Dr Simon Hughes has left the post of director of education and schools commissioner for the Archdiocese of Southwark, where he had worked since 2018.
The diocese’s education commission confirmed that Dr Hughes had retired in July, and that it has begun the recruitment process for a replacement. The Catholic Education Service lists 163 schools under the diocese’s remit, across 14 local authorities.
Dr Hughes had a prominent role in the widely-publicised dispute at the John Fisher School in Purley earlier this year, when he instructed the school to cancel a visit by a gay author in March because the event was outside “what is permissible in a Catholic school”. After the school’s governors voted not to cancel the visit, he removed the diocesan-appointed foundation governors from the governing body.
This led to a lengthy dispute between staff, parents and the diocesan authorities, with the school closing for several days in April and May due to strike action. An Oftsed report criticised the handling of the school’s governance, but Dr Hughes disputed the findings, which he said relied on “evidence…drawn solely from media reports”.
The diocese maintained that their objections to the visit of the author Simon James Green related to the content of his books, which they said were not age appropriate, rather than his sexuality.
The late Bishop Howard Tripp, an auxiliary bishop of the diocese who was a pupil at John Fisher, said in a letter to The Tablet that all parties had neglected the principle of schools acting in loco parentis.
Dr Hughes was on sick leave when the active dispute at the John Fisher School concluded in late May with a negotiated settlement between staff and the diocese.
The Southwark education commission has appointed Angela Cox, the former director of education for the Diocese of Leeds, as an interim director pending the appointment of a permanent replacement for Dr Hughes.
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