The head teacher of a top public school warned opening more faith schools ran the risk of children being indoctrinated.

The Rev Tim Hastie-Smith, chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, said he felt more single faith schools could run the risk of segregating youngsters.

Mr Hastie-Smith, who is headmaster of the £26,000 a year Dean Close School in Cheltenham and describes himself as an Anglican clergyman, said: "If schools end up a particular faith it runs the risk of withdrawing people from society.

"There is a possibility to, and I use the word very, very carefully, use education as a form of indoctrination.

"It is understandable that someone from a Muslim background, for example, might look at the West and find our attitudes to things such as pornography and marriage difficult.

"They may ask, 'how do I protect my children from a contaminating influence?"'

But he said faith schools could "make people become an object of suspicion because they are withdrawing" and could also prevent youngsters from getting out and doing good, from making a difference. He said a reasonable balance in schools on all faiths and cultures led to understanding, especially if teachers were committed.

He said: "It is the old adage – they won't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

Mr Hastie-Smith will become principal of church schools group United Learning Trust next year which, he said, "is Christian in basis but focuses on challenged schools to give them educational life chances".

The comments came after the UK's first state- funded Hindu school opened to its first pupils this week.

The reception class of the Krishna-Avanti Primary School, made up of 30 pupils, began studies on Monday in temporary facilities at a next-door school in London.

Pupils will have to wait until next year before moving into a purpose-built school which will offer an education based on Hindu values and beliefs though lessons will follow the national curriculum.

As of September last year, about a third of all maintained schools had a religious character, about 6,850 schools from 21,000.

The great majority are Church of England and Roman Catholic while the remainder comprise of 37 Jewish schools, seven Muslim schools, two Sikh schools, one Greek Orthodox and one Seventh Day Adventist school.

One Jewish school, three Muslim and one Sikh, two Church of England and two Church of England/ Methodist have been approved to open.

The Government has said future faith academies, unless directly replacing a faith school, would give at least half of all places to pupils from other faiths or no faith.