Senior bishops have added their weight to a campaign to scrap a notorious cap on faith-based admissions to new Catholic schools.
In 2010 the Coalition Government of ex-Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron introduced the cap to ensure that half of all pupils and students attending newly-built faith schools did not belong to that particular faith.
The bishops have consistently argued that the rule unfairly discriminates against Catholic students for whom the schools were intended because many would be unable to attend because their places were allocated instead to non-believers.
The Church will not pay for new Catholic free schools if they result in pupils being turned away on the basis of their Catholic faith.
The Catholic Union of Great Britain, a lay association which makes representations to Parliament on behalf of the Catholic Church, is urging the Conservatives to honour the manifesto commitment of 2017 to remove the cap, which was never delivered.
Bishops have now signed an open letter from the Catholic Union to Education Secretary Gillian Keegan asking that she reverses the policy.
Lancashire-born Ms Keegan, Conservative MP for Chichester, has herself benefited from a Catholic education, having attended St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic High School in the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
In January, she represented the British Government at the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI.
Bishop Marcus Stock of Leeds, the chairman of the Catholic Education Service, an agency of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales; Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, Bishop Peter Collins of East Anglia and Bishop Paul Swarbrick of Lancaster are among those to sign the letter.
Bishop Stock said: “The Catholic community has long been a valued partner to successive governments, and since the 19th century has become the second-largest education provider in the country.
“We seek to maintain parental choice and ensure that, particularly where schools are oversubscribed, Catholic parents can provide a Catholic education for their children in a Catholic school.
“The Catholic Education Service, the Catholic Union, and all those who benefit from the diversity provided by our Catholic school sector, regard it as vital that the admissions cap is lifted.”
Prof John Lydon, the chairman of the Catholic Union’s Education Committee, described the letter as an important initiative and asked Catholics to sign it.
“There is a bright future for Catholic schools in this country, but we need to be honest about the challenges we face,” he said.
“One of those challenges is the cap on faith-based admissions. It has without doubt restricted access to Catholic education in England and prevented the Church from realising the benefits of the academisation programme currently under way.
“The letter to the Secretary of State is a timely intervention and I encourage people to add their names in support.”
The letter points out that Catholic schools, academies and colleges in England and Wales educate just under 850,000 pupils, representing nine per cent of the national total of maintained schools.
“Our schools are extremely popular with parents and pupils, not only because of their academic performance – five percentage points higher than national GCSE Maths and English scores – but because of the care and quality of the teaching,” the letter says.
“While Catholic schools are some of the best performing in the country, there are barriers preventing them from achieving further success. This includes the admissions cap, which the Catholic Union and others have been calling to be scrapped.
“The policy has had the effect of making it impossible for new Catholic free schools to open, putting pressure on existing Catholics schools. This is a particular problem for parents of SEND children as it limits their choice.”
The letter adds: “There has never been any evidence to justify the cap. Our schools are already extremely diverse in terms of background and religion of pupils. Nearly half are from an ethnic minority background, compared to a third in the state sector. Our schools also educate more pupils from the most deprived backgrounds.
“There are many other challenges facing Catholic schools, including pay and conditions for staff and the pressure of inspections, which we urge you to address. Lifting the cap would help boost morale for those involved in Catholic education as well as making a real difference to pupils and parents.
“We hope that you will use your time as Secretary of State to back Catholic schools and scrap the cap.”
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