Boy rejected from schools for being 'faithless'

The mother of a five-year-old boy refused a place at school because he was not baptised today told of her anger. Kayne Ogali has been rejected by the two primary schools - one Church of England and one Roman Catholic - closest to his home in Marylebone because he has been classed as "non-religious".

His mother, Tracy Ogali, 37, told the Evening Standard: "Kayne has been discriminated against and classed as faithless because we do not go to church. I have spoken to a solicitor and we will pursue a legal action against Westminster council as they have failed to provide my son with a place to learn. We are not atheists, we are spiritual in our own way and it is wrong for them to judge us."

The two church schools confirmed they had refused the boy. Malcolm Lothian, head of St George's primary, a CofE school, said it was "highly improbable" Kayne would get a place.

The head teacher at St Vincent's Roman Catholic primary, Marina Coleman, said: "We take Catholic children. We do ask for evidence of monthly church attendance and we expect children to have been baptised."

After Kayne's rejection, his parents applied to five primaries in surrounding areas but were told they were too full.

Mrs Ogali has managed to get Kayne's nursery school to agree to keep him on until Christmas but adds: "In January he will have no school to go to and we are getting really anxious. Some people have said to me 'just get him baptised', but I refuse to be coerced into doing that - it is hypocritical and makes a mockery of the whole system."

Mrs Ogali, who runs a rehabilitation centre for disabled adults, with her husband Hratch, 55, says they cannot afford to send Kayne to a private school. She adds: "We are not going to suffer in silence like other parents and we will fight against this infringement of our human rights."

Unlike community schools, the near-7,000 faith schools in England can give preference to children from church-going families. In May, a Standard survey found some had three children applying for each place.

The Government, which believes they improve standards, has said it wants more to be established.

A CofE report by Lord Dearing in 2001 recommended "some places should be reserved for children of other faiths and of no faith".