A second consultation on the future of the Merrow schools is now open.
When this process began, we were presented with a single option. I am therefore pleased that the community is now being offered a genuine choice between a Church of England Primary School and a Foundation Primary School.
I have my own personal view on the consultation and I have been transparent elsewhere about that. However, the purpose of this website is not to tell people how to respond. My aim is to help everyone understand the issues, clear out any confusion or misrepresentations and thereby reach their own informed conclusions.
Where information is uncertain, disputed or unavailable, I have said so.
This website is not affiliated with Surrey County Council, the Diocese of Guildford, St John’s Church, Merrow Schools Federation or any other organisation involved in the consultation. It represents my own analysis of publicly available information.
Contents
- Understanding the role of “the Church”
- Would St John’s Church still be involved in a Foundation school?
- What does religious designation mean?
- Multi-Academy Trust considerations
- Are there financial differences between the two options?
- What support does the Diocese provide?
- What about educational outcomes?
- Parental demand
- Demographics and religious affiliation
- Land and site ownership
Understanding the role of “the Church”
It is important to distinguish between two separate organisations and their roles within this consultation:
- St John’s Church, including the work of Rev Tim Clifford-Hill and Georgie Gregson.
- The Diocese of Guildford, the Diocese Board of Education (DBE), and the wider Church of England education system.
These are not the same thing.
Many families have spoken positively about the pastoral support, assemblies, and visible presence that Tim and Georgie provide within the community. The relationships they have built with children, parents and staff are clearly valued.
However, the question being considered in this consultation is not whether St John’s Church should continue to have a relationship with local schools.
The consultation document states that positive relationships between the church and the school could continue regardless of which option is chosen.
The question being considered is whether the future primary school should be a formal Church of England (CofE) designation or a Foundation school without a religious designation.
These are different questions and it is important not to confuse them.
Would St John’s Church still be involved in a Foundation school?
Choosing a Foundation school does not mean that St John’s Church disappears from school life.
In fact, St John’s Church already has a positive relationship with Merrow Junior School, which has no Church of England designation. It also maintains relationships with other local schools that do not have a religious designation.
The consultation document also alludes to a desire that this relationship should continue. However, the precise structure of this relationship would depend on the parties involved.
However, it is worth noting that the circumstances in which these relationships might not continue are largely the same under either option. Here’s the scenarios I can think of:
- Current or future school leaders may decide to develop or prioritise different community partnerships.
- Current or future clergy and staff at St John’s may choose not to maintain the same level of involvement with the school.
- Clergy and staff at St. John’s are moved, replaced or redeployed.
- A future Rector may have different priorities or interests.
- Funding for the youth worker is no longer available.
All of these things could happen whether or not the school has a CofE designation.
On 24 June, in a Facebook post on behalf of Rev Tim, the following was stated:
“There have been many comments online and in writing that have said that our church involvement will remain the same if the new Merrow primary school is not a Church of England school. However, should the new primary school become a secular school, sadly the nature of our involvement will have to change. As our own experience shows us, working with a secular primary school means there are restrictions on what we are allowed to do and what we are allowed to offer.”
When asked to specify what these restrictions were, and who would be imposing them, the Rev. Tim refused to provide any details publicly. However, he did share a specific example:
But to return to the question: the choice being considered in this consultation is not whether St John’s Church continues to support local schools.
The question is, should one faith continue to have a legally privileged role in the governance and constitutional identity of a publicly funded school in 2026?
What does religious designation mean?
A religious designation is a formal legal status that forms part of a school’s governance and constitutional arrangements.
In practice, a CofE designation means that:
- The school has a recognised Christian religious character.
- The school’s ethos and values are expected to reflect that religious character.
- The Diocese has a formal role in aspects of governance and oversight.
- Foundation Governors are appointed through church and diocesan structures and have a responsibility to preserve and develop the school’s Christian foundation and ethos.
- Collective worship is conducted in accordance with the school’s religious designation.
This does not mean that only Christian children can attend this school. The CofE’s stated position is that its schools are intended to serve children “from all faiths and none”.
Equally, a Foundation school does not exclude religion from school life. Foundation schools continue to teach Religious Education, promote values such as kindness, respect and service, and many maintain strong relationships with local churches and faith groups.
The key difference is that a CofE school has a formal religious designation embedded within its governance and constitutional arrangements, whereas a Foundation school does not.
Multi-Academy Trust considerations
Schools increasingly join Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) to access shared expertise, school improvement support, specialist staff, financial efficiencies and greater long-term resilience.
Most schools in the local area are already members of MATs.
For a small one-form-entry primary school, MAT membership can provide access to curriculum expertise, staff development opportunities, specialist support services, purchasing efficiencies, IT support, HR support and governance expertise.
Future governors and school leaders may wish to explore MAT membership in the future. So, it is important to note the implications that this consultation may have:
A Foundation school would be able to explore a wide range of MAT partnerships. A CofE school would be expected to join a CofE MAT.
This may reduce the range of future MAT options available.
The decision made today may therefore influence the strategic choices available to future governors and school leaders.
Are there financial differences between the two options?
No. Literally none.
And once again for good measure. No.
In both options the school would continue to receive funding through the same national school funding formula. This ‘formula is the same for both options being considered. In practice, the largest factor affecting a school’s income is the number of pupils on roll, as most of the funding is allocated on a per-pupil basis.
To be even more specific, the CofE structure proposed (a Voluntary Controlled school) will not benefit from any extra Diocesan money in any form, be it ongoing expenditure, capital expenditure or buildings maintenance either. Whilst you may have heard of “church schools” that have benefitted from this type of funding, it is only available to Voluntary Aided schools. This is a entirely different structure, which is not under consideration.
