Concerns have been raised about the low number of GCSE Religious Studies entries in Kingston schools, with one councillor expressing disappointment at the significant discrepancies observed in the data. Jane Whittington, representing the Diocese of Guildford, noted that some schools had very low entry numbers
for GCSE RE as a percentage of their total student population, with some instances as low as 12 candidates.
The issue was highlighted during a meeting of the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) on Monday, June 8, 2026. Data presented to the council showed a wide variation in GCSE RE entries across schools in the borough. For example, School A had 12 entries out of 118 students, while School D had 152 entries out of 154 students, and School F had 154 entries out of 155 students. This highlights a wide discrepancy in entries as a percentage of the total student number
.
It was clarified that while faith schools are required to offer GCSE RE, academies are not always bound by the local syllabus. Stephen Peirce, an advisor at RE Today, explained that academies are legally required to teach RE, but not all adhere to this
. He added that while the agreed syllabus recommends that all 14-16 year olds pursue an accredited course in Religious Studies or RE, not all students need to be entered for the examination. The meeting also mentioned that the data doesn't show whether they're doing core RE for their non-exam pupils
.
Helena Moore, Lead Improvement Advisor for Curriculum at Achieving for Children (AfC), confirmed that while AfC's team has not agreed to use School Improvement Partner (SIP) visits for monitoring RE, they are open to promoting and reminding schools to complete other monitoring forms
. Specific names of these forms were not provided.
The full details of the meeting can be found in the Public reports pack.