Following a complaint by the British Humanist Association, the Office of the Schools Adjudicator has ruled that the London Oratory School, west London, should not award extra points in the admissions process to applicants and their parents who have undertaken service in the Church or parish such as assisting in the liturgy, arranging the flowers, belonging to Catholic organisations and visiting the sick and housebound.
The London Oratory, attended by the children of former Prime Minister Tony Blair and where the son of the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, will start next month, is heavily oversubscribed and regularly receives around 800 applications for 160 places.
The school, whose admissions arrangements are aimed at favouring practising Catholics, argued that the extra service criteria are necessary in order to filter candidates who say they are Catholic and that the extra activities are a religious duty under Canon Law.
But the adjudicator, David Lennard Jones, has ruled them unfair because the schools admissions code does not allow priority to be given to those who have given practical support to a school or an associated organisation, in this case the Church.
Mr Lennard Jones also agreed with the Archdiocese of Westminster, which argued that the extra service criteria was unfair on those Catholics who choose to meet their religious obligations in a different way.
The diocese pointed out that it is the local bishop, not the school governors, who determine who is a practising Catholic.
The headmaster of the oratory, David McFadden, said the school reserved the right to apply for a judicial review of the adjudicator's decision.
The school was founded in 1863 by the fathers of the Brompton Oratory in London who remain its trustees.