Catholic schools top London league tables

Catholic primaries are among the best-performing in England in the latest school league tables for achievement at Key Stage 2, write Rose Gamble and Liz Dodd.

In the tests, which are taken in May of the final year of primary school, Catholic schools feature heavily in the top 10 schools across the country, coming top in 19 out of 118 local authority areas outside London. Catholic primaries appear in the top 10 for all but two local authority areas in London, and come top in 11 boroughs.

A number of high-performing Catholic schools serve deprived and ethnically diverse areas of London. The three most deprived boroughs in London – Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets – have six Catholic primaries appearing in the top 10. Catholic education was challenged by a report released last week by the Commission on Religion and Belief in Public Life (Corab), which said faith education segregated children “by ethnicity and socioeconomic background”.

The results come as the Catholic Education Service (CES) joined a campaign against the Education and Adoption Bill, which could see poorly performing Catholic schools converted to secular academies. In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, a group including the CES and the National Union of Teachers claimed the new bill will deny communities a say in the future of their schools.