FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE CHAIR OF GOVERNORS (with copy to Headteacher)

Dear Chair of Governors,

I am writing on behalf of the Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign (www.richmondinclusiveschools.org.uk ) to alert you and your governing body to an issue of importance to all local primary schools, and to seek your action to secure an outcome in the interests of your school, its parents and its pupils.

Our aim is to ensure that all of the much-needed new secondary school capacity in the borough is at high quality inclusive schools. By that we mean good schools that:

Are equally open to children regardless of the religion or beliefs of their parents - and therefore do not seek to segregate children by religion.
Do not take religion into account in selecting teachers, and teach a fair and balanced RE curriculum.

We therefore oppose the Council’s current plan for a new Catholic secondary school as a major element of the increased provision that will be required, and believe it is not in the interests of the great majority of local parents and pupils.

Our campaign is not party-political, or anti-religious: our growing list of supporters range from atheists to Catholics.

SUGGESTED ACTION
After you have considered the issues raised here, we hope that you will decide to take action along the following lines:

Place this important issue on the agenda of your next governors’ meeting both to make them aware of the campaign and to consider the potential impact of the current policy on your school.
Communicate the issue and arguments to your parents so that they can take a view. We know that the Catholic Church is using all the means at its disposal to promote the Catholic school, including exhortations at Mass and communications to parents of children at Catholic primaries. No equivalent action has so far taken place in support of the other side of the argument, leaving Councillors and others with the impression that there is a strong demand and little opposition.
Consider whether primary Chairs should collectively take a view on the best approach to the provision of secondary places in the context of current national policy, as they did in response to the proposed shift to academy status.

WHY NOT A NEW CATHOLIC SECONDARY?
90% of people in the area are not Catholics - more if non-practising Catholics are included - and we know that there are also local Catholics who do not want segregated education for their children. While there is no question about the sincerity of the people who feel that a Catholic secondary should be provided, they are therefore in a single-figure minority.

But if they get what they want:

Scarce funds will be spent on a school to which most of your pupils - including those living near the school - will have little chance of admission.
The battle your parents will face for places at good local secondaries will not be helped. The borough is already a significant “net importer” of secondary school children (36% are from out of borough, while 25% of borough children go to maintained schools in other boroughs), but Catholic schools’ admissions policies favour Catholics - regardless of where they live - over non-Catholics living nearer the school. If the school is any good, the result is likely to be an even greater inflow from neighbouring boroughs. That will be in addition to “returning” local children of Catholics who are currently able to attend out-of-borough Catholic schools taking advantage of their admissions policies.
We will have a new school that can be expected to maintain the track record of other Catholic secondaries, which take full advantage of powers to discriminate against the majority of local children, either by excluding them on the basis of religious belief, or by providing an education which does not actually reflect their beliefs or those of their parents.
We will have a new borough school that effectively segregates children by religion, despite the fact that 50% of people in the country are not religious, and London is perhaps the most plural city in the world.

RICHMOND FREE SCHOOL
A new factor is the proposal for a “Richmond Free School” (www.richmondfreeschool.org.uk). If it goes ahead, it plans to be an inclusive, non-selective school, and would aim to emulate private schools in terms of approach and academic quality. The proposal is therefore in line with our campaign for high quality inclusive places. However:

At this stage we have no idea whether it will go ahead, how big it will be and when/whether it will start to admit children from local primaries. All we know is that it plans to open in September 2012 and cater for children aged 4 to 18.
Nearly 90% of applications for Free Schools over the past year have failed to meet the Government’s criteria - though the Richmond school probably has a significantly better chance, provided it can secure a site (for which it could use office buildings, so has more options than might be expected).
As their Facebook page makes clear, the school is aimed at making state provision of a type that will attract those children who would otherwise be lost to the private sector. So, in common with the Catholic school, it will create extra demand as well as extra places.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_194597853904873&view=members

Overall, therefore, the Free School proposal does little to allay the concerns over the Catholic school. In fact it may make the issue a greater challenge as the Council may use the argument: “You’ve got an inclusive school, now it’s only fair to have a Catholic one as well”, when in practice all the reasons to want an inclusive school instead of a Catholic school remain.

CONCLUSION
We hope you will agree that the Catholic school policy is a significant issue for borough primaries and merits the attention of your governing body.

If you would like more information, or to discuss the matter further, please do not hesitate to contact us on communications@richmondinclusiveschools.org.uk or via the website www.richmondinclusiveschools.org.uk.

Regards,

Jeremy Rodell
For Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign

07798 935569