Church concern over new policy on academies

Government plans to force all English state schools to become academies might mean dioceses lose control of Catholic schools, the Catholic Education Service (CES) has warned, write Rose Gamble and Liz Dodd.

Responding to the plans set out by the Chancellor George Osborne in the budget on Wednesday, a spokesman for the CES said the body was “unsure” about them.

“No two schools are the same, therefore the decision about academisation must be made by the local diocese in collaboration with parents and the wider community,” the spokesman said.  

Local education authorities are to be dismantled and all state schools in England will be required to become academies by 2022, the Chancellor announced.

“It is simply unacceptable that Britain continues to sit too low down the global league tables for education,” said Mr Osborne, speaking ahead of the Budget.

“So I’m going to get on with finishing the job we started five years ago, to drive up standards and set schools free from the shackles of local bureaucracy.”

Schools that fail to have a plan in place to make the switch by 2020 will be taken over by the Government and forced to become academies. There are currently 2,141 Catholic schools in England, 430 of which are academies. The decision to become an academy is currently made by the diocese in consultation with parents and the local community.

At present, government policy dictates that a new Catholic academy must take 50 per cent non-Catholic pupils but an existing Catholic school that transfers can maintain its current admissions policy and is not subject to the cap. A spokesman for the Treasury said he did not expect this policy to change.

Elsewhere in the budget the Chancellor allocated almost £110 million to support homeless people, a pledge that was welcomed by Housing Justice, a Christian homelessness charity.

A further £20 million was also announced for the Cathedral Repairs Fund.