THE Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, has called for a major shake-up of admissions rules for Church of England schools.

Rev Pritchard said policies which favour religious children should be changed, even if it affects a school’s exam results.

He urged headteachers to reserve no more than ten per cent of places for youngsters who are practising Anglicans.

In an interview with the Times Educational Supplement, Rev Pritchard, who is chairman of the Church of England’s board of education, said: “Every school will have a policy that has a proportion of places for church youngsters... that number ought to be minimised because our primary function and our privilege is to serve the wider community.

“Ultimately I hope we can get the number of reserved places right down to ten per cent.”

The move would be a major shift for the Church. It could also lead to an end to the practice of parents attending church to secure their child a school place.

Under current admissions rules faith schools can choose how to allocate places, for example to followers of their faith, if they are over-subscribed.

The Church of England has around 4,800 schools. It is believed that around half of CofE schools are voluntary aided, which means they set their own admissions policies.