Campaigners urge Welsh Government not to transfer new schools to Catholic Church
The Welsh Government is being urged not to transfer more than £120mn of publicly-funded assets to the Catholic Church by an organisation that campaigns to separate religion from state institutions.
The National Secular Society (NSS) has written to Cabinet Secretary for Education Lynne Neagle setting out its opposition to proposals from Welsh local authorities to invest in facilities at voluntary aided (VA) Catholic schools, which it says would hand millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money directly to the Church.
One of the proposals, from Vale of Glamorgan Council, involves developing the buildings at St Richard Gwyn RC High School with an allocated budget of £64.9mn.
The second, from Flintshire County Council, would amalgamate four existing schools to create a new all-through Catholic school at an estimated cost of £55.5 million.
In both cases, 85% of the funding would be provided by the Welsh Government with 15% by provided by the respective councils.
The NSS states that, despite being 100% funded by the public, “due to conventions of ownership regarding VA schools, the newly developed facilities would be handed over in their entirety to the Catholic Church”.
Review
The NSS has urged the Welsh Government to review the policies and practices surrounding public investment in VA schools with a view to ensuring facilities which are publicly-funded remain in public hands.
The NSS also said the plans entail significant public money being directed towards the promotion of specific ideologies and discriminatory practices that undermine the principles of secular and inclusive education.
Both schools are able to select 100% of their pupils on the basis of religion – an allowance granted to faith schools that has been shown to put less well-off families at a disadvantage, lead to social segregation, discriminate against pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, and perpetuate unfairness experience by children in care.
Public ownership
National Secular Society spokesperson Jack Rivington said: “Publicly funded facilities should remain in public ownership, not handed over to enormously wealthy religious institutions like the Catholic Church.
“Practices around the investment and ownership of voluntary aided schools are long out of date – and should be reconsidered with a view to protecting public investment.
“Instead of expanding and funding exclusionary and discriminatory schools that have been shown to perpetuate unfairness against those experiencing disadvantage in our society, the Welsh Government should prioritise secular, inclusive education that treats all pupils and families equally, regardless of background.”
Match funding
In response to a request for comment on the letter sent to Ms Neagle, the Welsh Government set out its position as follows: “To successfully secure funding, any investment cases received by the Welsh Government for education infrastructure investment are subject to the Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme’s business case scrutiny process and Ministerial approval.
“Funding will be subject to match funding from the governing body, diocese or local authority.
“Voluntary Aided schools are operated, and in most cases owned, by the diocesan authority. The Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme supports investment in education infrastructure across Voluntary Aided, Voluntary Controlled and Local Authority maintained schools. In all cases, the asset remains in the ownership of delivery partners following the investment.”
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Welsh Gov…do you work for the Christian Religion or all the people of Cymru…
Stop the Steal…
There is no room in Cymru for FAITH or PRIVATE schools. All should be in the realm of the state. Brainwashing of children from an early age is disgusting. They should be free to select a religion(or none) when they are old enough to make these decisions fir themselves.
There are so many constantly on the take in Wales…The Crown, The Church, The Government, The Council, The Utilities, The Alcohol, Tobacco and Gambling providers, The Poison Food Industry (another PFI parasite) Private Health…And the Professionals; the ‘think of a number and double it’ merchants…all circling overhead…
You wouldn’t give a prison to group 4 – even if you were dumb enough to let them run it!
Obviously this is being done because the land has a covenant, but in practice, the council would still operate the schools. Just like the Catholic Church ‘owns’ Pontcanna fields and leases to Cardiff council.
I suppose the other option is to delay the much needed rebuild several years, and then buy some land in a more inconvenient location, at enormous cost to the taxpayer.
Interestingly my other half has just pointed out that since 1945, catholic schools by law have to be owned by the catholic church. But the church has to put in a % of the capital costs – in this case the land. Operation is still the council, so it’s largely a legal anomaly which no one can be bothered to change. I’m told the head teacher has to be a catholic as well, as does the head of RE! though I’m not sure this is strictly enforced nowadays
That’s rubbish. It’s a public subsidy to a selective school. End of.
This is unacceptable that the state should spend so much money on a niche school. The Catholic Church should find the money. A school funded in any part by the state should be open to all.
Catholic church gets rich while preaching the “virtues” of poverty. It’s a scam organisation more concerned with defending its institutional interests with faith as a heavy layer of distraction.
The most wealthy religious institution in the world, fund it yourself.