Humanist campaigners have raised fears a new church secondary school in north Kingston could increase the proportion of places reserved for religious pupils above the proposed 30 per cent limit.

The competition between the Church of England and the Kingston Educational Trust, formed of the council, college and university, to run the school heated up ahead of a key public meeting tonight, Friday, September 24, where residents can question bidders and give their views.

Comments at the meeting, at Fern Hill Primary School in Richmond Road at 6.30pm, will be recorded and sent to the independent Office of the Schools Adjudicator, which will make the final decision.

Jeremy Rodell, chairman of South West London Humanists, said: “The governing body, with its built-in Anglican majority, would be the admissions authority for this school, not the council, and there can be no guarantee its admissions policy could not become even more discriminatory in future.”

The school is due to open on the site of the North Kingston Centre in September 2015, and the church has stressed the inclusive nature of church schools.

Dr Richard Cheetham, Bishop of Kingston, said: “The key thing for me is Kingston is the only London borough in the dioscese of Southwark that does not have a Church of England secondary school, so that choice is not there for parents that want that, particularly those who went to Church of England primary schools.

“The Church of England has always had a very open and inclusive policy with regard to its church schools. They are open to children of any background and indeed in certain places in the country there are church schools where the majority of the pupils are of a non-Christian background.”