Government plans to turn all schools into academies will affect 1,300 Catholic primaries. The former Education Secretary Shirley Williams fears the proposals will reduce the Church’s influence, undermine links with local communities and further damage teachers’ morale

Primary schools have long been regarded as one of the successes of English education, close to their communities, cherished by parents and grandparents, and almost invariably providing enjoyment and inspiration for their young pupils. It is no wonder that four-fifths of them are regarded by school inspectors as outstanding or good. More than a third of them are faith schools: 26 per cent Anglican and 10 per cent Catholic.
All that primaries have achieved is threatened by the Government’s plan for every school to become an academy by 2022. Worrying, too, is the move to cease the appointment of parent governors to the governing bodies of schools. This is perverse. It is also perverse to abolish almost all the links between schools and local authorities. Such a change would add to the school’s financial difficulties at a time of great pressure on budgets, by compelling them to buy expensive private advice on legal and accounting issues.