A High Court judge today sided with the London Oratory School in its battle over its admissions procedures with the Schools Adjudicator.
Mr Justice Cobb said the adjudicator had been “unlawful and/or unreasonable” in its finding against the heavily oversubscribed school in Fulham, south west London, which had also been based on “flawed reasoning and unfair process.”
The London Oratory, which was attended by three of the children of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, had been told by the adjudicator it broke the admissions code through its employment of certain faith-based criteria.
The adjudicator made its ruling in 2014 following a complaint by the British Humanist Society.
But the school, also attended by the son of the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, challenged this through a judicial review arguing that the adjudicator Dr Bryan Slater had gone beyond his remit to demand “root and branch” reform of the Oratory’s admissions process.
The Oratory, which had almost 1,000 applicants for 160 places in Year 7 this year, said it uses faith-based criteria to determine the Catholicity of pupils, such as asking for parents’ baptismal certificates.
In his judgment today Mr Cobb said the adjudicator had adopted an “erroneous approach” and had been “verging on the pedantic.” He did, however, rule against giving preference to applicants who could demonstrate "extra Catholic service" such as volunteering for charity, altar serving or flower arranging in a parish.
The school’s headmaster, David McFadden said: “The Judge's decision supports us in continuing to preserve the School's ethos and serving Catholic families throughout the whole of London. It is profoundly regrettable that the School - and other schools - have to expend precious resources, year after year, in standing up to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator. These are key resources that should go to our children’s education and their future, not overturning ultimately flawed and unmeritorious decisions. Schools within the state sector have serious questions to ask about the adjudication process.”
The Oratory uses faith-based criteria as it has a pan-London admissions policy taking in boys from 40 local education authority areas. If it stopped operating such a system, the school believes it would end up with pupils concentrated from the local catchment area of Fulham, where property prices are exceptionally high.
Church authorities, however, say that faith-based criteria should not be used and the only determination of Catholicity should be whether the child is baptised and the family attends Mass.
Since 2013 there have been two schools adjudicator investigations into the Oratory.
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