The Department for Education has made the Designation of Schools Having a Religious Character (Independent Schools) (England) Order 2025, which both designates institutions and revokes earlier entries. The instrument came into force on 30 August 2025.
The Order designates Ealing Fields High School (Ealing) and The Pathfinder Church of England Primary School (Cambridgeshire) as schools having a religious character. For each, the denomination recorded is Church of England.
Article 3 removes earlier entries relating to St Joseph’s Preparatory School, Barrow Hills School, Priory School, Alton Convent School, More House School and Our Lady of Sion School. The Explanatory Note records that revocations address closures or cases where designation could not continue.
The legal effect is targeted. Under section 124A of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, designated independent schools may take account of religious considerations in certain teaching staff employment decisions. The Order does not itself create or change a school’s religious character.
For proprietors and headteachers, immediate actions are administrative: align recruitment policies where relying on section 124A, update statutory information and prospectus materials to reflect the designation, and ensure governance records and equality documentation are consistent with the new status.
For institutions whose earlier entries are revoked, any reliance on section 124A should cease unless a new designation applies. Where a revocation reflects a closure, the instrument regularises the record and no further operational action is required from proprietors.
For context, a related Order made on 27 August 2025 designated two maintained voluntary aided schools-Pilgrim’s Cross CE Aided Primary School (Church of England) and Nancy Reuben Primary School (Orthodox Jewish). In the maintained sector, designation informs religious education, collective worship and staffing arrangements under the 1998 Act.
No impact assessment was produced for SI 2025/1046, with the Explanatory Note indicating no significant effect on the private, voluntary or public sectors. The instrument extends to England and Wales.