Letters
The big issue: Catholic schools do not promote elitism
Your article 'Religious schools show "bias for rich"' (News, last week) refers to still-unpublished research that organisations such as my own had not seen and I'm surprised you did not seek evidence or comment from the Catholic church.
The Church Educational System [corrected to Catholic Education Service in the online version after we noticed their error] is as concerned as any organisation that the school admissions system should be fair and transparent, whether for Catholic schools or any other type of maintained school. We publicly supported the ban on interviews in cases of over-subscription and would decry any unfair form of selection. Any breach of the school admissions code would be a serious matter. We must ensure a high-quality, well-rounded education for every pupil irrespective of their background or wherever they live - there is an entitlement to a good school for all.
Oona Stannard
Chief Executive and Director
Catholic Education Service for England and Wales, London SW1
Your story included the extraordinary sweeping allegation from Mr Andy Hibberd, co-founder of the Parent Organisation, that he would be surprised if any Roman Catholic school could categorically prove it did not covertly select pupils based on their socioeconomic background.
First, while the research to which your story referred, conducted by the Institute of Education, used free school meals entitlement to show that religious schools took on average 10 per cent fewer poor pupils than lived in the neighbourhood around the school, other research proves otherwise as far as Catholic schools are concerned.
Yet data from Ofsted has shown that Catholic schools are socially and ethnically diverse with free school meals levels similar to the national average. Catholic schools' own figures show that 18.2 per cent of their pupils come from minority ethnic backgrounds compared with the national average of 16.7 per cent, and it is well known that a greater proportion of ethnic minority households are poorer ones.
The Tablet questioned Mr Hibberd. His slur is based on one personal experience - that as a non-Catholic, he tried to get his child into a Catholic school, but missed out when the place was given to a Catholic child.
Catherine Pepinster
Editor, the Tablet
London W6 | 
