The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams will launch a strong defence of Church schools today at the National Church Schools Conference in London.

|TOP|In addition to rejecting claims that Church schools are an escape route for middle-class parents anxious to avoid paying school fees, Dr Williams will dismiss accusations that they indoctrinate children with irrational beliefs and promote bigotry.

Dr Williams will suggest that schools should adopt a nationwide admissions criteria, and adopt a consistent and simplified policy which may involve asking parents for proof that their child has been baptised, or that they regularly attend church services. Speaking to the National Church Schools Conference in London, Dr Williams will also argue that, in contrast to popular misconceptions, the Church educated children from many backgrounds.

Canon John Hall, the Church of England's chief education officer, said: "The intention is not to reduce the number of places for Christian children but to clarify and simplify admissions."

Dr Williams will also argue that, in contrast to popular misconceptions, the Church educated children from many backgrounds.

Pupils at Church schools were also presented with the "broadest possible" range of ideas. The often-forgotten fact that Church schools are the main educational presences in some of our most deprived communities means that it simply cannot be said that these schools somehow have a policy of sanitising or segregating, he will explain.

|AD|Supporting Government plans to encourage faith schools, he will say that a secularist approach to state education could actually damage community relations.

"If the choice appears to be between systematically secular schools in the public sector and explicitly sectarian schools privately resourced, the dangers should be obvious.

"Religious conviction becomes something fiercely guarded from the light of public discussion or scrutiny; the way in which it relates to other areas of life and thought can only be looked at in ways that are not publicly accountable. This really is educational ghettoisation."

He will stress that both faith groups and society in general benefited from close cooperation, particularly when tensions were running high following the terrorist attacks on London.

"Church schools are among the relatively few public institutions generally regarded with trust by minority religious communities. And it is this which gives the lie to any idea that faith schools are nurseries of bigotry.

"In our present context, an education system which conveys some sense of what religious motivation is actually like is more helpful in avoiding communal suspicion or violence - avoiding 'ghettoisation' - than one which rigorously refuses to engage with any religious practice on its own terms."