Over 1,000 people have signed the Catholic Union’s open letter to the Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, calling on her to lift the cap on faith-based admissions to new free schools.
The Catholic Union launched the “scrap the cap”campaign earlier in the summer.
Catholic schools in the UK are funded by the government and regulated by parliament. The current policy has made it impossible for new Catholic free schools to open in England as it would lead to pupils being turned away on the basis of their Catholic faith.
In 2010, a joint Conservative and Liberal Democrat government established a 50 per cent cap on faith-based admissions to oversubscribed free schools with a religious character in England.
David Laws, the Schools Minister who introduced the 50 per cent Rule in 2010, told the UK Parliament that “it is right that such new schools cater for local demand in the faith, but the needs of children in the broader local community must not be overlooked”.
“We want all local children to have the same opportunity to access high-quality, state-funded education. The fact that it is state-funded is the point,” he said at the time.
The 2017 Conservative Party Manifesto committed to ending the policy, which was issued to please their coalition partners at the time in the Liberal Democrats, but haven’t done so even after achieving a parliamentary majority on their own.
The campaign received the backing of Bishop Marcus Stock, Chairman of the Catholic Education Service, and the former Labour and Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly.
Amongst the 1,000 names on the letter include several Catholic Bishops, parliamentarians, and teachers and lay Catholics from every part of the country.
The Catholic Union has said it will use the time left before the next General Election to do everything possible to get the policy changed.
“The 50 per cent cap is a source of huge frustration to Catholics in this country,” said Sir Edward Leigh MP, the Catholic Union of Great Britain president, in a statement issued Sept. 11.
“There has never been any justification for the policy, or any evidence to support keeping it in place,” he said.
“With a General Election not far off, we may never get a better opportunity to finally lift the cap. Lifting the cap would be a huge vote of confidence in Catholic schools in this country, and I know would be welcome by people from other faiths,” Leigh said.
He noted Catholic schools, academies and colleges in England and Wales educate just under 850,000 pupils, with Catholic schools making up 9 per cent of the national total of maintained schools.
“While Catholic schools are some of the best-performing in the country, there are barriers preventing them from achieving further success,” he continued.
“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,” Leigh added.
The Catholic Union leader also claimed 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,” he said.
“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,” he continued.
“We hope that you will use your time as secretary to back Catholic schools and scrap the cap,” Leigh said in an open letter to UK Education Secretary Gillian Keegan.
(Photo courtesy of Dicoese of Westminster Education Service)
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