The Designation of Schools Having A Religious Character and Amendments (Wales) Order 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order, which comes into force on 31 July 2004, designates schools in Wales which have a religious character in accordance with section 69(3) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. These schools are designated in addition to those schools already listed in the Designation of Schools Having a Religious Character (Wales) Order 1999 (“the 1999 Order”).

Designation as a school which has a religious character is relevant for a number of purposes under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (“the Act”), notably:

(a)as part of the mechanism for determining the form of religious education to be provided under Schedule 19 to the Act;

(b)as part of the mechanism for determining the form of collective worship to be provided under Schedule 20 to the Act;

(c)as part of the mechanism for determining school staffing matters under sections 58-60 of the Act;

(d)for the purposes of the determination of admission arrangements under section 89 of the Act; and

(e)for the purposes of the disposition of assets under paragraph 5 of Schedule 3 to the Act, so that assets can be re-assigned for the benefit of schools of the same religion or religious denomination.

Designation by this Order is not of itself a means of acquiring a religious character or of changing religious character. Designation is the recognition of certain existing attributes of the school or its governing body as described in the Religious Character of Schools (Designation Procedure) Regulations 1998 (S.I. 1998/2535). Under the Act a school must first close if it is to acquire a religious character, if it does not, as a question of fact, have one already, or where it is to change its religious character.

A statement in the Order in relation to a school that the religious denomination in accordance with whose tenets religious education is, or may be, required to be provided at the school in accordance with Schedule 19 to the 1998 Act, is Roman Catholic does not determine whether or not the school is a Roman Catholic Church school according to canon law.

This Order also makes amendments to the 1999 Order to reflect:

(i)the closure of some schools which are listed in that Order; and

(ii)a change of category to one of the schools listed in that Order.