POPULAR Church of England schools should take in pupils of other faiths or none, even if they have to turn away the children of practising Christians, the Archbishop of Canterbury believes.

George Carey, who announced his retirement this week, insists in The TES today that Anglican schools must be inclusive. His comments will upset some conservatives in the Church as traditionalist and liberal wings fight over his successor.

There is fierce demand for places at the 193 C of E secondaries. It is not uncommon for six pupils to be turned away for every one accepted and popular schools face 60 or 70 admission appeals a year. Often, these schools have enough Christian applicants to fill all the places.

However, Dr Carey said: “Even so, they (church schools) should include some children of other faiths and of no particular faith as well as ... of Christian families.”

He says Anglican schools that only take children of practising Christians must admit other pupils.

Richard Wilkins, general secretary of the Association of Christian Teachers, said the proposal to reserve places for non-Christians: was “unfortunate but probably necessary if the Church is to show it is inclusive”.

Timothy Royle, a member of the C of E general synod, said it was important to take children with other beliefs. He added: “I am inclined not to have quotas because you don’t get the mix of talent. Individual schools have got to be able to be creative.”

Don Horrocks, spokesman for the Evangelical Alliance, which supports “inclusivity”, said: “Some individual Christian parents would be pretty upset if they could not get their child into their local faith school, and yet children from non-faith backgrounds were accepted.”

The Church does not set quotas but is conscious about proportions of places allocated to children from other faiths or none. These vary from school to school.

Dr Carey backs state-funding for other faith schools, such as those run by Muslims. The establishment of such schools, he writes “is a matter of justice and a sign of the openness of British society”. His comments come as MPs resume debate on the education Bill and controversial proposals to allow more faith schools.

Ministers have already been warned by teachers’ leaders, Labour activitists and backbench MPs that the plans will damage race relations and create dangerous divisions.

Nearly twice as many people oppose plans to expand state faith schooling as support it, a MORI-funded poll for The TES last year revealed. The Church has plans to set up 100 new secondaries.

Dr Carey writes: “Religious schools that are outward looking ... and are committed to developing positive links with other schools can do much to build new bridges.”

Although almost all of the Church’s schools are inclusive, some have caused concern. Phil Willis, the Liberal Democrat education spokesman, has complained about the Oldham Blue Coat school, where all but a handful of pupils are white.

The Catholic Education Service says its schools take children of other faiths but sees no need to reserve places for them.

Today, Dr Carey argues for a religious dimension in all schools. RE “should be at the core of the curriculum”, he says.

There is concern, however, over RE teaching - half of all RE lessons are taken by non-specialists.

Catholic archbishop, 8 George Carey, 17