NSS welcomes faith school cutting ties with Catholic Church

An independent faith school is cutting its links with the Catholic Church to become more inclusive, relevant and appealing.

Prior Park College in Bath (pictured) has decided to sever its 200-year-old connection with the Catholic Church with almost unanimous support from parents.

The decision follows the school being put under increased pressure to impose more Catholicism in school life. Prior Park's pupils have also become more diverse over the years, and fewer than 20% are Catholic.

According to the headmaster, Prior Park has been contacted by other independent Catholic schools to ask for guidance and support in changing their religious designation.

The school will retain a Christian designation, but will no longer be constrained by the Catholic Church.

Headmaster: "We pride ourselves on not proselytising to our young people"

Headmaster Ben Horan said the school made the decision in order to "remain relevant and attractive" to prospective families, and that removing constraints imposed by the Catholic Church would allow the school to stay competitive amid "unprecedented challenges" in the sector.

He said many parents had "expressed frustration over the restrictive nature of being a Catholic school" and the "limited educational choices and outcomes that come with that".

Catholic schools routinely compel all children to sit religious studies GCSE.

In addition to inspections by Ofsted or the Independent Schools Inspectorate, faith schools are subject to 'religiosity inspections' from their religious governing body. At state funded faith schools, these inspections are paid for with public money. Prior Park's most recent inspection by the Catholic Schools Inspectorate said the school "required improvement" in its effectiveness in providing Catholic education.

It said the school should "strengthen the centrality of Christ in the daily experience of students and staff" and "ensure full, active and conscious participation" by pupils in prayer and worship.

In a letter to parents following the inspection, Horan said: "We pride ourselves on not proselytising to our young people, but instead in encouraging them to engage with faith and spirituality on their own terms."

He criticised the new inspection framework for Catholic schools, launched two years ago, as "attempting to exercise a far greater degree of control over those schools than the Bishops' Conference and the Catholic Education Service have ever done before".

He continued: "In a world of falling church attendances, it is perhaps unsurprising that there appears to be a greater level of expectation by the Church hierarchy for Catholic schools to do the job of bringing young people to 'the faith'.

"However, we know that parents choose our school and that students enjoy our school for a variety of reasons.

"We are not only chosen because we are a Catholic school, and we must, and do, always work hard to avoid alienating any of our students and families who are not Catholic."

The school has also allegedly faced criticism from some members of Clifton Catholic Dioceses for celebrating Gay Pride. Catholic schools are meant to uphold the Church's teaching that same-sex relationships are sinful, which is reflected in the relationships and sex education policies in many Catholic schools.

In 2022, a state funded Catholic school in Croydon cancelled a talk by a gay book author following an intervention from the local diocese.

NSS: Case highlights "detrimental impact of religious institutions' continued involvement" in education

Prior Park's decision was welcomed by the National Secular Society, which campaigns for schools to be equally inclusive for families of all religions and beliefs.

NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "In an multifaith and increasingly secular society there are clearly compelling commercial grounds for a private school to become more inclusive.

"But the school no longer wishing to proselytise or compel pupils to worship or sit religious studies at GCSE, as demanded by the Catholic body that inspects it, highlights the detrimental impact of religious institutions' continued involvement across all education sectors.

"Religiosity inspections are run by churches and compel school leaders to impose a robust religious ethos on schools, which often have a mixed intake of pupils from a range of religion or belief backgrounds. This inspection regime is educationally inappropriate and unfairly funded by the taxpayer. The law that requires schools to have such inspections should be repealed.

"Schools should not be used as mission fields for churches seeking to address falling numbers."