Faith schools continue to top the British schools charts, new UK Department of Education league tables published 
today show.
Official rankings showed almost two-thirds of primaries with the top results were Anglican, Roman Catholic or Jewish schools, despite making up just a third of schools nationally.
Secular groups claimed that such schools gained the best results due to “selection”, or choosing pupils from the most affluent backgrounds.
However, Barbara Jarrett, head of St Wilfrid’s Catholic primary in Sheffield, the top-performing religious primary in the country said it got the results by placing “Christian values at the heart of everything we do”.
She said: “Faith schools tend to do well in whatever area they are in – the figures bear that out. And I disagree with the assertion that this is just to do with the intake. Not all Catholics are middle-class university professors.”
St Wilfrid’s was the top performing faith-based primary. In English, 94 per cent of pupils gained the higher Level 5 expected of children in the first few years of secondary school, while 85 per cent did so in maths.
Mrs Jarrett said: “We have a very coherent community where there is mutual support among families for each other and for the school.
“Parents want their children to be brought up in a Catholic environment in which Christian values are at the heart of everything we do. I’m not saying that this can’t happen elsewhere, but I don’t believe other schools have such a cohesive school community.”
But the Accord Coalition, which opposes faith-based admissions, said figures proved religious schools took more affluent pupils.
Nationally, almost 16 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals, but this drops to 11.5 per cent among faith schools, it was disclosed.
Paul Pettinger, the group’s co-ordinator, said: “They do better because they socially select through admissions. There is lots of evidence that shows admit a lot more pupils from aspirational, middle-class backgrounds and fewer from poor families.”