I hope this finds you well. Last year the Government promised to lift the 50% cap on faith admissions for new religious schools. This policy had proved to be an effective ban on any new Catholic schools as our Bishops ruled that opening a Catholic school that turned away Catholics for being Catholic was against Canon Law.

 

The 50% cap was a policy that specifically targeted Catholics as Catholic schools are popular with parents of all faiths and none. Last September the Government acknowledged the cap was unfair to the Catholic community and pledged to scrap it. The Conservatives even included a commitment to remove it in their manifesto.

 

Unfortunately, the feedback we are getting is that the Secretary of State for Education is thinking about U-turning on this and breaking the Government’s promise to Catholics.

 

The Catholic community now needs to make its collective voice heard and tell the Secretary of State that this level of discrimination against Catholic schools, parents and children will not be tolerated.

As such we are urging Catholics to write to the Secretary of State and their MP expressing their concern that this promise to our community could be broken. These letters can be easily sent by following this link, (www.catholiceducation.org.uk) inserting your postcode and clicking ‘send’.   Also attached is a letter from Bishop Mark to all clergy of the Dicoese.

 

Also, it would be hugely appreciated if you could share this link with as many people as possible.

 

If you have any further questions or would like any more information, please don’t hesitate to get back to me.

 

D J Cunningham

Director of Schools