Catholic schoolsPaul Barber, director of the Catholic Education Service, is quoted as saying that “Catholic schools are the most ethnically diverse in England and contain higher than the national average of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds” (“Campaigners target faith-school admissions”, News from Britain and Ireland, 16 January). It is a claim often repeated.The first part of the statement is undeniable, but the second cannot be substantiated.  Barber is using figures which relate to the percentage of children attending Catholic schools who live in areas where there are the highest levels of deprivation. This is not a reliable measure of actual disadvantage, since it presumes that the pupils concerned come from households which are typical of their locali