Bishops in ecumenical academies plan

THE CATHOLIC and Anglican dioceses of Portsmouth could join forces to form a single trust to run academies on the Isle of Wight.

In a joint letter to head teachers, chairs of governors and foundation governors the Bishop of Portsmouth, Philip Egan, and his Anglican counterpart, Christopher Foster, said they were exploring how feasible it would be to create a joint Anglican-Catholic multi-academy trust (MAT) for the island. The trust would be run by a separate group of trustees and a formally established company, not by one of the two Churches.

Catholic schools in the trust would become academies, as would Church of England schools. The two joint schools on the island would become joint academies.

In the letter the bishops said: “We wish to secure the Christian life and mission of our own schools within our respective traditions, while being open to the service of the common good of the wider society. Initially, therefore, we would anticipate the Trust being a vehicle for Anglican and Catholic church schools to convert or be sponsored, but with a wider commitment to community schools being able to join once the Trust had been fully established and demonstrated its capacity.”

The feasibility study will run until May and would need to be approved by the Department for Education as well as by the regional schools commissioner. Portsmouth Catholic Diocese has already announced that it expects its four Catholic schools on the island to become academies.