What we call ‘faith schools’ are schools with a religious character or have formal links with a faith-based organisation. They fall into two categories: maintained schools with a religious character and independent schools with a religious character.
Maintained faith schools resemble all other maintained schools in several ways. They follow the National Curriculum and are inspected by Estyn. Similarly, all maintained schools, whether or not they have a religious character, are required to have daily acts of collective worship and to teach religious education as part of their curriculum. Having a religious character gives a maintained school specific flexibilities in:
- the appointment of staff
- teaching and inspection of RE
- collective worship
- admissions policy
- the school’s ethos
Independent faith schools in Wales currently include those who follow a Christian tradition and those that follow the Islamic faith. They are all inspected by Estyn. Independent faith schools must comply with the Independent School Standards (Wales) Regulations 2003 in the same way as other independent schools.