On 25th April The National Secular Society published a press release warning that academisation risks increasing religious influence.
Three extracts from the NSS press release :
In 2015 the Archbishops’ Evangelism Task Group said that the Church had an “urgent need” to focus evangelism on children, young people and their parents in light of a catastrophic collapse in adult church attendance.
The earlier CofE ‘Church School of the Future‘ report set out a strategy of expanding the number of Church schools to “intensify the religious input into lesson”, calling for a new “concordat” between the Church and the Government to “reinforce and enhance” the Church’s influence throughout the education system.
The NSS has also raised questions about land ownership, expressing concern that “public land will be transferred from local authorities and placed under control of the local diocese for 125 years, and, given the permission of the secretary of state, the church could use it however it likes”.