church schools tend to have more socially-advantaged, higher-ability and less ethnically-diverse pupils than their local neighbourhoods is not purely explained by parental preferences.
Instead, the socioeconomic backgrounds of pupils at church schools is “at least in part due to admissions constraints.”
Across the whole of England, white British families tend to get their first preference school at a higher rate than ethnic minority families.
Whereas 93 per cent of white British families obtain their most-preferred school, just 75 per cent of south Asian families did – and only 73 per cent of black families did.