The league tables of school performance regularly show church schools appearing to do better on average than schools without a religious character. Why this is, is hotly disputed. The major institutions engaged in running church schools, the Church of England and the Catholic Church, attribute this success to the je ne sais quoi that a religious ethos brings to their classrooms and corridors. Campaigners against church schools say these schools have subtle methods of selecting brighter or more motivated pupils, and it is this alone that gives them an edge when compared with non-church schools. Whatever the explanation, their success makes those schools more desirable for local parents looking for somewhere to educate their offspring. Hence it is said to be unfair discrimination to deprive