What support does the Diocese provide?
The Diocese Board of Education (DBE) provides a range of services to Church schools, including governance support, leadership development, training and support relating to Christian distinctiveness.
Some support is provided freely by the Diocese, while other services may be purchased separately.
I have asked Surrey County Council and the Diocese to clarify which services are provided without charge and which incur costs. Their response on 22 June, confirms the below.
- Services the DBE is legally required to provide free. This includes guidance on strategic restructuring that impacts the DBE (such as the current process), Christian ethos and vision, RE curriculum, preparing for a SIAMs inspection (which is an inspection concerning the impact of the school’s Christian vision on pupils). They can also sit on the panel for headteacher hiring, but this should be through the lens of assessing the ability of the person to deliver the Christian ethos. This Christian-based support would continue with a CofE Primary. But wouldn’t be relevant for the community school option.
- Other non-Christian services such as wider academic curriculum support, school improvement support, HR support etc can also be provided by the DBE’s consultancy arm. However, these must be paid for by the school. It should be made clear that these non-Christian based services can also be bought by non-CofE schools, so a Foundation School could choose to continue to buy these in from the DBE, or choose any other provider.
What about educational outcomes?
One of the arguments that has been made in support of the CofE option is that the Diocese provides excellent school improvement support and has a strong track record in educational outcomes. However, there has been no clear evidence shown in support of such statements.
The key question is: do schools with a CofE designation achieve better educational outcomes than comparable schools without one?
Educational performance is influenced by many factors including leadership, teaching quality, pupil demographics, levels of disadvantage, special educational needs, staffing stability and school culture. It is therefore difficult to attribute outcomes to religious designation alone.
Using published Key Stage 2 attainment data for schools within the local area we can see the following.
- In 2025, six of the seven non-faith primary schools within three miles of Merrow Junior School achieved at least the national average (see below) in combined Reading, Writing and Mathematics. The seventh was only 1% below the national average.
- Among the four CofE schools within the same area, for which Key Stage 2 data is available, only one achieved the national average in 2025.
Notes:
| School | % of pupils meeting expected |
| Secular Schools | |
| Boxgrove Primary School | 66% |
| Burpham Primary School | 80% |
| Merrow Junior School | 62% |
| Northmead Junior School | 61% |
| Sandfield Primary School | 80% |
| Tillingbourne Junior School | 65% |
| Weyfield Primary Academy | 80% |
| Church of England Schools | |
| Clandon CofE Aided Primary School | 35% |
| Holy Trinity, CofE Aided Junior School | 73% |
| Queen Eleanor’s CofE School | 56% |
| Send CofE Primary School | 55% |
- The schools listed are all the secular and CofE schools within 3 miles of Merrow Junior, excluding Catholic schools.
- The national average for 2025 was 62%. That is 62% of all pupils achieved at least the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths.
Source:
Parental demand
A key challenge facing all local schools is falling pupil numbers. Birth rates have fallen nationally and locally, resulting in fewer Reception-age children entering schools each year. This has created significant surplus capacity across Guildford and Surrey.
It is therefore reasonable to ask whether a CofE designation would increase demand for school places.
The evidence is, at best, mixed. School places demand will likely be influenced factors such as location, reputation, educational outcomes, primary vs split Infant and Junior schools.
However, if we look at published numbers for reception places starting September 2026, a trend is apparent and one can reasonably conclude that parents have not actively sought out CofE or Catholic school places in the local area.
Sources:
Demographics and religious affiliation
The outcome of the consultation will affect local educational choices for generations to come.
For that reason, it is useful to consider broader demographic and social trends.
According to the 2021 Census for England and Wales, 46.2% of people identified as Christian, compared with 59.3% in 2011. During the same period, the proportion of people reporting no religion increased from 25.2% to 37.2%. In Guildford, that proportion is 39.2%
Research by King’s College London and other organisations has identified an even stronger trend among younger generations, who are significantly less likely to identify with organised religion than older age groups. Within the Gen Z age group – whose children are likely to attend the school in the coming decades – only 37% hold any religious belief, with data suggesting that around a third of these identify as Anglicans.
This suggests that future generations of parents may have very different religious expectations and priorities from previous generations.
In considering the future viability of the school, one should consider these broader demographic trends and how they might affect future parental demand.
Sources:
- Office for National Statistics Census 2021, for example:
- King’s College London studies on religion and generational change.
Land and site ownership
The proposed primary school would operate from the current Juniors site. The difference lies in the ownership arrangements behind the sites.
Currently:
The Infant site is partly owned by SCC (70%). The rest (30%) is held in trust for education purposes. The Trustees are the churchwardens of St Johns Church. It isn’t clear where the boundaries lie, but a reasonable assumption is that the old school building and the school house plus the enclosed reception playground are likely to be the subject of this trust.
The Juniors site is owned by the Governing Body.
Under Option 1 (CofE Primary School):
- The Juniors site would revert to Local Authority ownership when the current Junior School closes.
- Most of the Juniors site would remain owned by the Local Authority, but a proportion would be transferred to diocesan trustees to mirror the current ownership arrangements at the Infants site. The legal implications of this (cost and time are unclear)
- The Infants site would become entirely owned by the Local Authority.
Under Option 2 (Foundation Primary School):
- The Juniors site would remain in the ownership of the governing body.
- Ownership arrangements at the Infants site would remain unchanged, with ownership shared between the Local Authority and diocesan trustees.
For most families, these arrangements will have little impact on day-to-day school life. However, they do affect who holds legal interests in the sites and who may have a role in future decisions affecting school land and buildings.
Please note: I am updating this as I go – links will be provided in due course.
Last update 28 June 2026